Vetenskapliga artiklar

In the contemporary city, access to urban opportunities requires the possession, by the social actor, of more resources useful to manage the de-synchronization of social times. The capacity to be mobile and to access urban opportunities is hindered by the necessity to perform less predictable, multidirectional and 24/7 mobilities. In particular, the process of colonization of time, which brings to the progressive extension of working activities in the night, generates a potential risk of temporal disadvantage for those working and moving at night, and especially for women. Data from the Italian Labour Force Survey by Istat show how, between 2005 and 2015, female night-workers increased by 18% versus a decrease of 8% of male night-workers (which are anyway the majority). Furthermore, research show how women are more and more interested in night-time leisure activities. The lower sense of safety experienced by women during night-time transfers emerges as a crucial factor in limiting their social participation and in shaping forms of spatio-temporal inequality. The paper, through the elaboration and analysis of data collected during a survey in the city of Milan, which was answered by about 100 women, aims at understanding the features of women’s night-time mobility, focusing on the activities performed, the modal choices and the perception of safety.

In order for people to choose public transport over private car usage, public transport systems must be both reliable and accessible, which is not always the case today. Based on interviews with public transport actors, this paper investigates the missing information and communication flows during unplanned disturbances in the public transport system of southern Sweden. Two potential solution approaches to supply the missing information are also identified: an information system common for all public transport actors in the region, and a traveler check-in system, providing traveler specific information to the actors. The information requirements of both systems, and their potential benefits, are presented. The primary objective of the study is to improve the possibilities for both actors and travelers to act during unplanned disturbances by more efficient information sharing and better traveler information.

The public sector is showing increased interest in Mobility as a Service (MaaS), as its introduction and market penetration is proposed to potentially disrupt the personal transport system. However, involved public actors are approaching MaaS very differently. This paper applies a neo-institutional perspective to study the activities of public actors in the ongoing development of MaaS in Finland and Sweden. To this end, it maps what policy instruments public actors are applying to govern the processes and discusses how this might relate to their perceived action spaces and roles. The contribution to the MaaS literature is twofold. Firstly, the analysis shows that public actors are applying a wide range of both hard and soft policy instruments in order to gove rn the development of MaaS.
Secondly, a comparison across Finland and Sweden suggests that the perceived action spaces and the roles taken
by public actors on regional and local levels are influenced by the activities of public actors on state-level. The
paper concludes that public actors and pol icy instruments should not be studied in isolation. Rather, perceived
action spaces and roles need to be analyzed in a mul ti-level setting, where processes of enabling and promoting
can vary between societal levels, and where the roles of the public sector are negotiated not only between public
and private actors, but also between different public actors.

Goals concerning reduced car traffic are found in most European cities, indicating a potential change in local transport policy and land use planning, which have traditionally been very car-centric. This paper analyses goals and measures to reduce car traffic in Swedish municipalities’ long-term transport and land use plans. Theoretically, the paper is based on an understanding of policies as parts of ‘problem representations’ that create particular ways of understanding car traffic as a policy problem, which in turn influence the measures seen as appropriate or inappropriate. The results indicate that changes are underway. At the heart of these changes are narratives about city development in which municipalities understand the ‘attractive city’ as one where cars are defined as a problem to be addressed. However, the dominant policy problematisation produce several ‘blind spots’. Regional car trips, including travel to out-of-town shopping areas, are left unproblematised in this representation of the problem, meaning that measures addressing such trips are ignored in policy making. The paper builds our understanding of how policy practices influence the potential for change towards sustainability by discussing whether municipalities are doing enough to address the big problems with cars.

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