Articles

Older citizens safe mobility is an issue as the number of older people is growing and expect to live longer than previous generations . To keep their independence and to allow them to take part in the society, transport accessibility is an issue to be solved. The present study developed a survey to evaluate a subsidised public transport card for older citizens in the western part of Sweden and how the physical health contributes to the use of public transport . A questionnaire was sent to 1500 older citizens in three municipalities to examine how this measure influenced their travel patterns and whether this is an efficient measure to increase their use of public transport . Results show a significant effect of the senior card which vary depending on the municipality and incomes. Some older citizens increased travelling with public transport ( PT ), they changed the time of the day for some activities and to some extend prioritized PT in another way than before they got the subsidised card . The senior card contributed to shift travel mode choice from private car to PT but also from cycling /walking to PT. To reach a sustainable safe mobility for older citizens, a discussion is on going to find and target measures to this broad group of individuals. Health and environment goals need to be considered to reach the desired results.

Public transport is important to society as it provides spatial accessibility and reduces congestion and pollution in comparison to other motorized modes. To assure a high-quality service, all parts of the system need to be well-functioning and properly planned. One important aspect for the system's bus terminals is their capacity. This needs to be high enough to avoid congestion and queues and the delays these may lead to. During planning processes, various suggested designs and solutions for a terminal need to be evaluated. Estimating capacity and how well the suggestions will function is a challenging problem, however. It requires analysis of complex interactions and behaviour of the vehicles. This sort of analyses can preferably be carried out using microsimulation. Furthermore, a discrete event simulation approach can make use of the fact that the path of a vehicle through a terminal can readily be described by a sequence of events (such as arriving, starting to drive to a stop etc.). The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate how discrete event simulation can be used to evaluate bus terminal design and traffic control policies. The main contribution is the development of a method for bus terminal simulation. As a first step, a discrete event simulation model of a combined bus and tram stop is formulated. The model is tested on a real system where the current design is compared to an alternative one. The test shows that a model developed with a discrete event approach can be used to evaluate the situation at a stop and compare design alternatives. In the next step, a general discrete event simulation model of bus terminals is formulated. A modular approach is introduced, where a terminal can be constructed from a set of module building blocks. Another important contribution of the model is its spatial resolution that allows for queues and blockages to occur throughout the terminal. By applying the simulation model in a case study, it is shown that the model can be used to evaluate and compare various scenarios related to the layout, number of passengers and the outside traffic situation. Lastly, the bus terminal simulation model is used in a second case study in order to compare model output with empirical data. This study identified a number of factors that may have had an influence on differences between observations and simulation results and that is of interest to look further into. This includes the actual adherence to terminal rules and the effects of model parameters.

The topic of social equity in transport planning has been dealt with, in particular, by authors such as Martens (2012) and Martens and Golob (2012) using a social justice based-approach. However, such an approach, whilst valuable and analytically rigorous (based as it is on accessibility modelling), does not consider a wide range of possible other social impacts of transport, as set out in a framework first put forward by Geurs et al. (2009). This paper uses Geurs’ analytical framework to consider two empirical case studies: The National Transport Strategy for Scotland, adopted in January 2016, together with associated national level spending plans; and Sweden’s 2014–2025 National Transport Plan. The paper will first summarise the contents of each document before analysing them in relation to the categories of social impact that Geurs (2009) identifies, and assess how, in relation to each category of impact, various social groups will benefit or disbenefit. A range of projects (planned) to be delivered by the two national strategies is then analysed in relation to the criteria. This analysis shows that the two national strategies/plans are in their distribution of spending, and the projects funded are generally working away from greater social equity in their distributional impacts.

Based on a review of recent developments in Sweden and Finland, this chapter analyzes the roles of public organizations in the governance of a transition to Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). In particular, we draw on insights from transition frameworks to explore what these two pioneering cases can teach us about how the public sector can both enable the development of MaaS and steer the development trajectory toward diffusion of MaaS offerings that contribute to transport policy goals. We propose three main points. Firstly, public sector organizations at national, regional, and local levels have key roles to play in potential transitions to MaaS, regardless of their intended operative roles in the emerging MaaS ecosystem. Secondly, a central task for public sector organizations is to align operational and tactical MaaS governance activities with both an overarching MaaS strategy and with other relevant strategies, such as transport infrastructures investments, programs for economic and industrial growth, city plans, and parking norms. Thirdly, new models and tools for public–private collaboration are needed in order to effectively govern the development and diffusion of sustainable MaaS.

Travel support for public transport today usually takes no or little account of the traveler’s personal needs and current context. Thereby, travelers are often suggested irrelevant travel plans, which may force them to search for information from other sources. In particular, this is a problem during unplanned disturbances. By incorporating the traveler’s context information into the travel support, travelers could be provided with individually tailored information. This would especially benefit travelers who find it more difficult than others to navigate the public transport system. Furthermore, it might raise the accessibility and general attractiveness of public transport. This paper contributes with an understanding of how information about the traveler’s context can enhance the support provided by travel planners, in the case of disturbances in public transport. In particular, the paper includes a high-level analysis of how and in which situations context information can be useful. The analysis shows how information about the traveler’s context can improve travel planners, as well as highlights some risks in relation to some identified scenarios. Several technologies for retrieving information about the physical context of the traveler are also identified. The study is based on a literature review, a workshop, and interviews with domain experts.

This study suggests an optimization framework to plan and design a network of bike lanes in an urban context, based on equity principles and subject to a given available budget. The novelty of the proposal consists in an objective function that aims at minimizing the existing inequities among different population groups in terms of accessibility/opportunity to the bikeways. The proposed methodology represents a reliable decision support system tool that could help transport authorities/managers to select the priority areas of their future investments related to the cycling infrastructures. To prove the effectiveness and value of the methodology, an application with relevant analysis to a test case study is presented

This paper examines public transport use through the lens of practice to understand the perspectives of two categories of public transport users: Younger and older people. In taking this approach, we assume that the forms of mobility in a society are dependent on citizens’ everyday practices and on the structures of the cities, landscapes, etc. Transport needs and accessibility may vary depending on contexts (i.e., where and how we live) and on the various resources of groups of citizens. Results indicated that younger people are repeatedly referred to public transport to meet their mobility needs, while older people are more often car-dependent. Local variations, among both younger and older people, indicate higher confidence in public transport in big and medium-sized cities and a greater desire for car ownership in small cities. For the transition to sustainable mobility, e.g., public transport, transport associations and local governments should be responsive to the practice of everyday life among citizens: e.g., younger people’s leisure activities in afternoons and weekends, and older people’s wish for accessible transport service outside the dominant flow of passengers and their daily commuting practice. The data come from Sweden, specifically from focus groups with teenagers aged 14–16 years and retired people aged 63–97 years.

Urban transport is critical in shaping the form and function of cities, particularly the level of automobile dependence and sustainability. This paper presents a detailed study of the urban transport eco-urbanism characteristics of the Stockholm, Malmö, Göteborg, Linköping, and Helsingborg urban regions in southern Sweden. It compares these cities to those in the USA, Australia, Canada, and two large wealthy Asian cities (Singapore and Hong Kong). It finds that while density is critical in determining many features of eco-urbanism, especially mobility patterns and particularly how much public transport, walking, and cycling are used, Swedish cities maintain healthy levels of all these more sustainable modes and only moderate levels of car use, while having less than half the density of other European cities. Swedish settlement patterns and urban transport policies mean they also enjoy, globally, the lowest level of transport emissions and transport deaths per capita and similar levels of energy use in private passenger transport as other European cities, and a fraction of that used in lower density North American and Australian cities. Swedish urban public transport systems are generally well provided for and form an integral part of the way their cities function, considering their lower densities. Their use of walking and cycling is high, though not as high as in other European cities and together with public transport cater for nearly 50% of the total daily trip making, compared to auto-dependent regions with between about 75% and 85% car trips. The paper explores these and other patterns in some detail. It provides a clear depiction of the strengths and weaknesses of Swedish cities in urban transport, some key policy directions to improve them and posits possible explanations for some of the atypical patterns observed

This paper is concerned with the authority of written documents and how these artefacts work as governance devices. Networked authority is introduced as a concept to elucidate how documents accumulate formal power in a collaborative process, where several formally independent but informally interdependent organisations together point out the direction of regional public transport planning in the form of one strategic document. Drawing upon recent research on bureaucracy, authority and documents, the paper empirically explores these connections in the context of public transport in Stockholm, Sweden. Based on this case study, authority was found to be accomplished as the written document reproduced an existing hierarchy of documents, through an anti-hierarchical process where the newly formed Regional Public Transport Authority involved several formally independent but informally interdependent organisations, and by lacking a sole author. These three features are crucial for understanding how a collaborative process erodes individuality and personal responsibility, while producing anonymous, networked authority. These results are discussed in relationship to Foucault’s notion of authorship, the author-function, which is derived from legal–institutional networks, much like networked authority. Understanding how networked authority is accomplished through a hierarchy of documents and an anti-hierarchy of authorship contributes with new knowledge on documents and how these work as governance devices in regional governance.