Portland State University

In a mere ten years, public bike-sharing systems have exploded from operating in a few select European cities to expanding in North America at a pace of nearly two dozen cities per year in recent years. The majority of academic research to date has focused either on the complex logistics of designing and operating systems or else on broad comparisons across systems. Investigations of system users and local impacts have only just begun. As cities plan and launch their systems, a tension has ar... Read More

Traditionally, travel is considered a disutility to be minimized, and travel demand is derived from activity demand. Recently, scholars have questioned these axioms, noting that some people may like to travel, use travel time productively, find other benefits in traveling, or travel for non-utilitarian reasons. These are instances of “the positive utility of travel” (PUT). In this dissertation, I conceptually and empirically investigate PUT, its determinants, and its impacts on travel behavio... Read More