Shared Mobility

Transportation services in which vehicles, rides, or trips are shared among multiple users, including ridesharing (Uber, Lyft), carsharing (Zipcar), bikesharing, scooter-sharing, microtransit, and — increasingly — autonomous-vehicle shuttles. Shared mobility is relevant to accessibility because it promises to reduce the cost and availability barriers that keep many disabled people from owning a private vehicle, but most shared-mobility services were not designed with accessibility in mind: wheelchair-accessible vehicle supply is low, driver refusals persist, smartphone-only booking excludes users without reliable phones or digital access, and emerging autonomous shuttles remove the human driver who previously provided informal assistance with entry, seat-finding, and exit.