Synergistic Integration of Transportation Demand Management Strategies (Land Use, Transit, and Auto Pricing) with New Technologies and Services (Battery Electric Vehicles and Dynamic Ridesharing) to Enhance Reductions in VMT and GHG

CAROLINE RODIER, PhD

Dr. Caroline Rodier is a research associate at the Mineta Transportation Institute and the associate director of the Urban Land Use and Transportation Center and a research scientist at the Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis. Her major areas of research include transport, land use, and environmental planning and policy analysis. Dr. Rodier has extensive experience applying land use and transport models to inform public investment, planning, and policy decisions. She has managed the development activity-based microsimulation travel models for the State of California and the San Joaquin Valley as well as the California’s PECAS land use model. Dr. Rodier has expertise in the design and implementation of research projects that routinely make use of expert and stakeholder interviews, focus groups, and travel behavior surveys. This research has been conducted in a variety of contexts including parking information and pricing technologies pilot projects (most recently SFpark); shared-use modes to facilitate first- and last-mile access to transit; travel needs and mobility solutions for diverse populations in California (e.g., elderly and immigrants); traffic safety impacts of Variable Message Signs; and the scoping plan for California’s landmark climate change legislation, Assembly Bill 32. Dr. Rodier has also conducted reviews of legal and institutional challenges in the areas of automated speed enforcement, low-speed modes (e.g., Segways and neighborhood electric vehicles), and the provision of public parking for carsharing services. Most recently, Dr. Rodier led the development of the content for scenario activities used in the workshop on Automated Vehicles within the Built Environment: 2020, 2035, and 2050 at the Automated Vehicle Symposium 2014 and 2015. She currently serves at the chair of the Transportation Research Board’s Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies Committee. She holds a B.A. in US History from Barnard College at Columbia University and an M.S. in Community Development, and a PhD in Ecology from the University of California, Davis.

FARZAD ALEMI

Farzad Alemi is a third-year PhD student at the University of California, Davis, Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS). He is interested in various transportation and land-use related topics, particularly travel demand modeling, land-use modeling, travel behavior, traffic engineering, and sustainable transportation. Prior to coming to UC Davis, he completed his MSc in Urban and Regional Planning (University of Greenwich, 2009- 2010). Before that, he received his BSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology (2009). He is currently working on research projects to quantify/explore the effects of new technology-enabled transportation alternatives on future mobility.

DYLAN SMITH

Dylan Smith is a software developer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a recent graduate from the University of California, Davis. Holding a bachelor’s degree in computer science, he is primarily interested in computer science and its applications in transportation engineering. During his undergraduate career, he worked at the Institute of Transportation Studies (2014-2015) and in an on-campus civil engineering research position (2013-2015), where he developed software to help explore the feasibility of ride-sharing in the Bay Area and the interactions between dynamically-routed vehicles and traffic lights. He is currently helping to found a transportation-focused startup in the Bay Area.