ABSTRACT
This research regards the COVID-19 pandemic as a major life event with the ability to affect daily activity-travel behavior, and investigates if specific activity participation (work/study, shopping, social contact, free time) is associated with different travel modes (walk, cycle, car, public transportation), with attention paid to residential neighborhood using survey data (n = 854) in Flanders, Belgium. Through mean-comparison tests and regression analyses, evidence was found of (1) compensation for changed working/studying time with walking time, (2) compensation for changed social contact with cycling, and (3) similarly affected travel behavior regardless of residential neighborhood, though suburban residents may have more mode-resilience and less reliance on public transportation. Further evidence indicate that those working/studying may have taken advantage of decreased traffic and congestion with an increase in car and public transportation use and that older respondents may be more likely to hold flexible, teleworkable jobs and treat the pandemic with greater caution. Some travel behavior changes are expected to persist post-pandemic, therefore understanding which life domains are associated with which travel modes can inform policy aiming to decrease motorized and increase active mode use (e.g., for health or sustainability goals). © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
Assessing the impact of new mobility systems (e.g., shared mobility services, mobility as a service (MaaS), and Mobihubs) in urban contexts remains a challenging endeavor due to the varying priorities (social, economic, and environmental) of different stakeholders and restricted and/or limited availability of data. In a broad sense, new mobility services (NMS) can be characterized as a way of optimizing the ownership and use of a variety of mobility resources, tailored to the needs of an entire (urban) community. In this context, providing an up-to-date and critical review on the impact of NMS is the main contribution and added value of this study. To this end, this study presents an in-depth review of NMS and their diverse features (e.g., car sharing, bike sharing, Mobihubs, etc.), as an alternative to privately-owned travel modes. By reviewing more than 100 relevant sources from academic journals (Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Web of Science) and media reports, this study explains the key elements on how to address the impact assessment of NMS in terms of social, environmental, and economic aspects of sustainable mobility services. This study concludes that the implementation of NMS offers the potential to promote efficiency, sustainability, social equity, and quality of life. The main findings of this study serve as a perfect starting point for mobility providers and policymakers who are concerned about the growing demands for clean and green cities.