Implications For Transport Policy Research Articles

Factors Influencing Transportation Mode Preferences for Educational Trips Among Dormitory Resident University Students in Kütahya, Türkiye

This study explores the transportation behaviors of university students residing in dormitories in Kütahya, Türkiye, emphasizing their preferred modes for educational trips. Utilizing a Multinomial Logit model, the research analyzes the influence of socio-demographic factors, trip characteristics, and environmental perceptions on mode choice. The results indicate that public transport and walking are the predominant modes, with significant negative associations being observed between car ownership and the likelihood of choosing these sustainable options. Key findings reveal that, as trip distances increase, students are more likely to use public transport, while higher income levels decrease reliance on both public transport and walking. Male students demonstrate a higher preference for these modes compared to female students. Environmental perceptions, including feelings of safety and satisfaction with infrastructure, play a critical role in shaping transportation choices, highlighting the need for improved lighting, walkability, and public transport quality. These insights have important implications for transportation policy, suggesting that reducing private vehicle reliance and enhancing public transport services can significantly promote sustainable travel behaviors. Overall, the study underscores the importance of comprehensive transportation policies that not only enhance infrastructure and service quality but also consider environmental perceptions and safety to promote sustainable travel behaviors among university students.

Disability-specific factors in paratransit system continuance: Implications for transportation policy and practice in low-income developing countries

ObjectiveTransportation systems are a basis of disability-related activity involvement in society. In Tehran, the capital of Iran, a paratransit system for disabled people has been operating since 2013, but the market share is gradually losing for reasons unknown to practitioners. Although paratransit systems for people with disabilities exist in many cities, no comprehensive study has been completed to identify attitudinal and contextual barriers to the continuance intention to use the system, particularly in a low-income developing country. Thus, due to limitations faced by qualified experts in this field, the adoption of efficient transportation policy and engineering interventions is still limited. Methods and analysisThe Technology Continuance Theory (TCT) is employed in this study as a structural equation modeling framework to analyze and quantify relationships based on the data gathered by face-to-face interviews. The mediation/moderation analyses in this paper reveal that (i) stress, (ii) self-efficacy, (ii) social isolation, (iv) mode captivity, (v) experience of usage, and (vi) type of disability are of prime importance in disabled people's intention to reuse the paratransit system. Main findingsStress is examined through serial mediation analysis. The analysis reveals that stress due to the system's uncertain attributes significantly influences satisfaction. Self-efficacy and social isolation are presented for the moderation and moderated-mediation analyses. It is found that the urban mobility performance of the system is of more importance to disabled people with lower self-efficacy (high social isolation); however, their stress is not significantly reduced even by increasing the usefulness of the system. The mode captivity is also redefined in this context and entered as a moderator. It is found that, for captive riders, satisfaction does not have a dominating role in the intention to use the paratransit system, as the users are constrained by taking what is available or nothing. The usage experience is another moderator, and our analysis shows that attitude is a determinant of behavior for long-term users, while satisfaction with a transient effect is a dominating factor for short-term ones. Finally, the users are categorized by type of disability, and the moderation analysis shows that for people with physical disabilities, the system's performance is the most influential factor in their satisfaction, while for people with sensory disabilities, other factors related to amenity, safety, and support are also prominent. ImplicationsThis paper ultimately presents explicit and thorough policy considerations and practical implications. The article's concluding remark will comprise a disclosure of previously undisclosed insights that underlie the study's findings.

Assessing the impact of low-speed limit zones' policy implications on cyclist safety: Evidence from the UK

As part of the shift in policy to promote active travel, the UK's Manual for Streets (MfS) guidance proposed new approaches for priority intersections design in residential areas, promoting lower geometric visibilities for drivers on minor road arms to reduce collision severity, and the low-speed (i.e., 20 mph) limit zone policy. However, the relationship between speed, visibility, and collisions has not been explored comprehensively for these low-speed limit residential areas. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of shorter visibilities on vehicle-bicycle collisions at priority intersections in Portsmouth, UK. Using piecewise Structural Equations Modeling and Artificial Neural Network models, 120 locations in the city were analysed to understand the complex interplay between vehicles' speed, speed limits, visibilities, geometries, traffic flows, and collisions. The research question was whether shorter visibilities supported policy intentions by reducing bicycle collisions in low-speed limit areas, as MfS suggested. The results show that greater visibility 9 m back to left and right positively correlates with higher road traffic collisions. In comparison, greater left-hand visibility at 2.4 m back from minor arms has a counter-effect that improves safety. This supports the notion that shorter visibility in residential areas aid cyclist safety. This study contributes significantly to the literature by shedding light on the impact of shorter visibility on road safety. The findings have important implications for transportation policy and practice, highlighting the importance of the MfS approach for improving cyclist safety in the design of priority intersections.

Competition in cargo and passenger between high-speed rail and airlines—considering the vertical structure of transportation

High-speed rail (HSR) services are experiencing rapid global expansion, posing competition not only in the traditional passenger sector but also challenging air cargo with their attributes of speed and punctuality. In this study, we establish a straightforward model for air-HSR competition in both passenger and cargo markets, taking into account the vertical structure of transportation supply chain. We explore various market equilibria based on the combination of three factors: 1) HSR's provision of cargo services, 2) the integration or separation of HSR's ownership and operation, and 3) uniform or differentiated airport administrative fees for passenger and cargo airlines. The analytical results of our model indicate that the entry of HSR into the cargo market consistently enhances social welfare and may even improve the profit of cargo airlines. However, if airports adopt uniform pricing or there is vertical separation in HSR sector, this could potentially weaken the positive impact on welfare enhancement. These findings have important implications for transportation policy, highlighting how strategic management of infrastructure can significantly influence the effectiveness and societal benefits of HSR's expansion into cargo services.

Mobility for the people: Equity requirements in US shared micromobility programs

Shared micromobility services including bikeshare and shared e-scooters have proliferated in the U.S., but barriers continue to limit their use by some travelers. Cities and transportation agencies have attempted to overcome access disparities by establishing equity-oriented policy requirements for shared micromobility programs. Yet no clear picture exists of either their prevalence or specific components. To address this gap, we asked and answered two questions: 1) What equity requirements do shared micromobility programs include? and 2) to what extent are programs monitored and evaluated? We collected policy data for 239 shared micromobility programs across the U.S. We focused on equity requirements across three dimensions: process, implementation, and evaluation. We found that 62% of shared micromobility programs had at least one equity requirement, although fewer than half (46%) included more than one, suggesting potential challenges for travelers facing intersectional barriers. Less than one-third of programs (29%) included process-equity requirements for targeted outreach to marginalized or underserved communities. Implementation requirements included smartphone alternative (36% of programs), cash payment compatibility (33%), reduced rates (32%), multilingual services (26%), adaptive vehicles for users with disabilities (5%), and mandated geographic service areas (30%). Finally, while most programs (83%) required data reporting from private companies, far fewer published public-facing evaluation reports (27%) or specified compliance language related to equity (15%). The language and conditions of requirements varied dramatically across programs. Findings reveal implications for transportation policy, including a need for micromobility programs to focus on access and outcomes during program evaluation.

Reexamining the built environment, commuting and life satisfaction: Longitudinal evidence for gendered relationships

There is considerable interest in identifying factors of life satisfaction. However, current evidence on its relationships with the built environment (BE) and commuting has been limited to cross-sectional analyses, and few studies have identified gender differences in their links. Using two-wave survey data of 1002 pairs of spouses collected in 2014 and 2016, the study investigates the longitudinal relationships between the residential BE, commuting attributes, and life satisfaction and how the relationships differ between spouses. The results of cross-lagged models suggest that the residential BE and commuting attributes have significant effects on life satisfaction within each wave. Those who commute by active modes are more likely to have lower life satisfaction in the near future. All residential BE variables show lagged effects on husbands' life satisfaction, whereas only residential density and entropy matter to wives. The findings offer implications for transport policies and BE planning.

How do road infrastructure investments affect Powered Two-Wheelers crash risk?

The drivers of Powered Two-Wheelers (PTWs) pertain to the collective of so-called vulnerable road users. Crashes have scarcely decreased for these roadway users in recent years, whereas among other users, e.g. cars users, they have declined considerably. Meanwhile, the use of PTWs has risen sharply worldwide. This situation adds a further concern to transportation policies and makes evident the need to explore factors involved in PTW crashes. Yet there is a lack of studies specifically about road safety for PTWs. The present study therefore aspires to advance in the knowledge of the factors affecting PTW crashes on interurban roadways, by means of analyzing the effects of some variables not considered previously in this type of studies —mainly economic resources invested in roads—while also accounting specifically for the exposure to risk of PTWs (veh-km), along with relevant variables related to road traffic, the roadway infrastructure, and socioeconomic, meteorological and legislative factors. To this end, and bearing in mind the latest advancements of incorporating unobserved heterogeneity in count data models, different configurations of random parameters negative binomial models for data panels are presented. The realm of study is the network of national roads in Spain, distributed over 43 provinces, and the time period between 2007 and 2015. The results show significant associations for 11 of the variables considered: annual and accumulated investment in construction, expense on maintenance, proportion of motorways, light and heavy vehicle traffic, per capita GDP, age, unemployment rate, price of gasoline, and modification of the demerit point system (DPS). With respect to transport policy implications, the findings provided in this study may serve to monitor the effects of economic resources allocated to road construction and maintenance —along with other measures, such as gasoline prices and DPS—on PTWs safety.

Who is returning to public transport for non-work trips after COVID-19? Evidence from older citizens' smart cards in the UK's second largest city region

Harnessing a unique data source – longitudinal travel smartcard data linked to passenger demographics from 2019 to 2022 – we use methods of survival analysis to model the recovery of public transport patronage among 183,891 senior citizens resident in the West Midlands metropolitan region in the United Kingdom. Comparing pre and peri-pandemic patronage, we identify pronounced social and spatial inequalities in the speed of return to public transport. We find that male, younger and non-White passengers are more likely to return to public transport as soon as movement restrictions were lifted, whereas passengers from White ethnic background and affluent areas do not return to public transport within the first year after the outbreak. Pronounced social inequalities persist into the middle of 2021, and only thence they began to attenuate as part of a wider return to public transport among passengers post retirement age. In 2022, 80% of these passengers have returned to public transport but the frequency of use has remained lower than prior to the pandemic. We discuss implications for transport policy and planning.

A latent class analysis to understand riders' adoption of on-demand mobility services as a complement to transit.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11116-022-10351-3.

Regional public transportation safety risk grading assessment under time dimension: A case study of Chinese mainland

Traffic risk hinders the development of human society. Due to the influence of weather and climate, the traffic risks vary in different time periods. This paper innovatively reconstructs the criterion system for evaluating regional traffic safety risk from a time series perspective. On the basis of the novel criterion system, this paper proposes a monthly dimension regional public traffic safety risk grading model with Analytic Hierarchy Process Sort II (AHPSort II) and Criteria Importance Though Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) (i.e., AHPSort II-CRITIC method), in which, AHPSort II is used to obtain the traffic safety risk levels of different regions, and the CRITIC is used to determine the weight vector of the criteria system. The proposed method is applied to evaluate the regional traffic safety risk levels of 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in the Chinese mainland and some cities in Hubei province in the whole year of 2019. The results of this paper show that the traffic safety risk levels are high in June, July, and August, and the performances of other months are relatively more optimistic. Finally, this paper puts forward some transport policy implications, which provide a suitable basis for policy formulation to reduce regional traffic safety risk.

A Critical Review of Hyperloop (Ultra-High Speed Rail) Technology: Urban and Transport Planning, Technical, Environmental, Economic, and Human Considerations

Companies globally have been trying to alter existing transportation systems to maximize public transport benefits, especially in the sector of high-speed (HS) ground transportation. The latest invention of such is Elon Musk's ultra-high-speed rail (UHSR), hyperloop. This technology enables a rail service to operate at a potential speed of 1,200 km/h. Hyperloop's ambitious speed goal has the potential to result in time-space shrinkage, which would then make distant cities more accessible with greatly reduced travel times. Since 2013, several companies have been vigorously promoting hyperloop development in various locations worldwide and competing to construct the world's first functional and commercially viable hyperloop. India, a country struggling with existing public transportation and urban mobility needs, agreed to construct a hyperloop through the company “Virgin Hyperloop One.” This paper first investigates the key technical, environmental, economic and human considerations in assessing the applicability of hyperloop to a particular location. It also considers in some detail the likely urban and regional planning and transport policy implications of the hyperloop technology based on the known effects of existing high-speed rail (HSR) systems. The paper concludes that many of the claims about hyperloop are subject to contrary information, meaning that great caution and prudence are currently needed regarding attempts at commercial deployment.

Welfare costs of travel reductions within the United States due to COVID-19.

Using daily county‐level travel data within the United States, this paper investigates the welfare costs of travel reductions due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) for the period between 20 January and 5 September 2020. Welfare of individuals (related to their travel) is measured by their inter‐county and intra‐county travel, where travel costs are measured by the corresponding distance measures. Important transport policy implications follow regarding how policymakers can act to mitigate welfare costs of travel reductions without worsening the COVID‐19 spread.

Building back better: The COVID-19 pandemic and transport policy implications for a developing megacity

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected human mobility via lockdowns, social distancing rules, home quarantines, and the full or partial suspension of transportation. Evidence-based policy recommendations are urgently needed to ensure that transport systems have resilience to future pandemic outbreaks, particularly within Global South megacities where demand for public transport is high and reduced access can exacerbate socio-economic inequalities. This study focuses on Metro Manila – a characteristic megacity that experienced one of the most stringent lockdowns worldwide. It analyzes aggregated cell phone and GPS data from Google and Apple that provide a comprehensive representation of mobility behavior before and during the lockdown. While significant decreases are observed for all transport modes, public transport experienced the largest drop (−74.5 %, on average). The study demonstrates that: (i) those most reliant on public transport were disproportionately affected by lockdowns; (ii) public transport was unable to fulfil its role as public service; and, (iii) this drove a paradigm shift towards active mobility. Moving forwards, in the short-term policymakers must promote active mobility and prioritize public transport to reduce unequal access to transport. Longer-term, policymakers must leverage the increased active transport to encourage modal shift via infrastructure investment, and better utilize big data to support decision-making.

Integrated impacts of public transport travel and travel satisfaction on quality of life of older people

This study identifies the relationship between individual's travel and their perceived Quality of Life (QoL). We consider two variables for travel reflecting its objective/quantitative and subjective dimensions. The observed one is a measure based on public transport trip frequency and travel duration obtained from smart card data. The second is the perceived level of Travel Satisfaction which is obtained by survey data. This study is conducted in Shizuoka city, a mid-size city in Japan where we could obtain and link both data sets. We focus particularly on aging effects and therefore divide the data samples into three groups, non-elderly (less than 65 year), younger-old (65–74 years), and older-old (over 75 years). Older people show in general higher travel satisfaction. Regression analysis with travel satisfaction as dependent variable indicate the importance of travel opportunity for older-old. We then identify the relative importance of mobility on QoL considering both objective and subjective one and discuss transport policy implications for an aging society based on these results. The results provide support that public transport systems are determinants of its usage, travel satisfaction and eventually QoL. These relationships are most evident for younger-old but less significant for older-old.

COVID-19 and Welfare Costs of Reduced Mobility

Using daily county-level travel data within the U.S., this paper investigates the welfare costs of travel reductions due to COVID-19 for the period between January 20th and September 5th, 2020. Welfare of individuals (related to their travel) is measured by their inter-county and intra-county travel, where travel costs are measured by the corresponding distance measures. Important transport policy implications follow regarding how policy makers can act to mitigate welfare costs of travel reductions without worsening the COVID-19 spread.

The Response of Urban Travel Mode Choice to Parking Fees considering Travel Time Variability

Increasing automobile use leads to higher costs for traveling associated with emissions, congestion, noise, and other impacts. One option to address this is to introduce high parking charges to reduce the demand for automobile use and encourage the travel mode switch to public transport. To estimate commuters’ mode choice behavior in response to high parking fees, commuters from Nanjing completed an individually customized discrete choice survey in which they chose between driving and taking the bus or metro when choices varied in terms of time and cost attributes. Multinomial logit models were used to estimate commuters’ responses to high parking charges. In the models, the variability of travel times is considered and analyzed in the stated mode choice models. The results suggest that increases in costs of driving will lead to a great reduction in driving demand. The travel time reliability ratio is 0.50 and the value of each minute late is almost 5.0 times more than the average travel time with the restriction of the maximum allowed delays. The methods used in this study could be adopted to estimate the effect of variable pricing strategies on mode choice responses for different trip purposes. The high value given to travel time variability has implications for transport policy in terms of decision making with respect to new pricing strategies. Moreover, the valuation of travel time savings taken into account in this study would be helpful to better understand the effect of high parking fees.

Built environment and leisure satisfaction: The role of commute time, social interaction, and active travel

Leisure satisfaction is an important life domain with significant contribution to health and well-being. However, little evidence exists on how the built environment influences leisure satisfaction. This paper develops, applies, and tests a new model on the built environment and leisure satisfaction. The paper relies on survey, interview, and spatial data collected within Oslo metropolitan area and employs structural equation modeling (SEM) combined with qualitative analysis. Findings suggest that built environment characteristics can significantly affect leisure activities and leisure satisfaction. Urban greenness and local amenities are found to positively influence leisure satisfaction. High neighborhood density and proximity to city center are also found to influence leisure satisfaction, but they do it indirectly. Compact built environments exert a negative indirect impact on leisure satisfaction via reduced urban green space, and positive indirect impacts via higher access to local amenities, shorter commutes, and increased social interaction. Short commute time, social interaction, active travel such as walking and cycling, and overall physical activity are all found to positively contribute to leisure satisfaction. Based on all these findings, the paper finally discusses land use and transport policy implications for improving leisure satisfaction, health, and well-being in urban regions.

Do residential location effects on travel behavior differ between the elderly and younger adults?

The built environment affects individuals’ travel behavior in a variety of dimensions, such as trip generation, mode choice, and travel duration. However, it is not well understood how these effects differ across different socioeconomic groups (e.g. the elderly versus younger adults) and how residential self-selection contributes to these differences. Using the 2013 Nanjing (China) Travel Survey data, this study estimates the differential responsiveness to the variation in residential location for different age groups. The two-step clustering method is applied to characterize two types of residential locations and the propensity score matching approach is utilized to address self-selection effects. We find that, after control for self-selection, residential location effects on travel behavior differ significantly between the elderly (60+ years old) and younger respondents (18–59 years old). Changes in the living environment play a more important role in influencing the elderly’s travel frequency and travel duration than those of younger adults. When we compare the observed effects of residential location, self-selection effects are modest for the elderly while they matter to a great extent for younger adults. In addition, due to differences in residential self-selection, there is an underestimation of residential location effects on the elderly’s travel behavior versus an overestimation of those for younger adults. These findings indicate that overlooking the variation of built environment effects between different age groups may lead to ineffective housing and transportation policy implications.

Perceptions of Gender, Mobility, and Personal Safety: South Africa Moving Forward

Transport users make mode choices based on a variety of factors. These factors are economic or service driven, based on individual roles, habits, and interests, as well as age, life cycle stage, and gender. Analysis reflects different mobility patterns for males and females relating to care activities. Literature suggests that experiences of harassment have a significant effect on user choices. This study examines how South African data compares with international studies. Mode use and trip purposes, distances, and times differ depending on gender and are affected by the experience of harassment, which affects females more than males. Analyzing trip making in South Africa revealed that travel modes, distances, and times are not significantly different across gender. South African females make fewer trips than males, but significantly more care trips. Different modes of public transport score differently regarding potential experience of harassment, with trains performing the worst. The reason mode choice is not significantly different between females and males is assumed to be because of financial reasons. Investigating harassment perception in Cape Town reveals that females experience harassment more often and this influences their choices regarding care trips. These findings have significant implications for transport policy in South Africa and suggest that more nuanced policies are required.

The determinants of customers’ intention to use smart lockers for last-mile deliveries

Anchored on the resource matching, perceived value, and transaction cost economics theories, this study analyses the determinants of customers' intention to use smart lockers for last-mile deliveries. Based on stratified sampling, survey data were collected from 230 smart locker users in China and analysed using structural equation modelling. The results show that the effects of convenience, privacy security, and reliability on customers’ intention are fully mediated by perceived value and transaction costs. This study enriches theoretical research on self-service technologies in last-mile deliveries, offers insights into consumer behavioural research on computer–human interactions, and provides implications for transport policy.