Publications

Every workplace has an explicit or implicit transportation policy with respect to its employee mobility. Whether it is officially managed or not, employer's policies regarding parking provision, travel allowances and other transport related financial or non-financial benefits affect employee transport-related decisions, such as vehicle ownership and mode choice. These employee decisions, in turn, have substantial impacts on the environment and society, raising the question whether workplaces take up employee mobility – business travel and commuting – as part of their corporate social responsibility commitments. To answer this question, we selected a sample of 30 leading companies worldwide and examined to what extent they are committed to promote sustainable employee transportation, using companies’ sustainability reports for the year 2022. Our findings indicate: (1) inconsistency in reporting on environmental or social domains, and on reporting on business travel or commuting; (2) the narrow scope of social and environmental impacts of employee mobility being addressed, mostly limited to GHG emission and traffic accidents; (3) the limited level of commitment, with most companies failing to set targets or specify actions ; and (4) the importance of reporting frameworks in shaping sustainable practices of companies. Taken together, our findings indicate that the current reporting process appears to have only a modest impact on inducing companies to adopt more sustainable employee mobility policies. Given the dominance of reporting frameworks, it is suggested to expand these to include employee transportation. Such adjustments may help close the gap between extensive academic knowledge on sustainable employee transportation and current company mobility management policies.

The massive investment in, and development of, automated and connected transport (ACT) technology development has triggered much debate about this breakthrough technology’s potential positive and negative impacts. Multiple studies have explored the potential direct implications for users in terms of road safety, ‘productive’ travel time, mobility of the elderly and physically less mobile persons, as well as indirect impacts such as reduced emissions and freed road space. Through a critical review of the literature on ACT deployment types and discussions with an expert working group on the wider impacts of ACT implementation, this chapter examines four distinct deployment types of ACT technology and their opportunities and threats in transitioning toward inclusive transport systems. Of the four types, we posit that ACT-based public transport has the greatest potential to contribute to a more inclusive mobility future. Examining the case of Singapore using policy documents, academic literature and interviews with representatives of public and private sectors and academia, the chapter draws policy recommendations for governance toward more inclusive ACT innovation and deployment.

Employers significantly influence employee travel habits through their policies and benefits, impacting workforce selection, equality of opportunities, and the environment. This study analyses what the fast-growing body of business sustainability standards and reporting frameworks (also known as Corporate Social Responsibility or Environment-Social-Governance (ESG) reporting) require from employers with respect to employee mobility. Analysing 29 leading frameworks using document analysis methods, our findings reveal that the majority (n = 19) do not address employee mobility in their reporting requirements. Among those that do (n = 10), their focus is notably limited, primarily centred on greenhouse gas emissions calculations. Only two frameworks emphasise employer responsibility for preventing transport injuries as part of workforce health and safety management. None of the frameworks mandate reporting on efforts to create an accessible workplace for all potential employees, regardless of abilities or car ownership. These results highlight a significant disparity between the limited expectations expressed in reporting frameworks and the far-reaching impacts of workplace mobility policies. We critique the GHG protocol's methodology concerning business travel and employee commuting on practical and normative grounds. We recommend that future reporting frameworks adopt broader requirements for employer transport policies, in the expectation that higher standards will trigger greener and more inclusive employer policies.

This paper presents an approach to use GPS-based travel behavior surveys to determine who is being served well and who is being served poorly by the transport system. We draw on the extensive literature on travel behavior, which has shown that people’s travel behavior is at least in part shaped by the travel barriers they experience. Starting from this basic insight, we define 17 parameters that may provide insight into a person’s relative ease of movement. These ease of movement parameters cover dimensions related to trip frequency (e.g., overall and in evening hours), transport mode use (e.g., as driver or passenger), travel speed (e.g., for public transport legs), distance (e.g., trip detour ratio), and effort (e.g., ratio between trip legs and out-of-home activities). None of these parameters by themselves is sufficient to determine whether someone is served well or poorly by the transport system, as behaviors may be the result of choice as well as constraint. However, we argue that jointly the parameters are likely to differentiate well-served from poorly-served people. We apply our approach to data from six GPS-based travel behavior surveys conducted in Israel’s four main metropolitan areas (N=62,981). We calculate z-scores for all ease of movement parameters, with negative values suggesting mobility problems and positive values relative ease of movement compared to the entire sample. We conduct four known-group analysis, comparing mean z-scores by level of access to a private motorized vehicle, age, gender, and disability. Results are systematically in line with expectations: population segments identified in the literature as experiencing (more severe levels of) transport disadvantage show systematically lower composite mobility scores. These outcomes are particularly striking, taking into account the short observation period of only one day per respondent. Taken together, these findings provide a first indication that revealed travel behavior patterns can be used to identify population segments poorly served by the transport system and thus to determine both success and failure of the existing transport system. While more research is needed, the approach holds promise to determine the impacts of transport investments on people’s ease of movement.

We introduce and test a visual analogue scale (VAS) to measure to what extent people experience difficulties in reaching destinations (N=180). Known-group analyses showed that respondents who are younger, without vehicle access, or in need of a walking aid, had significantly worse accessibility. Regression analysis with reported mobility problems as dependent variables, showed that VAS replaced car availability as the sole significant explanatory variable. A separate regression model revealed that the mobility problems explain more than half of the variance in VAS (R2=0.528). These results are promising but more research is needed to scrutinize the validity of the VAS.

Bus stops are critical transit infrastructure but, despite their importance, are among the least studied elements of transit systems. There is growing evidence that the amenities provided at bus stops positively influence ridership, reduce perceived wait times at bus stops, enhance rider satisfaction, can help reduced crime at stops, and improve riders sense of safety at night. The goal of this paper is to gain insight into bus stop amenity policies of selected US transit agencies. We provide a review of academic literature and general guidance documents on bus stop amenity provision, define bus stop amenity policies, and analyze 38 selected current transit agency policies on bus stop amenities. We find that the policies are primarily passive guidelines that share key common criteria for amenities provision while having widely varying details (or lack thereof). In all, there appears a need for more rigorous polices supported by more research and professional guidance, as well as the need for more active policies that commit to goals and processes that can hasten the improvement of bus stop amenities in the US as part of a broader transport justice agenda.

A high level of integration of public transport services – amongst others in terms of scheduling, ticketing, and cross-operator data provision – is crucial to provide a high level of service to (potential) users, and can increase ridership without the high cost of constructing new infrastructure. The challenge of delivering an integrated system has increased over the past decades, due to the (gradual) privatization of public transport services over multiple private public transport providers in many countries. Israel is one of the countries that have followed this path since the early 2000s, with the public tendering process resulting in the fragmentation of services from merely 2 into 17 bus operators. In this paper, we use document analysis as well as interviews with key members of the national government, private operators, municipalities and transit advocacy organizations, to understand how the Israeli tendering process fragmented services into 17 operators, but also developed ways to integrate them. The study uses this information to understand the role of formal institutions in coordinating schedules, integration of fares and fare cards, shared use of terminals, and cross-operator data sharing across the country. We identify a number of ways integration was enhanced in each category, with the national government making use of its strong leverage over private operators. We also highlight the limitations of this approach due to the separate management of bus and rail services within the national government. The Israeli case shows how the tendering process can be leveraged to enhance integration, that continuous monitoring is essential to make sure private operators deliver on the integration goals, and identifies how coordination can be improved in situations with separate management. The Israeli case thus provides lessons for countries considering privatizing (parts of) their public transport operations.

People with anxiety disorders may encounter anxiety triggers when (planning to) travel(ing) to a destination, affecting their ability to actively participate in society. Using a Multiple Case Study Design, this paper aims to improve our knowledge on mobility-related problems experienced by people with anxiety disorders and their potential impact on these people’s daily life. In-depth interviews were held with 40 Dutch adults officially diagnosed with anxiety disorders by professionals in the field of psychology. Data revealed that most interviewees experience a mix of problems in using various transport modes. Interviewees often experience the feeling of being locked up and not being able to escape as anxiety triggers. They perceive the mobility system as complex and overwhelming, while mobility-related information can trigger panic attacks or lower respondents’ stress level. Interviewees employ a variety of coping mechanisms: avoidance of transport modes; avoidance of highways, bridges, tunnels; remaining in a familiar, predictable environment; asking for social support when travel is necessary; and searching for adequate travel information to use before and during travel. Coping with anxiety disorders and mobility-related problems may have far-reaching impacts on professional life, including job switching and job relocation. The study shows that it is challenging to define the boundaries of the topic under study and almost impossible to develop a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to alleviate this population’s problems. We end with directions for further research into transport interventions that could benefit people with anxiety disorders.

Group travel behaviour widely exists in cities, but has not been well investigated by researchers. To fill this gap, this paper develops a co-existence-based methodological framework to systematically explore the spatiotemporal characteristics of group travel behaviour. We apply our framework to a case study of Shanghai, China, using a one-month tranche of metro smart card data. Results show that most travellers perform a small number of group trips, together with a small number of co-travellers. They usually travel in a dyad or triad group and form far more small social communities than large ones. Group travel behaviour is distinctly different from individual travel in terms of both time and space: group travellers are more likely to travel during weekends, on holidays, and in the afternoons and evenings. They also prefer to perform group behaviour near stations located in the city centre or the centres of new towns in suburban areas, and close to attractions and public facilities. The analysis we present has various potential applications such as improving the management of public events and supporting the design of group ticket policy.

Public transport has been shown to be related to several health benefits in the general population (e.g., due to increased physical activity and social participation), and holds an important role for older adults’ mobility, due to an age-related decline in the ability to use other transport modes. Even so, the health outcomes of public transport use are yet to be assessed systematically. Hence, the aim of this systematic review is to examine the potential effects of public transport use on the physical and mental health of older adults. Five electronic databases were searched in April 2023: Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Ageline and Transport Research International Documentation. Included were studies that were in English, contained a measure of public transport use as exposure, and any health outcome, including mental or physical health, physical or cognitive function, morbidity, or mortality, among people aged ≥60 years. Of a total of 1790 unique records, the full text of 17 were assessed for eligibility and 11 were identified as eligible. Citation search identified two additional studies, amounting to a total of 13 included studies. Significant health outcomes described in assessed studies were decreased obesity and depressive symptoms, and to a lesser extent increased gait speed and cognitive function. Policymakers and practitioners should regard urban and transport planning as a potential tool for improving the health of older people. Initial evidence regarding obesity, depressive symptoms, gait and cognitive function call for further research assessing additional health outcomes and conducted in more diverse contexts.