UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most workers were tied to fixed locations and schedules, often necessitating long, stressful commutes that researchers have linked to reduced productivity, and lower overall well-being. During the pandemic, the need for social distancing, together with ongoing advances in communication technologies, led many firms and employees to embrace remote and hybrid work arrangements. Now, in the post-pandemic era, many employees prefer these arrangement and are resisting employers’ “return-to-office” mandates. What is the state of working from home and commuting post-pandemic? We examined this question using data from the 2022 National Household Travel Survey.

Like much of the developed world, the U.S. is aging. Between 1920 and 2020, the number of people 65 and older in the U.S. grew almost five times faster than the population as a whole. Between 2000 and 2010, the 65+ population grew from 15.1 percent of the U.S. population to 16.8 percent (to 55.8 million people) between 2010 and 2020 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). Given this substantial growth, the mobility patterns of older travelers are consequential but have only been lightly studied post-pandemic. To address this gap, we analyzed data from the National Household Travel Surveys (NHTS) for 2001, 2009, 2017, and 2022 on the travel behavior of older adults in their 60s, 70s, and up compared with middle-aged and younger travelers. The NHTS contains information about trips taken by all household members on a designated survey day for a representative set of U.S. households.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, daily travel per person declined significantly in the U.S as activities that required leaving home were increasingly replaced by information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as smartphones, personal computers, streaming services, and social media. Trips for most purposes declined drastically in the spring of 2020 at the start of the pandemic, and public transit use in particular plummeted. With most of the disruptions of the pandemic over by early 2022, we investigated whether the travel effects of COVID-19 have persisted, especially among young adults (defined as those between the ages 15-29).

We focused on youth, as any long-term shifts in their travel behavior might persist for decades. These younger travelers are transitioning to adulthood by obtaining drivers’ licenses, joining the workforce, living independently, and so on. Youth travel may be affected differently by the pandemic than older adults as they are more likely to substitute ICTs for travel, so we examined how youth travel patterns and trends compare to those of middle-aged adults post-pandemic.

Spanning more than six decades between the 1940s and early 2000s, the construction of the U.S. federal Interstate Highway System perpetuated racial inequality, weakened social institutions, disrupted local economies, and physically divided neighborhoods. Systemic racism embedded within housing, educational, and labor systems depressed land values, hindered homeownership, and made neighborhoods of color more vulnerable to selection for freeway routes. Unequal political power in the decision making process also disadvantaged people of color, who often were excluded from participatory planning processes. Additionally, unlike white Americans, people of color had significantly less ability to relocate to rapidly expanding suburbs if displaced by freeway construction. Expanding on prior work conducted by researchers at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, this study incorporates three additional case studies in California: South Colton (Inland Empire), West Fresno (Central Valley), and City Heights (San Diego).

California is unlikely to meet its climate goals if it doesn’t reduce vehicle travel. So far, however, state and local efforts to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) have fallen short of expectations, even as cities grow more compact and public transit funding has increased. To better understand the role of highway expansion in meeting California’s climate goals, we analyzed whether a simple model that only considers road capacity and population growth can predict VMT as well as traditional transportation models. We also looked at the share of recent VMT growth that has been caused by expanded road capacity, and the reductions in VMT from transit and other projects funded by California’s climate investments.

Personal safety is a critical issue for transit riders, particularly for women and gender minorities. Safety concerns can stem from experiences of sexual harassment that those who identify as women frequently face. However, most incidents go unreported, leaving transit agencies without information about the magnitude of the problem.

UCLA graduate student researchers worked with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) staff to conduct and analyze a survey on their transit system (Muni) of riders’ experiences with harassment, feelings of safety, and potential policy responses. This effort collected 1,613 responses over a two-week period in February and March 2023 through a partnership with the Transit App, a downloadable service for real-time schedule and location tracking of buses and trains. Similar to previous studies, harassment was common: two-thirds of respondents experienced harassment themselves, and around the same share witnessed it. Safety perceptions declined after dark, with less than a third of respondents feeling safe riding at night. Women and gender minorities experienced greater harassment and lower feelings of safety than their male counterparts. People of color, younger people, and people with disabilities also experienced harassment at higherrates.

The California High-Speed Rail (HSR) project aims to transform transportation in the state. To understand the impact of this project as it “rolls out” across the state, we analyzed its economic benefits across each of its plannedphases, complementing official projections from the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA). Our analysis is based on a spatial economic model of the rail system model previously developed by members of our team. This model captures the direct potential travel benefits of the HSR project, such as quicker and sometimes cheaper transportation, for commuters, business travelers, and leisure travelers. It also captures wider economic benefits such as higher wages and land values stemming from greater concentration of employment in more productive areas.

The California High-Speed Rail (HSR) project stands to significantly change transportation across the state, but questions remain about who will benefit most from this massive infrastructure investment. While previous analyses have focused on the aggregate economic benefits of HSR in California, we provide a more nuanced understanding of these benefits for communities across California using a spatial economic model previously developed by members of our team. This model captures the direct potential travel benefits of the HSR project (such as quicker and sometimes cheaper transportation) for commuters, business travelers, and leisure travelers. It also captures wider economic benefits such as higher wages and land values stemming from greater concentration of employment in more productive areas. We examine how these benefits would be distributed across California regions and socioeconomic and income groups. By understanding the potential disparities in the impact of the HSR project, policymakers can develop complementary policies to promote more balanced economic development across regions in the state.