SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS OF THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF URBAN VEHICLE ACCESS REGULATIONS

Abstract

Heavy motorisation in the wake of increasing urbanisation is one of the significant transport problems cities face today. There are practical measures under the panoply of urban vehicle access regulations (UVARs) used to stimulate sustainable mobility behaviour changes in the urban population and reduce reliance on passenger car travel. However, the adoption and implementation of such measures are often riddled with challenges, particularly building public acceptability and preserving social justice. Overcoming these challenges will also require cities to understand how the mobility needs of residents change over time. Considering the limitations of conventional data-collection and monitoring approaches, this study explored and analysed the public perception of UVARs over 12 years through natural language processing techniques using social media as a data source. The results show that UVARs are a prominent topic in public discussion and that the average sentiment expressed in tweets tended to be more positive than negative, with a gradual increase observed over the 12-year study period. In addition, the patterns observed in the data and the topics modelled were consistent with the events and talking points in society related to UVARs. Hence, this study demonstrates that social media data can help policymakers assess public sentiments during the ideation, design, implementation, and operational phases of UVARs and other transport policy measures.