Special Issue "Sustainable Urban Mobility Systems Management and Public Transport Development"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 August 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Gonzalo Fernández-Sánchez
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Infrastructure and Environmental Area, EMT, 28007 Madrid, Spain
Interests: sustainability; urban mobility; project management; civil engineering
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Rafael Cortes
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Civil Eng. Department, Universidad Europea, 28670, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain
Interests: sustainable mobility; public transport

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urban mobility and public transport is one of the main challenges that cities have to face in the present and in the near future. It is something which is related with the environment but also with congestion, noise, space, density, which are just some examples of variables to take into account when planning urban mobility and public transport.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to help toward a better understanding of sustainable urban mobility and public transport all around the world from different approaches:

  • Real experiences from practical experiences (case studies, reviews, comparison, practical/empirical examples);
  • The state of knowledge with new approaches and attempts, systems and innovations in the area (e.g., mobility as a service, mass transportation vs. new ways of personal mobility as scooters, vehicle sharing, public bicycle systems, ITC applied to customer experience, and so on);
  • Future trends in mobility patterns in which public transportation. In this way, an analysis of worldwide changes due to COVID-19 and the change of modal split in cities is a challenge for public transportation companies and mobility;
  • Different ways and approaches to financing public transport in a sustainable way: practical experiences and theoretical proposals.

Other, synergic approaches can be accepted in this topic. This Special Issue invites original research papers, reviews, essays, and case studies on these topics based on previous or related issues.

Prof. Gonzalo Fernández-Sánchez
Prof. Rafael Cortes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • urban mobility
  • public transport
  • systems management

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
The ‘Sharing Trap’: A Case Study of Societal and Stakeholder Readiness for On-Demand and Autonomous Public Transport in New South Wales, Australia
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9574; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179574 - 25 Aug 2021
Viewed by 252
Abstract
Focus groups on shared, autonomous vehicles (SAVs) in New South Wales expressed “sharing anxiety”—an intense concern about the prospect of sharing their mobility journey with strangers, without a driver or authority figure present. This presents a significant barrier to the acceptance of SAVs, [...] Read more.
Focus groups on shared, autonomous vehicles (SAVs) in New South Wales expressed “sharing anxiety”—an intense concern about the prospect of sharing their mobility journey with strangers, without a driver or authority figure present. This presents a significant barrier to the acceptance of SAVs, particularly autonomous public and on-demand transport (ODT), which is a major focus for Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW). Given this potential barrier, we interviewed (N = 13) operators, academics, and regulators with TfNSW to assess their role and abilities in overcoming sharing anxiety. However, our findings revealed a relative lack of awareness from experts in the mobility industry about the existence of sharing anxiety in users, suggesting additional barriers to adoption. We make suggestions for policy considerations for stakeholders that could mitigate sharing anxiety: promoting dynamic ridepooling products in commercial services, using tax breaks as incentivization; requiring ODT services and operators in jurisdiction to use a standardized, unified interface for users (“single-app”); shared, on-demand transport services likely need longer incubation/pilot periods in order for the sharing behavior to become culturally established. We conclude with a reflection on how COVID-19 has impacted the development of shared mobility and suggest further exploration in policy implementation. Full article
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Article
Investigating Maturity Requirements to Operate Mobility as a Service: The Rome Case
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8367; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158367 - 27 Jul 2021
Viewed by 346
Abstract
The maturity of a city to operate a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) ecosystem has been often analyzed in the literature. This and the consideration that MaaS is mostly found in areas with long-enforced transit-oriented policies and efficient multimodal supply raise the research [...] Read more.
The maturity of a city to operate a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) ecosystem has been often analyzed in the literature. This and the consideration that MaaS is mostly found in areas with long-enforced transit-oriented policies and efficient multimodal supply raise the research question of whether it would be possible to operate MaaS in urban areas where mobility management is addressed according, on the contrary, to a conservative approach. A field study developed in Rome as a case in point, aimed at analyzing the actual feasibility of local MaaS operations, indicates that limitations are due to the citizens’ low willingness to pay. This is originated by a general underestimation of transit costs and made harsher by the inveterate use of passenger cars as the prevailing modal choice. The paper analyzes the results achieved, collected via a questionnaire, and highlights additional barriers to implement MaaS strictly related to its social acceptance, rather than to its technical viability, as to which the city, instead, is mature. The lesson learnt is that MaaS might be operationally (or technically) feasible even in challenging contexts, like Rome’s, but the prerequisite is to create supporting policies, for which a number of actions are outlined and elaborated, with the research goal to advance knowledge in this field, especially for decision-makers and potential stakeholders who might perceive MaaS as a too-demanding option for the context they operate in. Full article
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