{"title":"Workshop 2 report: Developing the informal sector for better outcomes","authors":"Brendan Finn , Roger Behrens","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101573","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101573","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Informal transport services are widespread throughout the Global South, taking many different forms, with many different names. They are often the primary form of passenger transport, but their operations can be unsafe and uncomfortable. An important policy challenge is, therefore, how their service quality might be improved. The objective of this workshop was to examine global experiences in the upgrading and professionalisation of these services, and to identify lessons and potential improvement pathways. The main messages that emerged from workshop presentations and deliberations were that: (1) the vast scale of, and dependence upon, the sector needs to be appreciated and embraced; and (2) programmes of action need to be formulated to support and improve the services that are offered. Recommendations for policy included: (1) that informal transport should be explicitly recognised as an enduring mainstream travel mode; (2) that government capacity to engage the sector is developed; (3) that authorities work collaboratively with industry structures; (4) that authorities invest in supporting the sector; and (5) that market entry regulations are enforced. Recommendations for research were directed at contexts where the focus is on: (1) understanding the sector; (2) exploring possible interventions for improvement; and (3) scaling up interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101573"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144190109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gender differences in perceived metro station service quality in post-COVID19 pandemic era","authors":"Gabriella Mazzulla , Armando Cartenì , Laura Eboli , Antonella Falanga , Ilaria Henke","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101593","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101593","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 101593"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144184590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nadia Giuffrida, Margherita Mascia, Carla Lamanna, Mario Binetti, Michele Ottomanelli
{"title":"Mobility as a Service: an opportunity to address women's mobility needs towards gender equity","authors":"Nadia Giuffrida, Margherita Mascia, Carla Lamanna, Mario Binetti, Michele Ottomanelli","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101585","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101585","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Women's mobility choices are often influenced by concerns related to security and accessibility, which can limit their ability to fully participate in social and economic activities. While these challenges are particularly pronounced in developing countries, similar issues are observed in Europe, where women frequently report negative experiences as users of transport systems. This study investigates whether Mobility as a Service (MaaS) can address these gender-specific concerns by providing safer, more flexible and inclusive transport options. A survey was conducted with Italian respondents to identify women's mobility needs, with a particular focus on security. Basic statistical analysis of the survey results reveals that both women and men acknowledge the security challenges women face while travelling and rate security features to be included in a MaaS application for improving their experiences. Based on the survey results, the study proposes a set of key features for a \"MaaS4Women\" application that could help reduce perceived risks and enhance security. The findings suggest that customizing MaaS features and bundles to meet women's specific needs could be an important step towards improving gender equity in transport.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 101585"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144184589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Waiyan Leong, Yangchong Ang, Sharon Wong, Vantrice Aw, Cedric Tan
{"title":"Putting Thredbo recommendations into practice: Case studies from the Singapore Land Transport Authority","authors":"Waiyan Leong, Yangchong Ang, Sharon Wong, Vantrice Aw, Cedric Tan","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101569","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101569","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Employing the Strategic-Tactical-Operational framework popularly used by the Thredbo research community, this paper describes how the latest workshop recommendations crystallised at the Thredbo 18 conference in Cape Town in 2024 are being put in practice by the Land Transport Authority, Singapore. Through the use of three case studies, namely the Bus Contracting Model, the New Rail Financing Framework, and Friendly Streets, the value of the Thredbo Conference Series for Authorities and Regulators around the world is amply demonstrated.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 101569"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144178207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Navid Nadimi , Mohsen Zayandehroodi , Armina Jalilzadeh , Mohammad Ali Zayandehroodi , Todd Litman
{"title":"Facilitating elderly tourism by sustainable transportation","authors":"Navid Nadimi , Mohsen Zayandehroodi , Armina Jalilzadeh , Mohammad Ali Zayandehroodi , Todd Litman","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101584","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101584","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tourism is an important industry worldwide. Transport is an essential factor in starting and promoting tourism. Nevertheless, community sustainability is greatly affected by transportation. Sustainability can be considered from different aspects, including environmental, economic, and social aspects. Sustainable tourism can be achieved by providing public transportation to different groups of society, especially vulnerable groups. The aging population is growing, and their long-distance travel demands are increasing. Aside from having more free time, the elderly also need to travel for a variety of reasons. Transportation systems must meet certain requirements in order to attract people with physical and mental disabilities. The purpose of this paper is to examine what factors facilitate long trips for the elderly, what factors must be taken into account by public transportation systems (airplane, bus, and train), and how we can encourage these groups of people to use public transportation systems on long trips. This study is based on a survey of seniors’ travel demands in Kerman, Iran, performed in 2023. The analysis used random forest, multinomial logistic regression, and structural equation modelling. This study indicates that many seniors would like to make longer-distance trips, but need improved services that meet their needs. However, tourism could attract wealthy seniors if special services are provided. The service quality of buses and trains must be improved to be attractive to the elderly who are not wealthy enough, because of equity issues.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 101584"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144178208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Changes in public transport markets due to disruptive events – A case study of Taiwan Taoyuan airport mass rapid transit in the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Barbara T.H. Yen , Corinne Mulley , Chia-Jung Yeh","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101582","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101582","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The COVID-19 pandemic was a disruptive event for public transport. Many case studies have reported large decreases in patronage, and this has caused serious financial problems for operators. This study uses Taiwan Taoyuan Airport Mass Rapid Transit as the case study to investigate the influence of COVID-19 as a disruptive event. This study investigates COVID-19 impacts from the perspective of changes in key markets for public transport, verifying significance using beta regression. Other than a decrease in patronage, the model results confirmed a significant shift in the target market from tourists using the airport to local residents and in service areas from the international airport to residential areas. The findings of the study can help policymakers reconsider the roles of particular public transport systems in the light of disruptive events. This study suggests that during disruptive events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers should move beyond simply subsidizing essential public transport services. Instead, they should identify alternative demand sources and leverage the competitive attributes of public transport to maintain and enhance patronage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 101582"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144177505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julia Bronnmann , Till Requate , Philipp Steinbrunner
{"title":"Driving desire: Exploring willingness to pay for a higher social status in automobiles","authors":"Julia Bronnmann , Till Requate , Philipp Steinbrunner","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101580","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101580","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Achieving social status is an important human drive. Cars often serve as status symbols and are known to provide social and psychological benefits beyond travel. In this study, we conduct a contingent valuation experiment with German car owners to assess their willingness to pay for a car with a higher social status relative to the cars owned by individuals in their social and spatial environment. Respondents' hypothetical choices are analyzed using conventional dichotomous choice methods and the spike model to investigate how status consciousness influences choices. The results of our study show that people have a marginal willingness to pay for a higher social status of their car compared to the people around them. We find a mean marginal willingness to pay for an increase in car status compared to other people between 786 and 1479 Euros.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 101580"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144178206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eshwar Dayal , Lisa Khuntia , Lakshay Lakshay , Heleen Buldeo Rai , Agnivesh Pani
{"title":"Behavioral intention to use parcel lockers in the last mile and underlying linkages with travel modal choice","authors":"Eshwar Dayal , Lisa Khuntia , Lakshay Lakshay , Heleen Buldeo Rai , Agnivesh Pani","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101568","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101568","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As e-commerce expands globally, using parcel lockers is becoming more and more common. Ultimately, our study contributes to a better understanding of last-mile delivery intents by providing insightful information to legislators and courier businesses seeking to encourage locker usage. After an online survey was completed in Mumbai, India, a Latent class cluster analysis and structural equation modeling were used to examine the variables influencing parcel locker users' usage. The study is unique in that it looks at three clusters: regular transit users, car owners, and those who own and use two-wheelers to explore the relationship between transportation mode choice and intention to utilize parcel lockers. According to the findings, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risks, and shopping preference are among the major drivers of behavioral intention to use parcel lockers. Owners of motorcycles and bicycles showed a positive correlation between all parameters and their intention to use parcel lockers, suggesting that ease of access will lead them to utilize this service. The relevance of convenience in locker accessibility was shown by the positive link between perceived usefulness and attitude among regular transit users. Contrary, car owners only indicated a positive correlation with perceived ease of use, indicating a low propensity to use parcel lockers. These results highlight the necessity for urban logistics regulations to adjust to new delivery models like parcel lockers by matching service offerings to various means of transportation and considering locker placement. In cities, these flexible regulations may increase accessibility and encourage creative last-mile solutions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101568"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Critical factors influenced pedestrian walking speed: A meta-analysis","authors":"Wei-Ting Shen, Barbara T.H. Yen","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101564","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101564","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Active transport plays a vital role in sustainable transport and urban planning and is beneficial for people's health. Since improving active transport facilities improves safety and convenience for users, it is important to measure the performance of active transport facilities. Walking speed has been recognised as the main design factor for pedestrian facilities. The purpose of this study is to identify key factors that affect walking speed. Therefore, this study reviews 41 papers with 191 samples and collects external data of quality of life indexes to control the built environment and economic status of each case. A two-step modeling process is developed. First, DBSCAN was used to identify the similarities among the samples. The three clusters (i.e., developed countries, developing countries with higher population density, and developing countries with lower population density) identified are one of the inputs into the second stage where a meta-analysis regression model was used to find critical factors influencing walking speed. Factors with significant positive impacts on walking speed are young pedestrians, cold weather, and two of the DBSCAN clusters (i.e., developed countries, and developing countries with lower population density). Factors that have significant negative impacts on walking speed are elderly pedestrians, female pedestrians, wearing specific clothing, commercial land use, and measuring speed as mean speed (compared to free flow speed). Being in a developed country is found to have the greatest negative impact on walking speed. This study further compares the worldwide Global Street Design Guide indicators with the meta-analysis model results. Findings provide policymakers and planners with a clear guide on the design of facilities for pedestrians to improve walking speed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101564"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144125318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The potential impact of childbirth on women's commute time and labour market participation: a cohort analysis","authors":"Azamsadat Hosseini Shoabjareh, Milad Ghasri","doi":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101563","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101563","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Women are reported to have lower commute times and labour market participation (LMP) than men, reflecting gender inequality in the labour market. While progress in workplace gender equality and a more equitable distribution of household responsibilities are expected to reduce this gap, certain biological life events, such as childbirth, may continue to disproportionately impact women's LMP and commute times. This study examines the temporal effect of childbirth on women's LMP and commute time while controlling for individual, period, and cohort effects. We use the longitudinal survey of Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) to analyse historical trends in the gender gap across four cohorts of Post-War, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials and quantify the impact of childbirth on women's LMP and commute time. The results show that the gender gap exists in LMP and commute time across all the investigated generations, nevertheless, the gap has decreased for younger generations. Childbirth reduces women's LMP and commute time by up to 82.3 % and 45.8 %, respectively. The adverse effect of childbirth on LMP and commute time diminishes over time. However, even 12 months after childbirth, LMP and commute time do not fully revert to their pre-childbirth levels.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47810,"journal":{"name":"Research in Transportation Economics","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101563"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144088953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}