Urban Mobility Services Research Articles

Evaluation of the Accessibility to Urban Mobility Services with High Spatial Resolution—Case Study: Valencia (Spain)

This paper aims to evaluate the accessibility to urban mobility services with high spatial resolution. The methodology identifies the percentage of the population living within walking distance of the different public transport and shared mobility systems. The motivation for this study stems from the importance of understanding and improving sustainable urban mobility, as well as the need to evaluate the effectiveness of transportation infrastructure. The study involved creating buffers from each station following the road network according to urban design to identify areas within a 5-min walk, then calculating the affected population by age range within these zones to ensure equity. This method determined the percentage of the population with access to available mobility services: bike renting, urban bus, intercity bus, metro, taxi, tram and train. The application of the methodology to the Valencia case study underscores the overall strong accessibility of mobility services. The main results indicate access to mobility services for 99.98% of the total population of the city. The accessibility percentages for specific mobility services vary, with urban bus and bike renting showing high accessibility, while train and tram services exhibit lower accessibility rates. Additionally, the study extends its assessment to the peri-urban area, revealing a global access percentage of 46.33%. In conclusion, this study allows us to identify areas with lower accessibility and help to improve the sustainability of urban mobility. These findings can aid urban planners and policymakers by providing valuable insights into the city’s mobility network’s strengths and areas for improvement.

Urban Air Mobility demand forecasting: modeling evidence from the case study of Milan (Italy)

This paper presents the results of a demand forecasting study about the introduction of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) services in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy). Demand forecasting is based on random utility mode choice models, which include factors related to the individuals’ perception of vertical take-off/landing and low altitude flying over urbanized areas. The use cases of UAM services include airport shuttles, intercity air connections, and “air-taxis”, i.e., UAM services for short-trips within the metropolitan area. Several scenarios have been considered based on the number of access points (“vertiports”) and UAM fare levels. The results indicate that airport shuttles have a modal share of trips to/from airports (for both business and leisure) in a range of 2-5%. They resulted to be more attractive than air-taxis, which have a modal share in a range of 1-3%. Furthermore, the probability of choosing UAM services for intercity travels decreases with the distance and the time required for access/egress to/from the vertiports, whose catchment areas are dependent on the level of service provided by competing modes (notably the presence of good railway and highway connections).

Sustainable Business Models for Innovative Urban Mobility Services

Any sharing mobility service aims to make urban mobility sustainable to help reduce environmental impacts and improve the quality of life for all in cities. Many transport services are not currently self-sustainable. The Life for Silver Coast (LifeSC) opened its mobility services on 22 May 2021 and offered electric mobility services during the summer for a few cities in Tuscany. E-bikes and e-scooters can be financially neutral, and even profitable, thanks to the low costs of the vehicles, but they only see a high utilization rate in winter. Shared electric cars, meanwhile, are not profitable. A new shared service that is viable must be profitable to become widely adopted and significantly contribute to sustainability. A few key characteristics have been identified, and one has been tested with a new business model that combines ride-sharing and car-sharing. The innovative Ride Sharing Algorithm (RSA) has been tested based on data from a potential city, Monterondo, where many commuters travel daily to Rome by train. The Italian census and local survey data allowed for the simulation of the scheduling of vehicle rides and an evaluation of the economic results, which could be positive if enough interest for such a system exists among the people, as at least 400 commuters from Monterotondo go to the train station daily in the morning and return in the afternoon. Such a transport demand would justify a new commercial sharing service by using the model tested with the RSA algorithm.

Clarifying new urban mobility services based on a threefold business model framework

Market entrants have brought a variety of new urban mobility services over the past years, which are rooted in the sharing economy and have their origin in digitalization. Digital data serve as key resource of a business model and, accordingly, digital technologies are the basis of key activities. Building our analysis on the resource-based view and on the business model debate, we ask: what degrees of digitalization do urban mobility service business models exhibit? We perform a systematic literature review and a qualitative content analysis. As a result, we identify a continuum of highly and lowly digitalized business models. We derive a threefold business model framework, substantiated in conventional mobility, hybrid, and data-driven business models. (1) Conventional mobility business models are dominated by mobility as a key resource, digitalization is low and performed by key partners, (2) hybrid models contain both conventional mobility and data-driven key resources, and (3) data-driven models take digital data as key resources, while conventional mobility is carried out by key partners. As a first main contribution, we conceptualize conventional versus purely data-driven business models along the continuum of data-driven business model components. New urban mobility services are the group of both hybrid and data-driven business models, while conventional urban mobility stands on its own. As a second contribution, we clarify the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) concept by corroborating it as a purely data-driven business model with key partners provisioning mobility.

Avaliação da resiliência por indicadores de sustentabilidade em municípios da Bacia Hidrográfica Baixo Pardo/Grande

Population growth has created challenges in the urban environment for basic sanitation, health, education and urban mobility services. In this context, the use of indicators for the management of urban services stands out as a tool for analyzing quality of life, which motivated the proposal of 128 indicators by NBR ISO 37120:2021. The aim of this research was to assess the resilience of the Baixo Pardo/Grande Water Resources Management Unit (UGHRI 12) using sustainability indicators. The method consisted of selecting indicators with information available on a digital basis, standardizing indicators (scale 0 and 1) to assess local and regional sustainability and, finally, analyzing the potential for urban resilience based on sustainable development indicators. Thirteen indicators were selected in advance and, to identify sustainability, the arithmetic mean of the standardized values was calculated. So far, the main results show that the majority of municipalities (75.0%) have an overall score between 0.50 and 0.65, one (8.3%) is above 0.70 and two (16.7%) are below 0.50, which means that they may face the greatest challenge in tackling resilience associated with sustainability, which negates the central hypothesis. So far, the SDG with the most information available in a digital database has been SDG 6. The main contribution was to point out the local and regional scenario for achieving sustainability, in order to highlight the weak points in this river basin.

Integrating fuzzy multicriteria decision making approach for improving the quality of urban mobility services in developing countries

Integrating fuzzy multicriteria decision making approach for improving the quality of urban mobility services in developing countries

Building a system of diagnostics of problem areas in the management of business processes of the organization

Aim. To develop and formulate an algorithm that allows timely diagnosing and eliminating problems in business processes.Objectives. To consider and systematize the main signs of problems in business processes; to determine the main sources, causes of losses and inefficiency; to formulate an algorithm that allows to assess the effectiveness of the process; to test the proposed algorithm for assessing the effectiveness of business processes on the example of a specific organization.Methods. The authors used the methods of descriptive literature review and statistical data analysis. The research includes the study and analysis of scientific articles, reports of scientific conferences and other publications related to the subject of the article. The analysis of statistical data is based on the performance of the organization, in particular the operator of urban mobility services. All data used for calculations are of a conditional nature.Results. In the process of research the works of modern authors related to the analysis of efficiency and diagnostics of problems in business processes are considered and generalized. In the mentioned works some theoretical aspects of the topic are widely and in detail studied, which are then systematized by the authors of the present study. As a result, an algorithm has been formed that allows in practice to monitor the efficiency of business processes of the organization, as well as to diagnose possible problems in a timely manner. When testing this approach in practice, in the context of the analysis of business processes in the organization, the following results were obtained: a number of critical problems in business processes that have a negative impact on the result of activity were identified; a plan to improve their efficiency was developed and implemented.Conclusions. The process approach is one of the most successful tools to improve the efficiency of the organization. Optimal operation of all key and essential business processes ultimately affects the company’s result. The operating conditions of an organization are constantly changing under the influence of a dynamic business environment. One of the most important elements of the efficiency management system for business processes, and consequently for the business as a whole, is a properly formed set of indicative indicators reflecting the progress of each process. The choice of indicators should be based primarily on the strategic goals of the organization, cascaded down to the level of individual processes. The study confirmed the hypothesis that the risks of efficiency reduction can be identified in advance and in a timely manner with the help of a correctly constructed system of simple control indicators. For these purposes, taking into account the concept of lean production and continuous improvement, as well as on the basis of the classification of losses set out in it, a questionnaire for express analysis of business process efficiency has been developed.

Strategic integration of vertiport planning in multimodal transportation for urban air mobility: A case study in Beijing, China

In pursuit of strategic sustainable development goals, this study seeks to analyze the spatial placement of vertiports for urban air mobility, positioning them as integral components within the multimodal transportation system. We propose an iterative weighted k-means clustering method that incorporates the value of travel time of different transportation modes to identify potential vertiport locations. A multi-objective optimization model that maximizes total air taxi ridership and minimizes total facility costs and travel distances to vertiports is developed considering the constraints of the distance from vertiports to existing mobility hubs. A case study is conducted using the data of Beijing city, incorporating the modes of taxis and metro. We found that 19 vertiports can guarantee a robust performance of urban air mobility service. Users of urban air mobility can benefit from substantial travel time savings of 80% (48 min on average). This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the optimal setting of urban air mobility facilities from the perspective of network synchronization, offering useful insights into policy decision-making for sustainable infrastructure planning.

Sustainable Time-Dependent Cheapest Path Problem with Integrated Collaborative Stakeholders’ Perspectives

The Sustainable Time-Dependent Cheapest Path Problem (STDCPP) entails locating a Hamiltonian path that covers all of the graph’s vertices at the lowest possible total sustainability cost. The issue is inspired by actual city logistics, where it is important to consider the opinions of diverse stakeholders in the light of sustainable urban mobility plans and service viability. To address this issue, this paper suggests a twofold contribution. First, we describe the Sustainable Time-Dependent Cheapest Path Problem and define the complex cost function, which, based on the multi-criteria decision-making approach, integrates the views of different stakeholders and sustainability elements into the route cost calculation. Second, we show that the modified problem satisfies the FIFO (First-In First-Out) property and demonstrate the applicability of the suggested approach on a real-life scenario where route sustainability is extracted from the traffic sign information system available in Flanders, Belgium.

Drivers of loyalty and consumer satisfaction with shearing urban mobility services: Carsharing, ridesharing, bikesharing, and kicksharing

Aim. To identify drivers of loyalty and consumer satisfaction with urban mobility shearing services.Objectives. To determine the characteristics of the use of shearing services; to formulate issues for shearing services that require priority attention; to identify drivers of loyalty and barriers to the use of shearing services, as well as drivers of user satisfaction with shearing services; to formulate recommendations for the development of the quality of shearing services.Methods. The authors applied the method of sociological survey (with participation of 615 respondents who use urban mobility sharing services at least once a year). The NPS index was used to identify drivers of loyalty, CSI index was used to detect drivers of customer satisfaction. The study was conducted in the context of such sharing services as carsharing, ridesharing, bikesharing and kicksharing, taking into account the relevant specific determinants of the quality of sharing services. The results were processed using general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis of information. Results. Users are loyal to carsharing, bikesharing and kicksharing, but not loyal to ridesharing. However, they are satisfied with ridesharing services in all four segments. The main drivers of loyalty were the convenience of using the services as an alternative to public transportation and the relative cheapness of the service. Respondents consider safety issues to be the main barrier. To a greater extent, consumers are satisfied with the technical side of the use of sharing services (we are talking about the convenience of the mobile application, confidentiality of personal data, technical condition of the car). Consumers are less satisfied with the speed of registration, loyalty programs, and the cost of insurance.Conclusions. Due to the fact that users are not loyal to ridesharing, operators of these services should primarily pay attention to safety during the trip, social capital of drivers (rating system), as well as the variety and number of available routes. In general, the area of growth of competitiveness of the shearing services on transport can be traced in the improvement of product metrics of web and mobile versions of applications, development of loyalty programs and pricing of insurance products

Fleet and Vertiport Sizing for an Urban Air Mobility Commuting Service

An understanding of fleet size and vertiport size sensitivity to demand and operational parameters is necessary to quantify the scalability of urban air mobility (UAM) services. In this work, we implement a bilevel rolling window fleet scheduling formulation that includes vertiport area as a secondary objective. We also present a simple vertiport area estimation methodology that leverages the fleet scheduling results and provides a lower bound on vertiport infrastructure area requirements. Lastly, we explore the sensitivity of fleet size and vertiport infrastructure requirements to several vehicle and operational parameters, including geographical demand distribution, daily passenger volume, vehicle passenger capacity, passenger aggregation window, battery charge rate, pad separation, and pad size. We find that, although the fleet size is reasonable for a UAM commuting service scaled to serve 10,000 passengers per day, vertiport area requirements are likely problematic under current sizing guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration, particularly area requirements for vertiports that serve as workplace hubs located in dense urban centers.

Heterogeneity in users’ intention-to-use Urban Air Mobility services

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is receiving increasing attention by the industry and the scientific community. The first commercial services are expected to be launched in a short period. However, users’ acceptance and willingness-to-use UAM should not be taken for granted and need to be carefully assessed. This study presents the results of a large-scale RP-SI (Revealed Preference-Stated Intention) survey carried out in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy): it was designed to collect data aiming at both profiling potential UAM passengers and developing models to assess the impact of different factors on users’ intention-to-use UAM services. The results obtained through hybrid ordered choice modeling analysis outlined the statistical importance of three identified latent constructs (i.e., flying concerns, propension towards technology and UAM safety concerns) in explaining the intention of using UAM services. Particularly, concerns regarding the flight or the UAM safety have been found to have a minor negative influence in the intention to use UAM compared to the user's propension towards technology which has instead a major positive influence. Moreover, a lower propensity towards embracing these new aerial services has been found in females and in those currently not traveling alone, while those traveling for business purposes or using taxis for daily travels exhibit a higher propensity towards their adoption.

Integrating Urban Air Mobility into a Public Transit System: A GIS-Based Approach to Identify Candidate Locations for Vertiports

Stakeholders expect emerging urban air mobility (UAM) services that use electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to revolutionize transportation systems. However, to be effective, eVTOL facilities, known as vertiports, must seamlessly integrate with the existing multimodal transportation infrastructure. This research analyzes how to best integrate vertiports with the existing public transit network of a city, with San Francisco in the United States as a case study. This study developed a composite optimization model to identify the locations for an optimum number of vertiports within each of the eleven (11) supervisorial districts of San Francisco that would minimize the network distance to its bus stops. The results revealed that 38 locations for vertiports covered 3245 bus stops with an average walk time close to 10 min. Walking 10 min from each vertiport would cover 41.6% of the total road network length and 49.8% of all bus stop locations. Power-law regressions of the average distances as a function of the number of vertiports will help planners to make informed decisions about the optimal vertiport placements in each district by identifying diminishing returns in travel-time savings, and adjustments that consider income and population as additional demand factors.

Method for the Conceptual Design of a New Mode of Urban Delivery Vehicle

The transportation industry is undergoing a radical transformation driven by global trends and technological developments. Its main challenges include meeting the increasing demand for urban mobility and delivery services, while simultaneously addressing issues such as the requirement to reduce traffic congestion, limited parking space, and environmental pollution. This paper proposes a method for the conceptual design of innovative urban delivery vehicles meeting these challenges. The methodology is demonstrated in the proposed vehicle concept: a narrow-track leaning vehicle with the road signature of a motorscooter and the cargo capacity of a small four-wheeled vehicle aimed for low to high range and speed -mile delivery. The study presents a comprehensive methodology to optimize the vehicle parameters based on total annual costs of delivery and energy consumption. The result parameters are later used to demonstrate the benefits from a range in these vehicles, in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, compared to traditional four-wheeled delivery vehicles. It compares the performance of the proposed vehicle with a four-wheeled vehicle in delivery operations, in both midmile city use and in megacity scenarios. The findings underscore that the proposed vehicle has lower total annual costs of delivery, lower energy consumption, and higher delivery efficiency than the traditional vehicle. This paper concludes that the methodology guided the design to present a narrow-track leaning vehicle concept with high potential for reducing financial costs, mitigating negative environmental impact, and improving urban mobility.

Block-Chain based Trustful Data-Driven Cyber-Physical Social System Framework for Urban Air Mobility

This paper provides an overview of existing research on urban mobility issues and highlights the importance of incorporating smart technologies, particularly in the context of introducing air-based transportation, to enhance the efficiency of urban mobility systems. The integration of air mobility will bring about increased complexities in managing urban transportation due to the growing volume of data, services, and infrastructure that governing bodies will have to handle. Urban air mobility infrastructure consists of interconnected and intricate systems that demonstrate the seamless integration of physical and software components. To address these complexities, the Cyber-physical social system (CPSS) is proposed as an effective approach to minimize complications within and between these subsystems. Establishing public-private partnerships and ensuring secure transactions are vital prerequisites for embracing current technological advancements and shaping the future of urban air mobility services. In this regard, blockchain technology emerges as a reliable protocol that guarantees the integrity of data exchanged among the decentralized network of stakeholders, eliminating the need for a trusted intermediary.

Re-Thinking the Environment, Cities, and Living Spaces for Public Health Purposes, According with the COVID-19 Lesson: The LVII Erice Charter

Background. Urban planning is a key tool to promote health in cities. The COVID-19 emergency accelerated several social, environmental, and digital challenges, stressing the importance of some issues regarding housing, urban mobility, green areas, and health service networks, urban health policies, and actions. These issues were the subject of an intensive residential course (the 57th) held in Erice, Sicily, in June 2021 in the “International School of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine G. D’Alessandro”, and the main findings are described here. Methods. Lectures presented the topics, subsequently developed them, and argued them in parallel practical sessions using the World Café technique, since it is well suited for the interaction of participants and the involvement of groups. Results. The World Café provides new insights into how to improve the livability and health of urban spaces, and a set of strategies and actions were proposed for each topic. Discussion and Conclusions. All attendees agreed on the importance of participation in the planning processes, but also on the need for strong political support to ensure the resources needed and a full integration of health with other local policies. A multidisciplinary approach to developing systemic operational capacities and health literacy is considered pivotal to raising awareness and participation.

Challenges and opportunities regarding the COVID-19 pandemic on urban mobility in Constanta, Romania

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on urban mobility in Constanta, Romania and other cities around the world. This has resulted in reduced travel, increased bicycle and pedestrian trips, fewer taxicabs, and shorter public transport hours. It has also generated increased challenges for local authorities regarding safety, hygiene, air quality, road network management and public trust in public transit systems. On the other hand, the pandemic presents many opportunities for cities to rethink their urban mobility plans and adopt more sustainable transport solutions. This paper will look at the challenges and opportunities posed by the pandemic on urban mobility in Constanta and the measures that can be taken to mitigate the negative impacts while taking advantage of the opportunities it provides. This paper aims to provide an overview of the perception of urban mobility in the city of Constanța, Romania. It draws upon the results of a survey conducted among citizens in the city, which asked respondents to assess their perception regarding the quality, availability, and efficiency of urban mobility services in their area. The results show that most respondents feel that the availability of urban mobility services is limited and that the quality and efficiency of these services are poor. Additionally, majority of respondents feel that the lack of public transportation options and the lack of bicycle lanes impede urban mobility in Constanța. The paper concludes by suggesting that the city should consider investing in improved public transportation options and bike lanes in order to increase its urban mobility. Additionally, public education surrounding urban mobility and transportation safety is recommended.

Impact of heterogeneous building arrangement on local turbulence escalation

Turbulent wakes and the recirculatory flow induced by building arrays subjected to an atmospheric boundary layer flow were numerically studied to investigate the building arrangement impact on the urban air mobility (UAM) service. To mimic the atmospheric flow with realism, large-eddy simulation was employed along with an immersed boundary method to construct the presence of the building arrays. Four cases were studied which included an array of three high-rise buildings and three other combinations of high-rise and low-rise building arrays. Horseshoe vortex and recirculation flows were found in all building configurations whose intensity varied according to the upstream building height. In particular, the clockwise-rotating vortex was found to be dominant within the cavity between the buildings. In addition, the lateral vortex generated by the side walls of the non-uniform array tilted outward due to the secondary flow formed by the wake of the building, which additionally contributed to the downwash flow behind the building array. Elevated velocity fluctuations were found on top of and behind the high-rise buildings which persisted further downstream in parallel with the freestream flow. The largest velocity standard deviation was found to be 3.8 times that of the inflow which was due to the combination of flow recirculation and the wake from the further upstream building. Finally, the velocity spectra were analyzed to provide reference data for the deployment of vertiports and the UAM take-off and landing guidance.

Flight Performance with Respect to Rotor Rotation Directions of Multirotor Aircraft

A multirotor electric vertical takeoff and landing (EVTOL) aircraft is specialized for intracity point-to-point urban air mobility services due to its advantages of efficient hover performance, high gust resistance, and relatively low noise. Because of its multiple rotors, rotor–rotor interference inevitably affects flight performance, mainly depending on inter-rotor distance and rotor rotation directions. It is assumed that there exists an optimal rotation direction for a given lot of multiple rotors. In this study, the aim is to investigate rotor–rotor interference for various rotation directions and the resulting flight performance. We propose a concept of rotor rotation direction that achieves the desirable flight performance in forward flight. The concept is called front-retreating/rear-advancing (FRRA), in which the retreating side of the front rotor and the advancing side of the rear rotor are aligned in a straight line. To this end, a multidisciplinary flight simulation framework was developed to predict the flight performance of a general multirotor EVTOL aircraft. It was found that the FRRA concept minimizes thrust loss due to rotor–rotor interference in high-speed forward flight. For a generic mission profile, the rotation direction set by the FRRA concept reduces the battery energy consumption by 7% in comparison to the rotation direction of unfavorable rotor–rotor interference in operation.

The Environmental Life Cycle Costs (ELCC) of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) as an input for sustainable urban mobility

The growth of shared mobility has recently challenged the way mobility has traditionally been conceived. In this perspective, this study investigates the Environmental Life Cycle Costs of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) services to evaluate their potential integration with other transport systems, in the three-time horizons (2025, 2030, 2035). The key area of research was focused on the determination of the cost components of UAM required to calculate the unit costs of UAM transportation. To this end, unitary data and the method from a 2017 EC DG MOVE's report on urban accessibility have been adopted. The analysis confirms that most of the cost is related to the aircraft energy consumption during flight, while the rest is used by ground infrastructure. Moreover, the energy cost is strongly correlated with the distance travelled and the size of the aircraft. The longer the flight and the bigger the aircraft, the higher is the energy cost. Complex cost analysis should be able to support decision-makers in the definition of Sustainable Urban Mobility and their principles of integration, participation, monitoring and evaluation. However, it will be necessary to be able to draw on more consolidated and widespread data over time for the creation of Urban plans for Sustainable Mobility.