About the Study: We are a group of researchers from University of Tennessee and Portland State University studying the effect of COVID-19 on transit, bike share, and scooter share. We received an NSF RAPID grant to investigate rider behavior, risk attitudes, and job status to understand how shared mobility systems will recover safely from COVID-19.
What are we doing: Our main research initiative will be to survey riders of shared mobility systems in Portland, Oregon and Nashville, Tennessee as we proceed through the COVID-19 crisis. We will survey transit riders, bike share users, and scooter share users. We are hopeful that the findings will lend national insight into how riders decide to return to transit. Our first survey will go out in early May and we will conduct surveys over the summer and into the fall, observing return to our "new normal".
After our first survey is released we intend to launch an interactive data dashboard on this site.
Who are the researchers: This project is led by Chris Cherry and Candace Brakewood, faculty at University of Tennessee; and by John MacArthur, a research associate at Portland State University. Graduate student researchers are Mojdeh Azad and Abubakr Zeidan.
Who are the partners: We are partnering with Portland's TriMET, Nashville's WeGo, BIKETOWN, Bird, Spin, and Transit App. Each are providing invaluable support reaching out to riders and providing additional data about ridership trends.
Contact us: Inquiries about the project can be directed to Chris Cherry or John MacArthur. Media inquiries can contact media representatives at UT or PSU.
