Michael Hyland, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), University of California, Irvine

Title

Operating and Designing Microtransit Services with Virtual Stops

Time

1:40pm - 3:00pm

Location

1605 Tilia, Room 1103, West Village

Abstract

Over the past decade, a spectrum of shared mobility options have arisen between (i) high-capacity, low-flexibility fixed-route transit and (ii) low-capacity, high-flexibility taxi service. In this talk, I will discuss challenges associated with operating various mobility options along this spectrum, including microtransit services. The first part of the talk will discuss an on-demand microtransit service where travelers are dynamically assigned to pickup and drop-off locations (i.e., virtual stops) within a reasonable walking distance from their trip origin and destination, respectively. I then compare this service with door-to-door ride-hailing and shared-ride mobility services. The results indicate that having travelers both share rides with strangers and walk to virtual stops can substantially reduce VMT while only producing slight increases in travel time. In the second part of the talk, I will discuss ongoing research on the design of microtransit services in California, including the importance of calibrating microtransit simulation models, key performance metrics, and critical service design parameters.

Biographical Sketch

Michael Hyland is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Irvine, in the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) department. He is also an affiliate of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Irvine. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in CEE. His research focuses on modeling and analysis techniques to support the planning, design, management, and operations of multi-modal transportation systems. Specifically, he focuses on emerging transportation innovations and their impacts on transportation systems. Dr. Hyland is a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Network Modeling Committee and the Early Career Editorial Advisory Board for Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. He was named one of the Top 20 Future Leaders in Transportation by the Eno Center for Transportation in 2016. He is also a two-time recipient of the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship.