Investigation of Emerging Mobility Preferences and Attitudes in a Suburban Context

Abstract: Over the past several decades, numerous innovations have emerged to address transportation challenges, including but not limited to climate change, access and equity, congestion, and meeting diverse mobility needs. These efforts have led to advances in ridehailing services, autonomous vehicles (AVs), shared and efficient micromobility options like e-bikes and e-scooters, and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platforms. Additionally, microtransit solutions – such as on-demand shuttles and vanpool services – are being implemented to complement traditional public transportation systems. Most research and planning efforts aimed at understanding the role and adoption of these technological advances have focused primarily on major metropolitan areas with strong urban elements. This urban-centric metropolitan focus of prior research leaves a critical gap in understanding the mobility preferences and needs of suburban communities, which are often underserved by traditional transit systems and remain quite auto-oriented with respect to their transportation focus. This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing the mobility priorities and current and future transportation preferences of residents in a fast-growing suburban community in the Southwestern United States, with a population of approximately 75,000. The town has minimal transit service and limited infrastructure for biking and walking. A comprehensive survey was conducted to explore the extent to which residents were satisfied with current transportation options, the willingness of residents to adopt new mobility technologies, and resident preferences and priorities for future investments in microtransit, micromobility, MaaS, AVs, traditional transit, and roadways. The findings highlight key findings on how suburban communities view and prioritize transportation solutions, especially in comparison to urban contexts typically emphasized in previous studies. The results underscore the importance of customizing mobility innovations to meet the unique needs of suburban populations, addressing challenges such as longer travel distances, limited public transit access, greater presence of children, and a greater reliance on personal vehicles.