Riding First Class: Impacts of Silicon Valley Shuttles on Commute & Residential Location Choice

Employer-provided private shuttles have become a prominent part of the transportation network between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. As the Bay Area plans for transportation investements to meet sustainability goals and acoomodate future population and employment growth, an understading of the role of regional commuter shuttles becomes increasingly important. This study investigates the impacts of private shuttles on commute mode and residential location choice by conducting a travel time comparison and surveying shuttle riders. The authors find that the provision of shuttles and knowledge of shuttle stops influenced both commute mode and residential location choice. Shuttles are an attractive option due to their time and cost savings compared to other modes. However, shuttles exacerbate the jobs-housing imbalance by enabling individuals to live farther from work. The extent to which location of shuttle stops influences residential location choice varies from person to person, though the vast majority of shuttle riders live within a short walk from the nearest shuttle stop. Policies should strike a blalance between improved sustainability with existing land use patterns and better long-term regional transportation and land use planning.

• Record URL:
  http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2jr7z01q
• Corporate Authors:

  University of California, Berkeley

  Department of City and Regional Planning
  College of Environmental Design
  Berkeley, CA  United States  94720-1850
• Authors:
  • Dai, Danielle
  • Weinzimmer, David
• Publication Date: 2014-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 20p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Employer sponsored transportation; Housing; Jobs; Location; Mode choice; Shuttle service; Travel time; Vehicle miles of travel
• Geographic Terms: San Francisco (California); Silicon Valley (California)
• Subject Areas: Policy; Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01530267
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: UC Berkeley Transportation Library
• Report/Paper Numbers: UCB-ITS-WP-2014-01
• Files: BTRIS, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 11 2014 9:27AM