The focus of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) has, to date, predominantly been urban and city areas. Consequently, there is a lack of relevant historical evidence and data relating to rural mobility and Rural MaaS (RMaaS). However, as the subject of rural mobility climbs political agendas, there has been an increased focus in the area, and in turn RMaaS, in both developed and developing countries. In Scotland, one six-month mixed (rural and urban) MaaS pilot has been completed and a further four pilots (two regional with rural components commenced in 2021). The development of these pilot projects highlighted both the general knowledge gap in dedicated RMaaS programmes, and the paucity of available evidence on RMaaS from the Scottish context. The research reported in this paper was set in a real-world context to understand RMaaS, by adopting the empirical method of case studies to develop a user-centered or 'consumer' co-design approach. The research, undertaken in Scotland prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed eight common barriers to both non-car and car users in rural areas when engaging with different transport modes, and useful insights for the development of user-focused RMaaS. Identified barriers included a lack of information and an inability to put bicycles on buses and unsafe roads for active travel. The findings also highlight that understanding these lived experiences is crucial in the development of sustainable rural mobility and that this should be appreciated by key stakeholders responsible for the development of RMaaS.

This study aims to identify and understand the perspectives of automotive aftersales stakeholders regarding current challenges posed by decarbonisation strategies. It examines potential responses that the automotive aftersales business could undertake to address these challenges. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with automotive industry experts from Europe and Latin America. This paper focuses primarily on impacts of decarbonisation upon automotive aftersales and the potential role of data in that business. Results show that investment in technology will be a condition for businesses that want to remain active in the industry. Furthermore, experts agree that incumbent manufacturers are not filling the technology gap that the energy transition is creating in the automotive sector, a consequence of which will be the entrance of new players from other sectors. The current aftersales businesses will potentially lose bargaining control. Moreover, policy makers are seen as unreliable leaders of the transition agenda.

Subway systems have long been a principal form of urban public transport. Subway systems affect urban development in many aspects such as land use, travel behaviour, and service industries including tourism. Tourism nowadays makes a significant contribution to economic success and yields social benefits for cities and countries. Transport can have a considerable impact on tourists' experiences at destinations. In many cities, tourists comprise a considerable proportion of public transport users, especially during holiday periods, and subways, as a speedy, convenient, accessible, affordable, and comfortable travel choice, are used by many tourists. With an increasing number of cities with subway development (existing and planned), growing numbers of domestic and international tourist trips, and global interests in growing the tourism industry, it is time to investigate the relationship between subways and tourism to identify their contribution to tourism at destinations. This international overview explores tourism facilities and subway stations and networks, tourism-related architecture and design of subway stations, subway-related travel behaviour and perceptions of tourists, and subways and sustainable tourism. It confirms the close spatial relationship between subways and tourism facilities, the subway station's role as a new heritage frontier, the subway as the preferred transport mode of many tourists, and the opportunities and challenges that subways present to sustainable tourism. This overview is significant in that it bridges subway systems and tourism in a comprehensive way. It provides important implications for subway-related transport policies and practices, as well as suggestions for future research.

The concept and potential of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) has been the subject of significant debate in academia and industry for nearly a decade. There are several city-based Mobility as a Service (MaaS) pilots globally. There remains a significant lack of practitioner evidence of MaaS with the focus on city-based solutions rather than in rural and suburban areas. To that end, this paper asks four research questions to contribute to the gap in Rural MaaS (RMaaS) and Urban MaaS (UMaaS); firstly, is MaaS a mobility option for rural areas given the identified evidence in scientific literature? Secondly, how do practitioner experiences with MaaS (in all areas) differ considering factors like phraseology, geography, available modes, transportation, the origin and implementation stages? Thirdly, what practical learnings can be drawn from practitioners in the field? Fourthly, what is the future of MaaS for rural and urban areas. The research and findings are based upon grey literature and twenty semi-structured interviews with representatives from research or government organisations, public bodies, MaaS technology suppliers, transport operators and experts. Each participant discussed and contributed to the practicalities around real-world applications of MaaS in urban, regional, or rural areas. The analysis produced 2 applied tools which will be useful to practitioners interested in MaaS; a Thematic Map visualising the common matters emerging from the interviews revolving around ‘People, Policy, Practice and Pilots (4Ps); a Practical Framework for Implementing MaaS tool, which can be used by any practitioner at any stage of a MaaS project.

Objective: Since only little is known about street networks (SNs) in developing countries, the overarching aim of this study is to spatially analyze Kuwait SN griddedness, transportation efficiency, and connectivity, using several indicators (i.e., orientation-order, street circuity, average street length, average node degree, proportion of dead-ends, and proportion of four-way intersections). Methodology: This work utilizes the python package OSMnx which obtains, models, and analyzes the open-sourced data repository OpenStreetMap to analyze the Kuwait built environment. This analysis has been complemented with qualitative information. Results: the key findings are: (I) orientation-order is lowest in some of the coastal areas and high in some modular residential areas; (II) Furthermore, compared to residential areas, non-residential areas have coarse-grained SNs, lower intersections connectivity and higher street circuity. Conclusion: Through acknowledging these features, more sustainable urban planning can be undertaken for expanding the built area in Kuwait. Further, the obtained data was made available for conducting further studies.

The user experience is a critical part of any product development process and one which has often been overlooked in the field of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Based upon the principles of Design Thinking and Co-Design, the research presented is grounded upon a hybrid workshop in Scotland in 2022. This workshop involved six MaaS-related technology solutions currently operating in urban, rural, and/or regional settings. Solutions were demonstrated to, then tested and evaluated by a mix of potential users, including local businesses, transport/service providers, young and elderly people. In addition, novel exercises and tools developed for the hybrid workshop, featuring a range of activities for participants (‘A Day in the Life’, story cubes and persona development) and a two-step evaluation framework for MaaS technology solutions (‘Designing Transport for All’). The workshop development, results, and outputs address four larger research objectives: (1) identifying potential MaaS use cases across a variety of user groups within society, including residents and visitors; (2) establishing user requirements for Rural MaaS (RMaaS); (3) determining practical barriers and opportunities for RMaaS; and (4) evaluating existing MaaS technology solutions and software, particularly in the context of transport poverty and lacking transport infrastructure. Key outputs include co-created personas, the stakeholder map, the RMaaS Customer Journey Map (illustrating touch- and pain points), the RMaaS User Mode Priority Hierarchy (demonstrating the misalignment between existing and desired mode offerings), the Impact and Value Frameworks, and the tools and templates developed for the workshop, available to researchers and practitioners.

Economic growth and infrastructure development in China has appeared to be regionally imbalanced for many years during the post-reform period since 1978. The significant differences in transport infrastructure and facilities among various regions in China can be depicted as "stairs" descending gradually from the higher eastern coastal region to the lower west of China. Metro systems have been developed in both coastal and inland provinces, and they are now present in the four different economic regions of China. The findings in this paper show that the distribution of metro systems from the perspective of spatial and regional development in China tends to be mixed and diverse. Considering the length, numbers of lines and stations, there is a consistent pattern in the medians of the datasets for different regions, with no significant differences in the levels of metro development between coastal provinces and inland provinces, and among the four economic regions. However, the Eastern Region not only has the largest number of cities with extensive metro systems; it also has many prefecture-level cities and non-provincial capital cities with developed metro systems. The analysis also shows that economic and population factors are positively and significantly correlated with the scale of metro development in both coastal and inland regions, and these factors have stronger influence on the scale of metro systems in cities in the inland region compared with cities in the coastal region. In summary, the evidence suggests that the spatial and regional layouts of metro development in China are influenced by economic, population, and institutional and policy factors; the latter having an important role to play in reducing regional imbalances in metro infrastructure development.

In the era of ubiquitous technology, crowdsourced data is an emerging frontier for active travel (AT) studies. In this work, we utilize accrued knowledge from interviews and previous literature regarding crowdsourced data strengths, challenges, usefulness and reliability for future informants who seek to embrace crowdsourced data. We review four main types of crowdsourced data: social fitness networks, in-house developed apps, bike sharing systems and participatory mapping. The strengths of crowdsourced data include providing fine data coverage, precision, details, immediacy and empowering users to participate in decision-making. Potential challenges that might arise from adopting this data are related to technical, privacy, proprietorship, financial and data fragmentation factors. In terms of usefulness, crowdsourced data lend themselves to before and after analysis, assessing current infrastructure, and investment prioritization. Reliability issues that may undermine the credibility of crowdsourced data are also discussed, as well as remedies for these concerns.

Transportation is a spatial activity. The geographic Information System (GIS) is the process of capturing, managing, analyzing, and presenting spatial data. GIS techniques are essential to the study of various aspects of transportation. In this entry, the state of knowledge regarding atomized transportation modes is presented. Atomized transportation modes are defined as transportation modes which deal with low passenger numbers.

Active travel (AT) has the potential to integrate with, or in some cases substitute for, trips taken by motorized transportation. In this paper we review relevant research on AT outcomes to address the potential of AT and emerging data sources in supporting the transport paradigm shift toward AT. Our analysis identifies physical, mental, built and physical environmental, monetary, and societal outcomes. Traditional methods used to acquire AT data can be divided into manual methods that require substantial user input and automated methods that can be employed for a lengthier period and are more resilient to inclement weather. Due to the proliferation of information and communication technology, emerging data sources are prevailing and can be grouped into social fitness networks, in-house developed apps, participatory mapping, imagery, bike sharing systems, social media, and other types. We assess the emerging data sources in terms of their applications and potential limitations. Furthermore, we identify developing policies and interventions, the potential of imagery, focusing on non-cycling modes and addressing data biases. Finally, we discuss the challenges of data ownership within emerging AT data and the corresponding directions for future work.

Previous research has demonstrated the influence of street layout on travel behaviour; however, little research has been undertaken to explore these connections using detailed and robust street network analysis or cycling data. In this study, we harness state-of-the-art datasets to model cyclists’ route choice based on a case study of the City of Glasgow, Scotland. First, the social fitness network Strava was used to obtain datasets containing the number of cycling trips on each street intersection for the years 2017 and 2018. Second, we employed a Python toolkit to acquire and analyse the street networks. OSMnx was subsequently employed to quantify several commonly used centrality indices (degree, eigenvector, betweenness and closeness) to measure street layout. Due to the presence of spatial dependence, a spatial error model was used to model route choices. Model results demonstrate that: (1) cyclists’ movement models were consistent for the years 2017 and 2018; (2) the presence of a spillover effect suggests that cyclists tend to cycle in proximity to each other; and (3) cyclists avoid streets with high degree centrality values and prefer streets with high eigenvector centrality, betweenness centrality and closeness centrality. These findings reveal cyclists’ desired street layouts and can be taken into consideration for future interventions.

Automotive after sales, which include provision of spare parts, customer service, and accessories sales, is one of the most profitable parts of the automotive industry and provides for an ongoing relationship with the customer. In times of recession, performance of after sales remains steady as it is highly independent of macroeconomic behaviors and keeps outstanding margins. Current automotive after sales are predominantly based on fossil fuel power train technologies, involving a significant number of replaceable working parts, lubricants, and supplies, and requiring ongoing manual labor. Current efforts to decarbonize the automotive industry, however, have the potential to disrupt this industry by shifting traditional after sales business models. The objective of this paper is to review the background and development of policies and actions in relation to the decarbonization of transport with a particular focus upon the role of the automotive after sales sector. The review considers the role of a range of stakeholders including multilateral bodies setting targets for participating nations; national governments; and the automotive industry, operating at varying scales. Electrification of vehicles and discouragement of car use and ownership are identified as key decarbonization strategies that could significantly impact upon car manufacturers and the broader automotive industry, which will in turn impact upon the after sales market. The review concludes that there has been limited research about impacts on after sales markets from transport decarbonization strategies. Areas of impact identified include reduction of working parts, fewer additional units, longer service intervals, changes in labor needs, disruption in customer retention, and changes to the repurchase cycle. In order to explore these potential impacts, the development of alternative future scenarios under different power train technologies and regional factors is recommended as an area for further research.

Promoting active travel (AT) requires informed transportation decisions relating to issues such as planning, safety, and infrastructure, tailored to user needs. To facilitate such a process, a new stream of research has emerged that utilizes social fitness networks (SFNs), such as Strava, to obtain user AT data. However, SFN datasets exhibit bias towards certain types of users (e.g., fitness-oriented cyclists, males, young users). In order to overcome this limitation, we tested a Public Participation Geographic Information System (PPGIS) as a primary data collection method and post-hoc tool to evaluate and complement SFNs by paying special attention to cycling data. In particular, PPGIS was administered in the City of Glasgow via 816 participants partitioned into Strava and non-Strava users. Spatial and contextual information was determined from the collected data. Statistical analyses demonstrate that PPGIS non-Strava users were distinct from PPGIS Strava users, as the latter tend to be associated with certain characteristics (i.e., younger, more fitness-oriented, proficient in smart devices), indicating the need for a complementary dataset. Spatially, a weak correlation (r = 0.22) between the route choices of PPGIS cyclist users and those of Strava indicates inconsistencies between the two; however, the origins and destinations were moderately positively correlated (r = 0.53 and r = 0.48, respectively). Further, statistically significant differences were observed between PPGIS Strava users and PPGIS non-Strava users, inferring the need for a supplementary tool. Our findings imply that PPGIS is a promising tool to fill these gaps.

Along with rapid urbanisation and economic growth, massive development of transport infrastructure has been seen in China, facilitating overall economic development and improved quality of life. Metro is a common form of high-capacity public transport and urban underground space (UUS) utilisation in megacities. On many occasions, for social, environmental, economic and functional considerations a metro system is the optimal choice. China has seen remarkably rapid development of metro systems during the past two decades and is now leading the world with regard to the speed and scale of planning and construction of metro systems. This paper investigates recent developments in metro systems in mainland China, including the history of metro development, metro scale (measured by metro length, number of metro lines, number of metro stations, and metro patronage) and the relationships among three factors: economic capabilities, resident populations and administrative divisions of cities. The results show that China’s cities with larger resident populations tend to develop larger-scale metro systems that are longer, with more metro lines and stations. With a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a metro city in China tends to develop longer metro systems, and more extensive metro systems with more lines and more stations, carry more passengers. Cities at higher administrative levels, with greater economic strengths and larger populations, are more likely to develop more extensive metro networks.

Given the numerous benefits of active travel (human-powered transportation), in this paper, we argue that using crowdsourced data and a spatial heterogeneity treatment enhances the predictive performance of data modelling. Using such an approach thus increases the amount of insight that can be obtained to improve active travel decision-making. In particular, we model cyclists’ route choices using data on cycling trips and street network centralities obtained from Strava and OSMnx, respectively. It was found that: i) the number of cyclist trips is spatially clustered; and ii) the spatial error model exhibits a better predictive performance than spatial lag and ordinary least squares models. The results demonstrate the ability of the fine-grained resolution of crowdsourced data to provide more insights on active travel compared to traditional data.

As urban environments densify and cities across the world employ urban underground metros for the effective rapid movement of millions of people a day, there is an essential need to ensure the safe continued presence and operation of those metros. To achieve this, the authors argue there is a need for a more detailed qualitative analysis of how urban underground metro infrastructure and its environment interface. Failure to do so could potentially lead to the development of inaccurate asset management data. This would subsequently lead to the implementation of flawed Building Information Modelling processes for 2, 3, and 4D modelling and mapping, of existing and proposed infrastructure. Following a review of existing asset management approaches which confirms the need for qualitative approaches to the analyses of the interfaces, this paper presents findings from a detailed case study, in the Bayswater area of the City of Westminster in West London, UK. The processes employed for the detailed case study form part of proposed (ultimately) standardised approaches to the gathering, analysis, and sharing, of multi-disciplinary evidence-based data, developed by the authors. Such data is essential to enable effective asset and urban management processes, now and for the future.

Mobility is fundamentally important in enabling people to access services, which can deliver substantial benefits to people's quality of life. This is particularly important in rural areas where the range and extent of public transport services are, in general, significantly lower than in urban areas, and, indeed, below the level required to provide a level of service that is sufficiently high to enable people in rural areas without private cars to access these services. This paper looks at the role of governments in institutional, organisational, regulatory and financial frameworks in supporting rural transport services at a level that enables this access. A cluster analysis is performed to identify distinct classes of framework types across Europe. In addition, the paper gives examples of good practice and innovation in rural transport from across Europe incorporating a variety of themes: the use of Information and Communications Technology, intermodal service coordination, demand-responsive transport, shared mobility and good governance. Key success factors for introducing, sustaining and transferring these forms of good practice are then discussed.

While there has been sustained growth in cycling as an urban mean of transport over the last two decades, it has often been accompanied by an increase in traffic crashes and deaths involving cyclists (Broe et al., 2017; Loreta et al., 2016). Many of the recommendations proposed to reduce such negative consequences rely primarily on individual behavioural changes or segregating infrastructure; however, the positive impacts of such actions are not yet proven (Dozza, 2017; Shinar et al., 2018). While these actions are certainly necessary, it has been proposed that more collective and long-standing changes in policy, education and law can be even more beneficial for cycling safety (Jacobsen, 2003; Marqués and Hernández-Herrador, 2017). Research considering social, spatial and economic disparities and their relation to urban cycling is very scarce within cycling studies and has the potential to benefit cycling safety by expanding its underlying understanding (Brown, 2016). Additionally, qualitative approaches such as the analysis of media representations of cycling safety events have only recently started attracting attention from researchers (Macmillan et al., 2016). Furthermore, there is a clear disproportion between research about cycling safety undertaken in Europe, Oceania and North America when compared to the rest of the world – in particular, Latin America. While debates around transport and inequalities are prevalent in Latin American cities, limited attention has been paid to cycling. In this study, through the analysis of secondary data and media coverage of traffic crashes involving cyclists in Bogotá, Colombia, it is proposed that cycling safety research can benefit from including analysis of social, economic and spatial inequalities as well as media representation. Preliminary results show that spatial inequality in cycling safety is expressed in at least three ways: disparities in cycling infrastructure allocation by city planners; concentration of traffic crashes resulting in cyclists' deaths in low income areas; and disproportion in media coverage of cyclists' deaths in traffic according to their locations.

This evidence review considers future security of travel by public transport and addresses three questions: (1) What are the current security challenges for public transport networks? (2) What are the emerging future security challenges? (3) What technologies will have the biggest impact on security of public transport in the future? The review identified current personal and operational security challenges associated with: convenience and privacy; interoperability and communication; risks and benefits of increasing connectivity; and skills requirements for the public transport sector. Important emerging security challenges relate to: user and service provider security in a future of data-driven mobility; design and evaluation of security measures for all modes; knowledge-exchange and coordination in research and action to enhance security; and the need to better understand passenger behaviour, needs and attitudes in relation to travel, technology and security. The biggest impact technologies were identified as Vehicle (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles; Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and Electric Vehicles) and ICT (Internet of Things; social media; mobile platforms; Open Data, and Big Data). In relation to ICTs, impacts relate to connectivity and data sharing which represent both vulnerabilities and strengths. For vehicle technologies, automation and connectivity were the factors most influencing impact for good or ill.

This paper considers the contribution made to transport geography research at the University of Aberdeen over the last century. In section one, the earliest work in transport geography emphasised the physical connectivity provided by transport through infrastructure networks. Section 2 discusses the contribution made at Aberdeen to debates around accessibility and connectivity. This work had a strong rural dimension and evidenced a growing recognition of the importance of technology in transport. It provided the springboard for research on digital connectivity with important contributions to the wider domain of transport studies in the fields of flexible transport, rural connectivity, transport and energy and social media and big data as reported in Section 3. Section 4 brings the story of transport research at Aberdeen up to the present. It frames research under the banner of intelligent mobility (IM), which links technology and mobility to the wider societal objective of enabling the smarter, greener and more efficient movement of people and goods. Contributions are reported to the fields of shared mobility, smart rural mobility, transport security and privacy and accessibility. Finally, a return to the theme of infrastructure networks and connectivity is highlighted in work on global production networks in aviation.