Public Transport and Sustainable Accessibility
Public transport authorities are increasingly striving to consider the diverse needs of different passengers in their service planning. Robert Hrelja from Malmö University, together with colleagues from Lund University and VTI, has studied how Sweden’s three largest public transport authorities address passengers’ varying social needs and how potentially competing goals – economic, environmental, and social sustainability – can be balanced.
“We interviewed staff at Region Stockholm, Region Skåne, and Västra Götaland Region, along with their respective public transport authorities, to explore how public transport planning is evolving,” says Robert Hrelja.
“Many of those we interviewed view public transport as a tool for positive societal development and emphasise the need for more detailed knowledge about passengers’ diverse needs in order to improve services,” he continues.
Staff at public transport authorities constantly face trade-offs and must ask themselves how public transport can deliver the greatest benefit. High-frequency corridors that serve commuters may need to be complemented by services with more stops and a slower pace.
“To further develop public transport’s contribution to social sustainability, a holistic perspective is needed – one that integrates the needs of children, older adults, and passengers with disabilities into the planning process from the outset,” Robert Hrelja argues.
Robert and his colleagues also conducted a literature review to gain an overview of how research has addressed social sustainability in relation to public transport.
“Issues concerning the specific needs of different passenger groups have often been treated separately from questions of efficiency and cost – factors that public transport authorities must also consider. To better support the continued development of public transport, we propose a more nuanced research approach that reflects the complexity of real-world planning,” Robert Hrelja concludes.
Text: Hanna Holm
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Robert Hrelja
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