Articles

Articles

Articles

Intrapersonal variability in public transport path choice due to changes in service reliability

Ulrik Berggren, Carmelo D´Agostino, Helena Svensson, Karin Brundell-Freij. Transportation July 2021

Uncertainty during the course of a trip is regarded as a particularly disturbing phenomenon by public transport (PT) passengers and has been shown to have a substantial impact on travel behaviour. However, so far there has been little empirical evidence within contemporary research concerning the degree of mid- to long-term adaptation among PT passengers to changes in the principal cause of such uncertainty within PT transport systems: Lack of service departure reliability. While most studies to date have focussed on instantaneous or short-term behavioural responses, this paper presents results from a one-year panel dataset consisting of individuals’ trip itineraries derived from smart card transactions enriched by automatic vehicle location (AVL) data. We measured long-term line route usage and departure reliability, the latter in terms of headway regularity and schedule adherence, in two panel waves. Thus, we aimed for practical indicators that may be associated with specific line routes and origin–destination PT stop pairs used for recurring trips over time. Results from logistic regression indicate a consistent significant impact of changed headway regularity and punctuality change for line routes with relatively high departure frequency. However, there is a relative indifference to long-term reliability change by a significant share of individuals that have actual trade-offs between at least two line route options, possibly indicating satisficing behaviour among PT passengers. Implications on PT path choice forecasting and route planning are discussed.

Articles

How the built environment and the railway network can affect the mobility of older people : Analyses of the southern Swedish region of Scania

Rosalia Camporeale, Anders Wretstrand and Magnus Andersson, Research in Transportation Business & Management, March 2019
  1. Global society is rapidly ageing. Research on ageing and mobility suggests that better synergies could exist between older people and the built environment. The age-in-place policy will put increased demands on the transport system as a key facilitator for access. The main goal of this study is to examine the spatial distribution of older adults, assessing if it could be affected by selective characteristics of the surrounding built environment and, if so, to what extent. The study district is the region of Scania in the southern part of Sweden. Register-based longitudinal socio-demographic data such as income, employment and education associated with the outcomes of previous travel surveys conducted in the region are the main data sources to be considered. Correlated with population density patterns and expansion of the railway network, this longitudinal approach is expected to reveal causal inferences. Better knowledge may be gained about the environmental and demographic factors that may potentially lead older people to adapt their mobility choices according to the area in which they reside. Research findings could provide useful policy recommendations both to land use and transport planners, contributing to the development of age-friendly neighborhoods, cities and regions.
Articles

Appraisal of a regional public transport project: A document and interview analysis on a light rail case in Sweden

Erik Johansson, Anna Anund and Till Koglin, Case Studies on Transport Policy, June 2019

Globally, transport systems help bridge distances in time and space and play a central role in securing accessibility for people and businesses. However, this is not without negative consequences such as investment costs, congestion, noise and barriers in the urban fabric. Consequently, active planning that limits negative consequences and enables a shift towards sustainable modes of transport is necessary to steer developments in an appropriate direction (Banister, 2011; Koglin and Rye, 2014). In order to gain an idea of whether planning is, in fact, steering development in an appropriate direction and to identify cost-effective objects, tools and models help analyse the proposed transport policies. Most commonly, the tools aim to estimate user-benefits in terms of accessibility (Laird and Venables, 2017), although there is an increasing interest among planners in tools that capture softer aspects of a social nature (Johansson et al., 2017). In recent years, infrastructure and traffic have come to be seen as more than just transport solutions (Isaksson et al., 2017), which opens up for a range of appraisal tools. In Table 1, we separate between two categories of ex-ante appraisal tools. Firstly, decision-making tools include cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA). The purpose of decision-making tools is to provide the decision-maker with a comprehensive picture of a policy. Secondly, impact assessments (IA) are tools such as transport system analysis (TSA) and social impact assessment (SIA). IA analyse consequences of policies and can be an integral part of decision-making tools (common for the TSA), or a separate report (common for the environmental impact assessment (EIA)). Previous research on the CBA concerns its development (Eliasson, 2009; Börjesson et al., 2014; Laird and Venables, 2017), its role in public policy-making (Hahn and Tetlock, 2008; Mouter et al., 2013; Mackie et al., 2014; Andersson, 2018) and its limitations (Sen, 2000; Næss, 2006; Damart and Roy, 2009; van Wee, 2012). This article positions itself in the CBAs role in policy-making and its limitations. We are not going to discuss the MCA at length, but there is research on tool development (de Brucker et al., 1995; Macharis et al., 2008; Thomopoulos et al., 2009) and tool application (Macharis and Bernardini, 2015). The qualitative feature of the MCA makes it able to include input from an SIA. SIA, as it is understood in this paper, has its roots in sociology and other social sciences with the purpose of predicting consequences in terms of, for instance, equity across groups of people as an effect of a policy (Esteves et al., 2012). This paper is about the planning and ex-ante appraisal of a public transport investment in Sweden. The aim with this paper is to elaborate on the use of appraisal tools, i.e. the kinds of tools employed and at what stage they enter the planning process. In addition, the aim is to discuss where there might be scope for improvement of CBA and the TSA. This is done by looking at a light rail project in Stockholm, where we study planning documentation and do interviews with persons involved in the planning process. The research questions are: What is the role of appraisal methods in this project and how concordant are they with the planning procedure? Can the appraisal methods be improved, and if so, in what aspects?

Articles

Same, same but different? Neighbourhood effects of accessibility on housing prices

Helena Bohman, Transport Policy, June 2021

A growing research literature is focusing on how effects from increased accessibility may differ according to socio-economic aspects of neighbourhoods and households. This has raised concerns of whether areas with high accessibility may became unaffordable for low-income households, who, at the same time, may depend on public transport accessibility more than average households. We use difference-in-difference estimates of hedonic price models to study the distribution of effects around the new stations provided by a railway tunnel in Malmö, Sweden. The study finds that the lower-price segments are the most affected by the improved accessibility, which becomes clearer when different control groups are used for different market segments. Accessibility is therefore interpreted as highly important for households in the lower-price segments. From a housing accessibility perspective, this is described as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the owners of the apartments in these neighbourhoods, who benefit from the price increase, are typically low-income households. On the other hand, low-income households who are not owners may find the area prohibitively expensive due to price increases. Tenure of the catchment area is thus an important factor in understanding the distributional effects of accessibility. Integrating transport and housing-related planning, and specifically addressing the issue of affordability in early assessments, are therefore recommended.

Articles

Railway network design and regional labour markets in Sweden

Erik Johansson, Rosalia Camporeale and Carl-William Palmqvist, Research in Transportation Economics Volume 83, November 2020

Investment in railways, and transport infrastructure in general, are often motivated because they are believed to improve peoples’ accessibility to jobs. By linking together and increasing the size of labour markets, the matching between individuals and jobs is improved, and the productivity increases. Communities and municipalities lobby for investments that lead to higher accessibility and those that are successful often see inflows of people as a consequence. This paper looks at the entire Swedish railway network, at the level of service of each station and at the connectivity among stations during the morning peak hour, considering different time bands. Associations between job accessibility levels and socio-demographic features are explored and disclosed, looking at the longitudinal impacts of railway investments over 4 years (from 2011 to 2014) on annual wages. Estimating a fixed effects model, very small effects on wages have been found with the increase in the number of jobs around accessible rail stations. These preliminary results indicate that additional jobs along the rail network seem to have a marginal effect. The findings of this analysis, if communicated to planners, may assist them in assessing the effects of future railway measures to implement over the Swedish territory.

Articles

The role of consumer innovativeness and green perceptions on green innovation use: The case of shared e-bikes and e-scooters

Phil Flores, Johan Jansson, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, May 2021

The growing awareness of environmental issues can be linked to the demand for green transport innovations. Consumer behavior studies have pointed to the importance of consumer innovativeness (CI) and green perceptions in the adoption of green innovations. The purpose of this paper is to identify how users and nonusers of shared micromobility perceive the greenness of shared e-bikes and e-scooters and how CI affects shared microvehicle adoption. The paper also analyses the relationships between green perceptions and environmental referent cognitions—biospheric values, environmental knowledge, ascription of responsibility, and environmental attitudes. Shared e-bike and e-scooter users and nonusers in Copenhagen and Stockholm were surveyed using an online questionnaire. Results revealed that users consider themselves innovative and perceive the shared microvehicles as relatively green, while nonusers do not. When comparing users, CI and green perceptions relate to shared e-bike use, but notably, only CI is linked to shared e-scooter use. The results also show that environmental knowledge and environmental attitudes are related to green perceptions. The practical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

Articles

What are we missing when we measure accessibility? Comparing calculated and self-reported accounts among older people

Jean Ryan and Rafael Pereira, Journal of Transport Geography, May 2021

Accessibility is increasingly recognised as a key purpose of transport policies. Most of the common practices found both in academic studies and policy planning draw on relatively simple accessibility measures taken as ‘objective’ indicators that only focus on the interaction between land use and transport. Relatively little attention has been paid to heterogeneity in individual characteristics and in self-reported perceptions of accessibility (‘subjective’ indicators), and the corresponding differences with respect to available modal options. This study includes a comparison of (1) ‘objective’ indicators of accessibility to key activities by various modes of transport; and (2) individuals' own perceptions of their capability to access valuable out-of-home activities and the modal options available to them. This study examines the key differences between the two representations of accessibility. The calculated measure was developed using door-to-door travel times to supermarkets and healthcare centres using OpenTripPlanner. The self-reported measure was based on a dedicated capability-oriented travel survey of people aged 65–79 in Sweden's large metropolitan regions: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and binary and multinomial logistic regressions. The results of this study allow us to gain a greater insight into the ways in which the two accounts differ and can complement one another. We find that conventional methods, by overlooking the heterogeneity in people's perceptions of their accessibility, tend to overestimate accessibility levels and underestimate accessibility inequalities. This study shows how perceived accounts of accessibility can be incorporated into conventional accessibility models and improve accessibility analyses.

Articles

Local Autonomy in Temporary Organizations: The Case of Smart City Pilots

Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren, Administration & Society, April 2021

Local actors are to an increasing extent engaging in national and European Union (EU)–based development and sustainability agendas. These ventures often materialize in the form of temporary organizations such as pilots and projects. This article contributes to debates on project-based, experimental and temporary organizations by unpacking the organizational architecture of pilots and analyzing how the democratic autonomy of local public actors is formed. Through the example of smart city pilots, the study shows how a range of intersecting relations and hierarchies enable and circumscribe public-sector autonomy—from local actors’ attempts to align pilots with political goals to the limitations of standardized and scalable knowledge and strict funding requirements.

Articles

Decomposing cycling potentials employing the motility framework

Zahra Hamidi, Journal of Transport Geography, February 2021

The concept of motility, mobility capital, has been put forward to understand mobility from a more holistic perspective through incorporating subjective and objective as well as material and non-material aspects in the examination of individuals' mobility potentials. In this paper, building on a survey study in the two municipalities of Malmö and Gothenburg in Sweden, I developed a quantitative operationalization of motility in relation to cycling and employed GIS-based and statistical analyses to identify a set of appropriate indicators to measure the three dimensions of cycling motility namely access, competence, and appropriation. The analyses reveal three operational dimensions underlying the process of appropriating cycling to carry out daily trips. More specifically, individuals' perceptions of the functional and social suitability of cycling and its compatibility with their principles and values seem to be significant for the appropriation of a bike as a daily travel mode. Altogether, the findings support that the quantitative operationalization of cycling motility can deepen our understanding of the factors shaping individuals' cycling potentials and practices, hence offering valuable insights into the development of successful cycling interventions that create material and nonmaterial infrastructure, competences, and positive representations necessary for the appropriation of cycling.

Articles

A study of changes in everyday mobility during the Covid-19 pandemic: As perceived by people living in Malmö, Sweden

Helena Bohman, Jean Ryan, Vanessa Stjernborg, Désirée Nilsson, Transport Policy, June 2021

Sweden's strategy to manage the spread of Covid-19 has not included any form of lockdown, in contrast to the approaches adopted by most other countries. Instead, the strategy has been largely based on strong recommendations for society. Even though Sweden has not had any form of lockdown, the Covid-19 pandemic has during a relatively short period of time brought changes for society, significantly disrupting everyday life. The pandemic poses both challenges and opportunities for sustainable future transport, not least public transport provision, supply and use. The purpose of this study is to investigate how changes for society have translated into changes for mobility as an element of everyday life during the early stages of a pandemic. This study draws on a map-based online survey (public participatory GIS) which was purposefully designed to allow people to contribute with their experiences in order to capture how the current situation has affected several different facets of people's everyday life. Results suggest that effects on mobility, such as the possibility to telework, affect different groups differently and may exacerbate existing differences in terms of gender, geography and mobility. In order to mitigate negative effects, transport policy needs to be tailored in order to take these heterogeneities into account. Both spatio-temporal adjustment and modal adjustment were dominant themes for most activities, although the dominance of these themes varied among the activities. Our findings give an indication of both the short and long-term impacts on everyday mobility in the Swedish context, for groups of inhabitants in the city of Malmö. Through deepening our understanding of the processes at play, we suggest eight possible policy responses that can be carefully tailored, both in the interim and into the future.