Tao Guo, Hao Wu, Shahriar Iqbal Zame, Constantinos Antoniou
{"title":"Data-driven vertiport siting: A comparative analysis of clustering methods for Urban Air Mobility","authors":"Tao Guo, Hao Wu, Shahriar Iqbal Zame, Constantinos Antoniou","doi":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100117","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100117","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has emerged as a promising solution to enhance metropolitan urban mobility. A critical determinant of UAM’s success is vertiport siting, which directly influences accessibility and travel time benefits. However, existing research lacks a evaluation of different data-driven clustering approaches for vertiport placement. This study systematically compares six clustering-based vertiport allocation strategies against an expert-defined benchmark (OBUAM) in the Munich Metropolitan Region (Ploetner et al., 2020). More specifically, the travel time efficiency improvements, accessibility enhancements, and transport equity impacts are assessed across different allocation scenarios. Results indicate that clustering-based siting significantly outperforms expert-defined siting in all the three perspectives. Notably, the K-means++ approach achieves the highest travel time saving (10.05%), accessibility gains (7.16%) and the lowest Gini coefficient (0.512), demonstrating its advantages in planing vertiport locations. The inferiority of DBSCAN, OBUAM and MS scenarios reveals that neither concentrating vertiports excessively in urban centers nor distributing them too evenly across the region optimizes transport efficiency. All clustering-based methods offer a practical, data-driven alternative that does not rely on domain expertise or excessive computational resources, making them easily adaptable for real-world UAM planning. Sensitivity analyses further explore the influence of key parameters on the indicators. Findings highlight that reducing pre-flight time has a more significant impact on travel time saving, accessibility and equity than increasing UAM cruise speed, while higher fares significantly disproportionately reduce accessibility benefits and equality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100852,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Mobility","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100117"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143937179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Telework and commuting patterns. An empirical study of workers in Flanders, Belgium","authors":"Jente Versigghel , Jonas De Vos , Frank Witlox","doi":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100125","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100125","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Teleworking, increasingly adopted in recent years, is often presented as a sustainable alternative work arrangement, but its long-term effects on travel remain inconclusive. This study examined the relationship between teleworking behaviour and travel patterns among workers in East Flanders, Belgium, using data from an online survey conducted between October 2023 and January 2024. First, factors influencing teleworking frequency were identified using Poisson regression. The results showed that teleworking frequency is associated with attitudes and constraints related to teleworking and commuting, as well as with age and work frequency. Next, the commuting characteristics of non-teleworkers were compared with those of infrequent and frequent teleworkers. Given teleworking’s potential to reduce travel, the effect of teleworking frequency on commute distance, duration, travel mode, and the number of commute trips was analysed using Welch ANOVA and chi-square test. Our findings reveal that while teleworkers make fewer weekly commute trips, their commutes are longer in both distance and duration compared to non-teleworkers. Teleworkers also tend to make less sustainable commute trips, although this effect was not statistically significant. These results suggest a possible rebound effect that could offset the positive effects of teleworking on travel and liveability, such as reducing traffic congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, and peak-hour travel.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100852,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Mobility","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100125"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143931333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When proximity is not enough. A sociodemographic analysis of 15-minute city lifestyles","authors":"Monika Maciejewska , Jerònia Cubells , Oriol Marquet","doi":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100119","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100119","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The x-minute city concept has gained prominence over the last decade. This approach promotes environmental and social sustainability by encouraging active transportation and enhancing accessibility for all residents. While the potential benefits of x-minute planning are well-documented, the equitable distribution and actual adoption of these benefits remain unclear. Previous research indicates that very few households manage to conduct all daily activities nearby, even in well-designed environments. Using Barcelona's dense, compact environment with its mixed land use and diverse amenities, this study explores what sociodemographic determinants better predict the use of 15 or 30-minute lifestyles. To do so, we combine highly disaggregated spatial datasets providing minimum walking times to a set of 25 everyday destinations, with travel behavior data. We first use a weighted linear model to assess whether proximity levels vary by sociodemographic factors. Then, we apply generalized additive models to test whether adhering to a 15/30-minute-city lifestyle depends solely on proximity to urban functions or if sociodemographic factors also play a role. The results indicate that, although 95 % and 99 % of respondents live in areas with access to urban amenities within 15 and 30 min respectively, their actual travel behavior shows that potential availability does not necessarily translate into actual usage. This study deepens our understanding of the cultural and societal factors that explain this disconnection—from the expansive nature of modern urban lifestyles to cultural preferences for novelty, variety, and exploration. We thus reflect on the complexity of fostering proximity-based travel behavior through built environment design and planning, highlighting the need for complementary social and policy measures</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100852,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Mobility","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100119"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143894552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Analyzing young people’s behavioral intention on using demand-responsive transportation and ride-matching apps","authors":"Christos Gkartzonikas, Loukas Dimitriou, Filippos Alogdianakis","doi":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100122","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100122","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rapid intersection of transportation and technology is reshaping the mobility landscape, with shared mobility services and ride-matching apps at the forefront. However, despite their potential to promote sustainable urban transportation, widespread adoption of emerging transportation services remains a challenge - particularly in car-dependent contexts. Previous studies have largely focused on either DRT or ride-matching services separately and often treat young users as a homogeneous group, which may not be the case. This study addresses this gap by exploring young adults' attitudes and intentions towards demand-responsive transportation systems (DRT) and ride-matching apps integrated into carpooling, both as drivers and passengers, addressing urban mobility challenges and promoting sustainable transportation. This study contributes to the current understanding of the factors affecting the behavioral intention of these on-demand shared mobility services by assessing similarities and differences between them, aiding the continuous development of transportation policies. A large-scale survey was conducted among young adults in Nicosia, Cyprus, with 1236 responses collected. The analysis employed econometric modeling techniques, revealing valuable insights. The findings indicate that females and people living in smaller households are more inclined to use DRT services. Furthermore, females and the unemployed are more likely to utilize the ride-matching app as passengers rather than as drivers. These results can inform marketing strategies, pricing schemes, policy-making decisions, and infrastructure planning, offering a comprehensive understanding of alternative transportation services to reduce single occupancy vehicle trips.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100852,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Mobility","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100122"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143891321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stakeholders’ viewpoints analysis on mobility as a service using the MAMCA and the fuzzy AHP method","authors":"Willy Kriswardhana , Domokos Esztergár-Kiss","doi":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100121","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100121","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is not a new mobility concept, yet its implementation is still limited. While the demand for MaaS has been widely explored, the key stakeholders’ viewpoints have not been extensively investigated yet. The benefits of the service can be materialized once stakeholders’ expectations are identified. Therefore, current study performs a quantitative analysis based on a survey among MaaS-related stakeholders where Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process is used to assess the importance of their objectives and criteria. The results show that the users expect lower travel costs when using MaaS. Common important objectives and criteria are found for public transport and private operators, especially in terms of supporting multimodal trips. However, while public transport operators consider relevant social impacts, such as increased customer satisfaction, and multimodal integration, private operators prioritize business impacts, such as gaining more customers and higher market share. MaaS operators are interested in reaching agreements with several transport operators and provide a reliable user-centric mobility platform. Finally, the legislators expect MaaS to help lower the environmental impacts of transportation, such as air pollution. Thus, integrated solutions involving close cooperation between actors considering their perspectives should be created to support the future MaaS implementation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100852,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Mobility","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100121"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143874185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elnert Coenegrachts, Thierry Vanelslander, Ann Verhetsel, Joris Beckers
{"title":"Understanding the key criteria for shared mobility providers in their evaluation of potential markets","authors":"Elnert Coenegrachts, Thierry Vanelslander, Ann Verhetsel, Joris Beckers","doi":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100115","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100115","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Previous literature on shared mobility has primarily focused on the factors impacting user adoption rates to explain the diffusion of these services across urban areas. However, there is no research incorporating the providers’ perspective and exploring the determinants of their expansion strategies. This study addresses this gap by identifying and prioritising the contextual factors that shared mobility providers deem (un)important in selecting the appropriate markets to become active in.</div><div>It regards international business, economic geography and shared mobility adoption literature to establish a theoretical framework that steers the search for potential contextual factors influencing these decisions. These criteria are evaluated using pairwise judgements and calculating the principal eigenvector values, as featured in the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis framework, in order to determine their relative importance. The distribution of the utility values indicates the level of agreement regarding the perceived (un)importance of a certain criterion.</div><div>The results indicate that shared mobility providers are mainly considering the local institutional context, such as the type of permitting procedure to enter a market and the required key performance indicators with regard to fleet redistribution, fleet availability and parking compliance; the transportation infrastructure, where dedicated infrastructure for active mobility and parking infrastructure for shared mobility is valued; socio-demographics, in particular population density and income; and the coopetition environment, where public transport is considered a complementary service. In contrast, they are less valuing a potential integration within a MaaS application, the conditions specific to an area, such as weather conditions, topography and the land use mix, and the national regulations possibly impacting their services.</div><div>The results for different categories of shared mobility services, including free-floating scooters, station-based bicycles and cars, highlight different focal points. Car sharing operators prioritise factors impacting the utility of private vehicles, such as parking regulations and infrastructure, and attach significant importance to the existing uptake of sustainable travel modes by citizens. Micromobility providers, on the other hand, tend to target densely populated and touristic areas and, scooter sharing operators specifically, locations with less strict service level requirements, particularly regarding parking compliance and fleet availability. Furthermore, station-based bike sharing companies focus on the available infrastructure for micromobility vehicles and the assigned role of shared mobility in local policy objectives. There is also a contrast in how providers consider competition and collaboration opportunities with public transport or public sharing schemes, with scooter companies mainly regarding the extent of comp","PeriodicalId":100852,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Mobility","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100115"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143864816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transit and Bikeshare Connectivity in Detroit: New Insights on Socioeconomic and Infrastructure Factors Impacting Perceived Quality of Service","authors":"Anahita Zahertar, Steven Lavrenz","doi":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100120","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100120","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Active transportation systems are critical to equitable urban mobility, particularly in Detroit, where access to jobs, education, and healthcare remain uneven. This study evaluates user satisfaction with transit and bikeshare coverage across the Detroit Metropolitan Area through a survey of 1042 individuals, with 333 responses retained for analysis. Using fixed and random parameter ordered probit models, we find that lower-income and female respondents are significantly more likely to report inadequate service coverage. Perceived unfamiliarity with routes or station locations, as well as longer travel times, also contribute to dissatisfaction. Random parameter models reveal substantial heterogeneity in responses, underscoring the need for more nuanced, equity-focused planning. These findings offer data-driven insights to guide future investments in multimodal connectivity and active transportation infrastructure.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100852,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Mobility","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100120"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143860259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maurizio Catulli , Robyn Thomas , Russell Fenner , Scott L. Copsey , Sue Walsh
{"title":"Exploring the gender inclusivity of mobility as a service through the access based consumption framework: A UK case study","authors":"Maurizio Catulli , Robyn Thomas , Russell Fenner , Scott L. Copsey , Sue Walsh","doi":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100118","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100118","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores the issues of inclusivity and safety that women encounter when using Mobility as a Service (MaaS), a transport offering which enables users to book, manage and pay for diverse multimodal options through smartphone apps. Personal mobility modes can include public transport, car hire, bicycle sharing and automated vehicles, amongst others. The diffusion of MaaS has the potential to make a significant contribution to decarbonisation of personal mobility and provide greater social inclusivity, but it is experiencing resistance to its uptake.</div><div>This study, in the context of the United Kingdom, draws on the cultural perspective of Practice Theory (PT), a theory which adopts social practices as the main unit of analysis, and focuses on mobility practices performed by female MaaS users.</div><div>Despite its potential benefits, participants associate using MaaS with concerns about personal safety and the use of “apps” with intrusiveness. A particular concern is that women appear disadvantaged in terms of using MaaS platforms when compared to men.</div><div>Suggested solutions to such concerns include vetting of service users and, whenever possible, recruiting female personnel as drivers; using on-board cameras and recording devices and the inclusion of app safety features may also help women feel safer. MaaS providers should encourage the formation of communities around MaaS brands, with female-only groups to reassure women. Significant changes to social practices and infrastructure are needed, and these will require changes in urban and rural mobility governance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100852,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Mobility","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100118"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143850742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Still on track for electrification? A qualitative comparative analysis of e-mobility policy mixes in 14 European cities","authors":"Tobias Held , Lasse Gerrits","doi":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100114","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100114","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A major concern for policymakers in European cities is to identify the right policy mix that promotes the diffusion of battery electric vehicles (BEV's). Existing research focuses mainly on the effect of fiscal policies at the national, aggregated level. Consequently, less is known about policy mixes that include monetary and non-monetary policies implemented at both the national and local level. Building on prior research, we deploy a two-step fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) of BEV policies in 14 European cities to identify policy mixes that successfully promote the urban adoption of BEV's.</div><div>We find two policy mixes that promote BEV uptake. First, recurring monetary and non-monetary policies that address behavioral aspects of BEV-usage at the local level in conjunction with monetary incentives for home and workplace charging points as well as on-street residential charging points successfully propel BEV uptake. Second, the presence of monetary incentives for home and workplace charging points, as well as on-street residential charging points in conjunction with policies disincentivizing conventional car usage promote the adoption of BEV's.</div><div>Our study shows that BEV policies must be tailored carefully across different policy levels and individually to BEV-user contexts in cities. QCA provides a helpful tool for evaluating BEV policy mixes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100852,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Mobility","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100114"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143820878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Grassroots Street ‘Closures’ in São Paulo and London: Democracy and equity as experimental and experiential process","authors":"Denver Vale Nixon","doi":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100116","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.urbmob.2025.100116","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper advances the debates over the democratic representativeness and equity of community-led urbanism by investigating several street closure/opening experiments in London (Play Streets) and São Paulo (ruas abertas). Many have lauded grassroots and DIY urban interventions for offering more just forms of city-making than do conventional means. However, others claim that their ‘private’ nature and spatially small scale may lead to inequitable demographic biases in representation that more formal planning and governance systems avoid. Whereas these claims possess some worthy cautionary considerations for civil interventionists and researchers, the interpretive analysis of fieldwork presented here suggests instead that, beyond the immediate (if transient) benefits these street experiments bring to disadvantaged groups and broader publics, their dynamic, negotiated, and experiential nature may achieve broad and diverse representation that exceeds that of more compromised forms of urban governance and planning. In this way these social infrastructures may augment the spatial and temporal boundaries of formal representative democracy and foreground the importance of embodied experience in informed participatory decision making on mobility infrastructures. The paper also discusses the related proximal/distal tension behind democratic representation and through this confronts the paradox of freedom.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100852,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Mobility","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100116"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143823322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}