Human factors in exclusive and shared use in the UK transport system

Transport sharing describes a growing set of practices, systems and services that sit between traditional notions of private and public transport provision, and may have benefits in terms of both improving mobility in society and helping to address environmental challenges. This report highlights those factors relevant to a human-or user -centric adoption of shared travel, with a view to identifying the factors that currently encourage or discourage shared travel, and the emerging social and technological developments that will influence both the varieties and the appeal of future transport sharing. The report first presents a typology of shared travel to demonstrate its diversity, treating it as a multifaceted set of modes that meet the needs of different people at different times. We then present critical, but often overlooked, characteristics of types of sharing and technology that have implications for how people perceive and use different shared travel modes. This is followed by a model of shared travel decision-making that emphasises its sociotechnical and longitudinal nature, showing how sharing evolves over time and in unison with technology. The report concludes by considering how future developments such Mobility as a Service, autonomous and connected vehicles and wider social change may shape the future of transport sharing.