Rafal Kucharski Lab | Alexander Schmaus

I was on a research stay at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science of Jagiellonian University in Krakow in 2025. My PhD at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Technical University of Berlin examines ride-pooling dynamics and their impact on sustainable public transport systems.

List of main publications and preprints

An urban shared pooled mobility system cuts distance travelled by over 50%

Schmaus, Alexander, Creutzig, Felix, Koch, Nicolas, Nachtigall, Florian, and Molkenthin, Nora

Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 2025

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Shared pooled mobility has the potential to reduce both the necessary number of private vehicles and the total driven distance. Here, we use logged car trips in Berlin as input for ride-pooling simulations to analyze the technical potential − assuming a complete switch from private to shared mobility. We measure the share of sharable trips, average vehicle occupancy, relative passenger travel time, and relative driven distance compared to individual driving. In the entire area of Berlin, we observe that a ride-pooling system with 26,500 vehicles could replace all 1,09 million private vehicles and their trips. The travel time is 55% higher, the average vehicle occupancy increases 2.1-fold, and the overall distance traveled is reduced by 61%. Our results demonstrate that system-wide urban efficiency and quality of life benefits − elimination of congestion and gain of public space for people − would come at higher time costs for commuters.
Environ. Res. Lett.

Shared pooled mobility: expert review from nine disciplines and implications for an emerging transdisciplinary research agenda

Creutzig, Felix, Schmaus, Alexander, Ayaragarnchanakul, Eva, Becker, Sophia, Falchetta, Giacomo, Hu, Jiawei, Goletz, Mirko, Guéret, Adeline, Nagel, Kai, Schild, Jonas, and others,

Environmental Research Letters 2024

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Shared pooled mobility has been hailed as a sustainable mobility solution that uses digital innovation to efficiently bundle rides. Multiple disciplines have started investigating and analyzing shared pooled mobility systems. However, there is a lack of cross-community communication making it hard to build upon knowledge from other fields or know which open questions may be of interest to other fields. Here, we identify and review 9 perspectives: transdisciplinary social sciences, social physics, transport simulations, urban and energy economics, psychology, climate change solutions, and the Global South research and provide a common terminology. We identify more than 25 000 papers, with more than 100 fold variation in terms of literature count between research perspectives. Our review demonstrates the intellectual attractivity of this as a novel perceived mode of transportation, but also highlights that real world economics may limit its viability, if not supported with concordant incentives and regulation. We then sketch out cross-disciplinary open questions centered around (1) optimal configuration of ride-pooling systems, (2) empirical studies, and (3) market drivers and implications for the economics of ride-pooling. We call for researchers of different disciplines to actively exchange results and views to advance a transdisciplinary research agenda.