How Will Shared-Use Mobility Impact Low-Income Communities in Detroit?

Abstract

The emergence of ridesharing and car-sharing services like Uber and ZipCar has created alternative modes of transportation for some groups. However, preliminary research by our team of Dow Fellows and public health PhD students has found that these new models (together termed “shared-use mobility”) may actually reinforce the challenges faced by already disadvantaged communities. Building on this initial, more informal investigation, we hope to conduct rigorous qualitative research examining three unstudied but important questions regarding mobility among underserved communities in Detroit. (1) In what ways is shared-use mobility creating opportunities and/or new barriers to mobility? (2) How do these opportunities and barriers vary by subgroup (age, racial and ethnic identity, gender, and so on)? (3) What policies or programs have potential to overcome any identified barriers? Our project is built on the premise that shared-use mobility could disparately impact more versus less advantaged communities, and that—because of their rapid emergence in recent years—these issues have received insufficient attention from researchers, government, and industry. We aim to help fill this gap.