AGP Community Planning Café – 2019-2020 - 7th Installment

Thursday, March 12, 2020 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

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Speakers: Dr. Matthias Sweet, RPP and
Dr. Raktim Mitra

Dr. Matthias Sweet, RPP

  • Topic: On-demand ride-hailing in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area: Who are users?  And how has this changed?

Dr. Raktim Mitra, Associate Director

  • Topic: StudentMoveTO: Insight to Action on Post-secondary Students’ Transportation Behaviour


Matthias Sweet is a faculty member at the Ryerson University, School of Urban & Regional Planning and Co-Director, with Dr. Raktim Mitra, of TransForm (transformlab.ryerson.ca).  In previous work, he has investigated the role of transportation services in transportation-land use interactions, regional spatial structure and change, firm location decisions, travel behaviour and services, and regional urban economic growth and restructuring. He received his Ph.D. in City & Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012, his MA in Geography from the University of Georgia in 2004, and his BA in Geography from Appalachian State University in 2001. 

Topic Abstract:
On-demand ride-hailing provided by transportation network companies (TNCs), such as Uber and Lyft, represents one of several new mobility options changing urban travel.  But who is using Uber and Lyft?  And how has this changed over time?  This study contributes towards the existing literature on technology adoption cycles by exploring rapid changes in ride-hailing adoption in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, in Ontario, Canada between 2016 and 2018.  First, descriptive findings based on cluster analysis results are presented on travel sub-market characteristics of ride-hailing users in 2018.   Next, both descriptive statistics and inferential model results are presented related to changes in ride-hailing use between 2016 and 2018.  Both logit and probit models are used to estimate the predictors of ride-hailing adoption and intensity using data from a household travel survey collected as repeated cross-sections in 2016 (N=3,201) and 2018 (N=3,200).  This presentation compares the relative strength of geographic patterns and demographic characteristics in accounting for changes in ride-hailing adoption and rates.  Results suggest that while demographics play significant roles, urban primacy (both along municipal boundaries and among neighborhoods in the region) are critical. 


Dr. Raktim Mitra is the Associate Director and Associate Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning, and Co-Director of TransForm Laboratory at Ryerson University. His research focuses on the intersection between neighbourhood built-environment and transportation, and more particularly walking and cycling in urban and suburban neighbourhoods. Dr. Mitra’s current research program explores neighbourhood-level impacts of bicycle infrastructure. He is also the Principal Investigator of a major multi-institutional collaboration called StudentMoveTO - a partnership between 10 GTHA-area universities and colleges to study transportation challenges and wellbeing of post-secondary students. Dr. Mitra is the co-editor of a recently published book titled “Transport and children’s wellbeing”.
In the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), nearly 600,000 post-secondary students travel to/from their school, work and other destinations every day, creating specific demand on the already overcrowded transportation infrastructure including the transit system. Students’ transportation experiences may impact academic performance, campus participation and overall wellbeing, but the travel behaviour of these young adults remain understudied and less discussed in policy. StudentMoveTO is a partnership between universities, community colleges and transportation planning agencies with a goal of producing insights and debate that would lead to improved transportation policy and campus planning in this region. This presentation will discuss the StudentMoveTO program and the unique partnership that enabled high quality one-of-its-kind transportation research. Some empirical results from the 2015 pilot data will be presented, focusing on post-secondary students’ transportation “lifestyles”, and the relationship between commuting and campus participation. 

Topic Abstract: 
In the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), nearly 600,000 post-secondary students travel to/from their school, work and other destinations every day, creating specific demand on the already overcrowded transportation infrastructure including the transit system. Students’ transportation experiences may impact academic performance, campus participation and overall wellbeing, but the travel behaviour of these young adults remain understudied and less discussed in policy. StudentMoveTO is a partnership between universities, community colleges and transportation planning agencies with a goal of producing insights and debate that would lead to improved transportation policy and campus planning in this region. This presentation will discuss the StudentMoveTO program and the unique partnership that enabled high quality one-of-its-kind transportation research. Some empirical results from the 2015 pilot data will be presented, focusing on post-secondary students’ transportation “lifestyles”, and the relationship between commuting and campus participation. 


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Everyone is welcome to attend!

Light refreshments will be provided.

For more information about this event please contact AGP.