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The Journal of Geographical Systems (JGS) has announced two initiatives to recognize outstanding research published in the journal. The first initiative is the JGS Best Paper Award, which aims to encourage and acknowledge excellent scholarship in the field of GIScience and spatial planning. The second initiative is the Editors' Choice, where the editors select their favorite paper from each issue. The winners of these awards are listed on the journal's website and their papers are made freely accessible for a certain period of time. The 2023 JGS Best Paper Award was given to Luyu Liu, Adam Porr, and Harvey J. Miller for their research on evaluating the reliability of public transit accessibility using real-time data. The paper demonstrates how even small levels of unreliability in transit services can significantly impact accessibility levels, particularly for lower income populations. The paper also promotes open and reproducible research practices. The Editors' Choice for Volume 26(1) is a paper by Chris Jacobs-Crisioni, Ana I. Moreno-Monroy, Mert Kompil, and Lewis Dijkstra, which proposes a sequential approach to estimate school provision, cost, and access using open databases of student counts. The paper provides valuable insights into the balance between cost, access, and residential values in school provision. Both papers are recognized for their significant contributions to the field. [Extracted from the article]

This paper aims to contribute to a qualitative understanding of rescaling and its impact on planning strategies and governance relations across scales. By investigating the effects of rescaling for the old scale 'left behind' – through the case of public transport planning in Sweden – this paper illustrates how rescaled tasks continue to engage the scale 'left behind' (and is a source of 'tensions'), long after a rescaling process has taken place. Through the lens of rescaling, three main points of discussion are highlighted in the paper: Firstly, processes of rescaling are intertwined with policy layering, and can as such be a source of both 'good and evil' for the continued planning on the scale 'left behind'. Secondly, this calls for an increased geographical sensitivity in research when investigating the effects of rescaling, as the formal and practical outcomes of rescaling can be spatially unequal for planning bodies with similar formal mandates on the same scale. Thirdly, the development of governance relations and 'tensions' between new and old scales, are by no means static in time nor space, and calls for increased dialogue across planning scales to aid in the transition of responsibilities from the old to the new scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public transport service reliability is crucial for all stakeholders, including users, operators, and society. Bus bunching, where two or more buses on the same route travel closely together, significantly undermines service reliability. This paper reviews bus bunching, its causes and consequences, and control strategies from demand, supply, and decision-making perspectives. It identifies gaps in the literature, emphasising the need for realistic evaluations of control methods and real-world applications. The paper reveals that most bunching solutions prioritise operators over public transport users, and the trade-offs posed by these methods require further examinations. Hybrid methods combining holding with other measures have outperformed standalone holding methods but need real-world testing. User-centric approaches, such as encouraging and incentivising passengers to choose less crowded vehicles or wait, have demonstrated some potential in alleviating service bunching. However, their effectiveness in real-world applications present important research directions. In summary, the practical classification and framework presented in this review can assist policymakers in making informed and optimised decisions by considering various variables and performance measures involved in the process, and in finding balanced solutions for passenger and operator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature on mobility justice suggest that socially disadvantaged people experience uneven access to movement. The theme of diversity in terms of gender and its interplay with mobility and leisure have attracted some scholarly attention. However, research into transgender and gender diverse mobilities and its impact to leisure access remains limited, particularly from non-Western perspectives. This paper endeavors to fill this gap by investigating transgender and gender diverse mobilities in Istanbul, Turkey. Drawing upon 49 qualitative interviews with gender diverse and transgender public transport users in Istanbul, this study contributes to a scholarly discussion exploring the relationship between gender diversity, mobility, and their access to leisure. As such, it furthers the field of gender-oriented leisure. Transgender and gender diverse individuals continue to face significant issues, such as violence, discrimination, and harassment, when using public transport. Based on the experiences of the respondents, this paper concludes that driver training and education, and proactive educational messaging around gender minorities in public spaces could significantly improve the comfort and safety of transgender and gender diverse public transport users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a trending mobility choice, e-scooters have become popular in many cities. A number of authorities have initiated shared e-scooter trial schemes to assess the feasibility of the vehicles prior to enacting official legalisation. This paper aims to provide an evidence review of shared e-scooters and investigate how existing evidence may inform long-term policies. This carries significant relevance for jurisdictions that are in a conflicting position with e-scooters, such as New South Wales (NSW), Australia whose context motivates this study. The evidence review focuses on three themes derived from experience with shared e-scooters within the broader micromobility landscape, namely: safety; where shared e-scooters fit into the modal landscape; and the environmental impacts. Findings confirm that ensuring the safety of shared e-scooters requires complex solutions, which may include a clear regulatory framework for e-scooters, safety education and skill training, innovative data collection and analysis methods, and an approach to safety management that is user-based, location-based, and time-based. In terms of modal fit policymakers should encourage first and last-mile combinations with public transport, with consideration of user characteristics; while climate impact is strongly correlated to the mode replaced by e-scooter trips. The paper provides insights for policymakers on the regulation and positioning of shared e-scooters. • Many jurisdictions are struggling to determine policies for e-scooters. • Existing e-scooter evidence sheds light on possible long-term policies. • Safety management should consider different users, locations, and times. • First and last-mile combinations with public transport should be encouraged. • Climate impact is strongly correlated to the mode replaced by e-scooter trips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In attempting to understand and prevent fare evasion, existing research and policy have often categorised fare evaders based on passenger 'types' or profiles. However, such categorisations of 'malicious' or 'virtuous' behaviours rely on underlying moral claims which often go unexamined. In this paper, we study how different actors construct such moral claims as part of everyday interactions. We demonstrate that the everyday moralities of not or under-paying are diverse, locally occasioned, and emotionally charged. Drawing on social media and video data from Chile and the UK, we examine interactions between passengers, by-standers, transport workers, and transport operators. We highlight the diverse resources that actors draw upon to construct moral claims around fare evasion, including the mobilisation of alternative moral categories; attempts to produce exceptions to formal rules; and the foregrounding of moral emotions. The paper engages with an interdisciplinary body of work which reassesses existing policies and societal responses to fare evasion, while also contributing to a nascent literature on everyday morality and mobilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land public transport is an important link within and between cities, and how to control the transmission of COVID-19 in land public transport is a critical issue in our daily lives. However, there are still many inconsistent opinions and views about the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in land public transport, which limits our ability to implement effective interventions. The purpose of this review is to overview the literature on transmission characteristics and routes of the epidemic in land public transport, as well as to investigate factors affecting its spread and provide feasible measures to mitigate the infection risk of passengers. We obtained 898 papers by searching the Web of Science, Pubmed, and WHO global COVID database by keywords, and finally selected 45 papers that can address the purpose of this review. Land public transport is a high outbreak area for COVID-19 due to characteristics like crowding, inadequate ventilation, long exposure time, and environmental closure. Different from surface touch transmission and drop spray transmission, aerosol inhalation transmission can occur not only in short distances but also in long distances. Insufficient ventilation is the most important factor influencing long-distance aerosol transmission. Other transmission factors (e.g., interpersonal distance, relative orientation, and ambient conditions) should be noticed as well, which have been summarized in this paper. To address various influencing factors, it is essential to suggest practical and efficient preventive measures. Among these, increased ventilation, particularly the fresh air (i.e., natural ventilation), has proven to effectively reduce indoor infection risk. Many preventive measures are also effective, such as enlarging social distance, avoiding faceto-face orientation, setting up physical partitions, disinfection, avoiding talking, and so on. As research on the epidemic has intensified, people have broken down many perceived barriers, but more comprehensive studies on monitoring systems and prevention measures in land public transport are still needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous expansion of urban scale in China, the increase of passenger flow has brought great pressure to the urban public transport system. An accurate and timely prediction of the short-term passenger flow at each metro station is extremely important for the metro intelligent control system to make a timely decision. In this paper, based on the measured passenger flow data of Zijingshan station of Zhengzhou Metro Line 1, an improved whale optimization algorithm is proposed to predict the passenger flow on different time scales. The results show that the method has higher accuracy than the traditional least squares support vector machines algorithm. The paper opens a new window for nowcasting warning in the rush hour and long-period optimization of the public transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the accessibility of transportation systems in urban agglomerations and mitigate carbon emissions from traffic, this paper introduces a comprehensive planning approach for transportation routes. Initially, it calculates the carbon emissions generated by urban mass transit, and set minimizing these emissions as a key objective. Subsequently, for road traffic within urban agglomerations, a layout model is established that aims to minimize both travel time and carbon emissions. By incorporating the Pareto optimal concept optimization algorithm, the study determines the optimal solution. In terms of rail transit, the paper establishes the optimal planning outcome by employing the probability density function of rail transit as a constraint, after determining the appropriate scale of the system. Experimental results demonstrate that this approach effectively controls the overall carbon emissions of the urban agglomeration transportation system, with the layout coordination coefficient peaking at 0.926. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the basic issues involved in identifying and providing solutions to transport problems. The paper argues that solutions focusing solely on investment in capacity or second-best solutions to pricing such as road pricing and free public transport ignore the essential economic relationships involved in transport. The paper provides a critique of investment and pricing and argues for a more integrated approach in which optimal pricing is a core consideration in any investment decisions. This is seen as particularly important in a post Covid-19 world where many of the fundamental drivers of transport demand have changed, and public authorities face significant constraints on budgets whilst new pressures such as commitments to net zero in the face of global warming threats add additional pressures. The paper offers some thoughts on the principles involved in establishing a more suitable structure for dealing with the transport problem. • Identifies the core elements of the transport problem as pricing and investment. • Reviews problems in implementing first-best pricing. • Critiques investment decisions in the light of wider economic impacts. • Considers changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic and the move to net-zero. • Offers a set of principles for reforming transport policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper reviews factors influencing shift to public transport. • The focus is on developing countries. • The findings highlight a modal shift from motorcycles to public transport. • The findings highlight a theoretical framework for the modal shift. Most studies on commuter and public transport mode choice rely on theoretical frameworks that draw boundaries between the utility function, social-ecological system, demographic and socio-economic attributes, and psychological theory. While models predicting the shift towards public transport are commonly applied in developed countries, there is a lack of similar studies that construct these models in developing countries. In addition, in some developing countries, the motorcycle is one of the main private motorised travel modes. Therefore, the modal shift from motorcycles to public transport in Southeast Asia to reduce private mobility is one of the important topics to examine. This paper presents a systematic literature review, utilising a comprehensive search strategy across electronic databases and reputable sources to identify directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), revealing factors influencing the choice and intention to shift to public transport. Data synthesis from selected studies highlights the intrinsic and extrinsic variables influencing public transport use, motorcycle use, and the modal shift to public transport. The study also proposes a theoretical framework for the modal shift in usage from motorcycles to public transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has been widely recognised as an affordable and effective mass transport system that can solve various mobility issues in countries that are unable to afford rail-based mass transit options. However, it is extremely challenging to predict the demand for the first BRT service in a city of a developing country with a weak public transport system using aggregate models, given the radical difference in the level of service between the BRT and the existing modes. Further, there can be substantial changes in the activity and travel patterns in a city after the introduction of the BRT which simpler disaggregate level analysis tools are unable to predict. Agent-based simulation tools, which are the state-of-the-art tools for simulating complex travel behaviour, are hence more appropriate for predicting the network conditions after the introduction of a new BRT system. But the application of such simulation tools has been primarily limited to developed countries where the transport landscape and the travel behaviour are very different from the developing countries. To address this gap, this paper presents a demand forecasting model for BRT and integrates it into an activity-based micro-simulation tool in the context of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and one of the fastest growing megacities in the world. The model was developed based on an existing multi-agent, activity-based, travel demand simulator (MATSim). The MATSim implementation in the context of Dhaka focused on two aspects: (1) implementing behaviour models in MATSim to reflect the mode choice in the presence of the proposed BRT (2) integrating multiple data sources (including stated-preference data) for calibrating the mode choice and other components of MATSim to realistically mimic the travel behaviour in the city. Once calibrated, different access scenarios for BRT were simulated using MATSim, and the sensitivity of the outputs to different modelling assumptions is tested. Results from the simulation showed that the marginal utility of travel time, travel cost, and pricing structure of BRT significantly influenced BRT travel demands. Also, BRT demand was found to be the highest (25% of the total trips) in the scenario with multi-modal access/egress connections. While such direct model outputs presented in this paper will be useful for the planners to maximise the ridership of the proposed BRT, the calibrated simulator will be also useful for the evaluation of other innovative transport modes in the context of Dhaka in the future. • Behavioural models are integrated with agent-based microsimulation approach to predict BRT demand in the context of Dhaka, Bangladesh. • The demand for BRT is found to be notably influenced by both the fare structure and multimodal connectivity. • Simulation outputs demonstrate that BRT demand can vary between 0.7% and 25% depending on the adopted policies. • Policy measures to maximise BRT demand include making motorcycles less attractive and ensuring intermodal connectivity. • Customised services, incentives, and targeted planning, including gender-sensitive strategies, are vital for improving BRT ridership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ride-hailing services have expanded the role of shared mobility in passenger transportation systems, creating new markets and creative planning solutions for major urban centers. In this paper, we consider their use for the first-mile or last-mile passenger transportation in coordination with a mass transit service to provide a seamless multimodal transportation experience for the user. A system that provides passengers with predictable information on travel and waiting times in their commutes is immensely valuable. We envision that the passengers will inform the system of their desired travel and arrival windows so that the system can jointly optimize the schedules of passengers. The problem we study balances minimizing travel time and the number of trips taken by the last-mile vehicles, so that long-term planning, maintenance, and environmental impact are all taken into account. We focus on the case where the last-mile service aggregates passengers by destination. We show that this problem is NP-hard, and we propose a decision diagram–based branch-and-price decomposition model that can solve instances of real-world size (10,000 passengers spread over an hour, 50 last-mile destinations, 600 last-mile vehicles) in computational time (∼1 minute) that is orders of magnitude faster than the solution times of other methods appearing in the literature. Our experiments also indicate that aggregating passengers by destination on the last-mile service provides high-quality solutions to more general settings. History: Accepted by Pascal Van Hentenryck, Area Editor for Computational Modeling: Methods and Analysis. Supplemental Material: The software that supports the findings of this study is available within the paper and its Supplemental Information (https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/suppl/10.1287/ijoc.2019.0163) as well as from the IJOC GitHub software repository (https://github.com/INFORMSJoC/2019.0163). The complete IJOC Software and Data Repository is available at https://informsjoc.github.io/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a situation regulated by plural normative orders, which every-day public transport users and ticket inspectors experience and practice in the urban realm of the Hungarian capital city, Budapest. The paper analyses everyday interactions between members of the public and public transport staff (typically ticket inspectors) in ways which are not only regulated by formal rules, but which manifest in a non-state regulated normative order. By doing this, the paper theoretically engages with the interplay between multiple normative orders and the urban dynamics in which they operate. The norms which regulate these practices can exist because of how the public transport system operates in Budapest. The paper is based on twenty-five in-depth interviews conducted between February 2017 and March 2019 with long-term Hungarian residents and British migrants living in Budapest. A synthesis of Ehrlich's "living law" theory and Moore's concepts of "semi-autonomous social fields" provide the underlying theoretical framework to examine these informal interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the possibility of transport development as a factor for the rural integration of a population of over 100,000 using the example of the city of Stara Zagora in Bulgaria. The analysis showed that improving the access of the rural population to the agglomeration areas can be done through the combination of inter-urban transport that connects the villages with the nearby city The purpose of developing this process is to increase the access of the rural population to the cities and, accordingly, to bring out the problems that the people of the villages have in terms of urban transport. Based on a proposed methodology, we propose to highlight the main public transport problems of the rural population. On the other hand, to propose different views and models to achieve higher efficiency of urban transport and its implementation in rural areas. In this paper, quantitative and qualitative analysis is used and the results are also used to assess the impact of price fluctuations on vegetable marketing channels including vegetable processing enterprises. Data on vegetable prices were extracted from the tempo on line database and the analysis was also based on interviews with key stakeholders in the vegetable processing chain. The results reveal a high coefficient of variation at the farm gate stage, which is also transmitted to the distribution and commercialization stage. The analysis was also carried out at the processing level and the results also show a rather high coefficient of variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The line-based hybrid transit (LHT) system is a public transit mode that improves transit performance by integrating the fixed-route transit service with a demand-responsive transit service. To facilitate the implementation and operation of such a hybrid transit system, this paper analyzes and compares the operating performance of the LHT system in two different road network structures: a rectangular structure and circular structure. To conduct a meaningful comparison, the generalized cost of LHT systems for both structures is formulated using the same analytical framework based on the continuous approximation approach. After constructing various time cost indicators related to system performance under two structures, the optimal design model is formulated as a nonlinear program, and an iterative enumeration method with vectorized programming is designed to solve it. A case study is performed to compare various cost components corresponding to the two structures, and sensitivity analysis is conducted. The results suggest that the LHT system is more suitable for operating in rectangular structures under low demand densities, while the system in circular structures is more suitable for operating under high demand densities. However, the performance of the LHT system in a circular structure is superior to that in a rectangular structure at most demand density levels for testing scenarios with high service area size or value of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research rarely examines the subjective and objective built environment of river valley-type cities in relation to travel mode choice, particularly overlooking the heterogeneity among travelers in these cities. In this paper, based on questionnaire survey data and built environment data, terrain spatial perception (TSP) is introduced to expand the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and a Structural Equation Model (SEM) is established. Factor analysis and path analysis are conducted using SPSS and AMOS to estimate latent variables. An integrated model of SEM and random parameter Logit model (RPLM), which can not only analyze the psychological perception factors of commuters in river valley-type cities but also consider the heterogeneity of psychological perception, was constructed to analyze the impact of personal attributes, objective built environment factors, and psychological latent variables on the commuting mode choice behavior of public transport users in river valley-type cities. The results indicate that the five observation indicators corresponding to the proposed terrain spatial perception latent variables can better explain the terrain spatial perception of commuters in river valley-type cities. Different from plain cities, the subjective and objective built environment of river valley-type cities notably influence the travel behavior of commuters. Moreover, the parameters of terrain spatial perception follow a normal distribution, indicating that the sensitivity of different commuters to the terrain spatial perception of river valley-type cities is heterogeneous. The results of our study can provide a reference for alleviating traffic issues in valley cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a bilevel programming model for optimizing transit network departure frequency. In the upper-level model, user satisfaction is reflected by considering congestion effects in the cost function. The lower-level assignment model simulates passenger travel behavior more realistically by incorporating congestion effects. This problem is solved by a heuristic gradient descent algorithm, where an approximation of the gradient is obtained at each iteration by using sensitivity analysis for transit equilibrium problems. The effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm is demonstrated through two test examples, one of which involves a real-world scenario comprising over 130 transit lines. Numerical results conclusively indicate that the incorporation of congestion effects in the proposed model leads to improved transit system performance and enhanced user satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation is an economic sector that contributes significantly to global warming due to its high consumption of fossil fuels, and sustainably produced hydrogen is a major contender for an alternative clean energy source. Public transit is vital for environmental sustainability via reducing individual vehicle usage and traffic congestion, and the prospect of powering buses using hydrogen fuel has been extensively studied lately. This paper seeks to comprehensively review the current status of research on hydrogen-powered buses considering triple bottom line sustainability perspectives. A brief technical overview of prospective environmentally benign hydrogen production processes has been presented. Technological, economic, and environmental findings and research trends seen in recent analyses on hydrogen-powered buses have been summarized, along with the status quo of global hydrogen refuelling stations. Identified focal points for future studies include performance enhancements, refuelling infrastructure propagation, and policy formulation. The conclusions derived from this review will benefit the accelerated deployment of hydrogen-fuelled public transit fleets. • Environmentally benign hydrogen production is reviewed techno-economically. • The prospects of using hydrogen for public bus transport are discussed thoroughly. • Blue and green hydrogen production are likely to coexist in the hydrogen economy. • Costs and energy consumption of hydrogen-powered buses need improvement. • Refuelling facility deployment and public awareness of safety should be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In social networks research, geographical distance between places of residence partially explains patterns of friendship ties in semi-isolated communities like classrooms or schools. For example, individuals that live close to one another are more likely to be friends than chance alone predicts. Explaining this pattern, researchers often argue that distance approximates meeting opportunities: when individuals live nearby, they are more likely to meet, both by chance and deliberately. This paper discusses the effect of distance in post-Soviet urban space and argues that, at least in this context, shared access to public transit explains the structure of social relationships better than geographical distance. I model the pattern of friendship ties among a cohort of 145 high-school students considering the distances between residential locations and the available public transit. Results suggest that students that live along the same bus routes are more likely to be friends than those who just live close to one another. I conclude with a discussion about how research in the post-Soviet region can enrich debates about the association between the social and spatial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European cities, railway stations have become urban hubs in which a variety of functions and uses are focused. These include retail, cafés, offices and housing. They are often also complemented by adjacent amenity open space, in both hard and soft landscaping, alongside a broader provision for other modes, such as public transport, walking and cycling. In this sense, large-scale transport hubs resemble small-scale city centres and, like other urban centres, the public space in stations should meet the needs of a wide range of users. The design and management of railway stations is highly complex and the risk of such nodes failing as quality public spaces is significant. In addition, railway stations play a pivotal role in encouraging public transport use and they have the potential to contribute to a modal shift from more polluting transport modes. We argue that the design and management of such spaces is a key variable in the modal choices many travellers make. Based on empirical research across Europe, this paper presents a set of indicators for assessing the quality of railway stations and their adjacent areas and summarizes our research findings to increase the attractiveness of rail journeys through enhanced public spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People create route descriptions based on their mental maps to provide route guidance, which represents their knowledge of the environment. Recent studies have attempted to model navigation knowledge from human route descriptions to facilitate route communication. However, they mainly focus on outdoor environments and do not address the representation of human descriptions of indoors in the form of schematic maps through the automatic extraction of spatial knowledge. Schematic maps have been commonly applied for public transportation by utilizing abstract representations to reduce cognitive load. Compared to route descriptions, schematic maps can provide easy-to-understand navigation guidance. In this paper, we present a novel NLP-based pipeline to automatically generate schematic maps from human route descriptions for indoor navigation. The experimental data consists of a set of crowdsourced route descriptions that follow a common template for a test building of the Soleway indoor navigation web service. The route descriptions and the generated schematic maps were presented to human participants in an online survey, and it was found that 92% of the generated schematic maps matched well with the corresponding human route descriptions. Thus, the proposed method is an effective and reliable approach for modeling route descriptions through schematic maps in indoor route communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing greenhouse gas emissions from the conventional fleet of diesel buses has made Canadian transit agencies explore low-emission alternative fuels. Despite electric buses showing great potential to reduce emissions during their operational phase, the transformation from diesel buses to electric buses would require in-depth analysis pertaining to their economic and social implications. Published literature highlights the importance of developing a comprehensive framework that considers multiple decision parameters over a life cycle perspective for analyzing different fuel options to replace the existing fleet of diesel buses. This paper assesses the triple-bottom-line sustainability of diesel and electric buses in different regions of Canada. Moreover, a framework is proposed to incorporate multiple decision criteria (life cycle environmental, economic, and social impacts) over different perspectives to make the best decisions for transitioning the diesel bus fleet. The results showed that the environmental performance of electric buses highly depended on the electricity grid mix. Despite diesel buses having a low cost of production compared to electric buses, most provinces showed a low life cycle operational cost for electric buses. Electric buses' life cycle social impacts are high during their production stage, whereas diesel buses have the highest social impacts during their operational phase. Overall, electric buses have a high sustainability performance in all provinces and territories in Canada except Nunavut. The proposed framework and findings can aid policymakers and planners in implementing electric buses for public transit systems in Canada and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective in this paper is to evaluate the benefits of bus transit. To obtain the more accurate and highly discrimination results, this study establishes an evaluation indicator system from a stakeholder perspective and proposes a novel combined method consisting of dynamic network data envelopment analysis, cross-efficiency evaluation, and Shannon entropy aggregation method. An empirical study of bus transit systems in 33 key Chinese cities from 2016 to 2019 is provided. The results show that the benefit of bus transit in most key cities was ineffective. In contrast to production efficiency, focusing on improving service effectiveness is more conducive to improving the benefits of bus transit. Small cities have higher benefits than large cities. Meanwhile, the benefits of bus transit vary geographically. This evaluation outcome provides a more appropriate basis for decision-making related to the benefits of public transit services, as well as for operational and management studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the authors discussed the topic of energy and media savings in a public transport company. The article is of a review nature, referring to 100 sources, including scientific papers, books, conference proceedings, and websites. In the first part, a detailed literature review on environmental protection problems in road transport and methods of solving them was conducted. Subsequently, the authors reviewed the literature content on maintenance as a pro-environmental activity in transport companies. The great accent was paid to the problem of saving energy and media in the maintenance of public transport buses. Based on the literature and knowledge, the authors proposed the possibilities of conducting a rational method of managing the operation and maintenance of buses from the point of view of environmental protection, based on the strategy of predictive bus maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades, the analysis of mode choice preferences has become a vital aspect of enhancing the quality of public transport services. Most papers aim to derive conclusions from large-scale surveys. However, for specific homogenous patterns, such as university students, a smaller group of evaluators might also be sufficient. Such a survey can rather be considered as an expert survey, in which few representatives might express the preference of a larger community, thus, a different methodology can be more effective than the traditional statistical techniques. This paper aims to introduce a new approach that combines two multi-criteria decision-making methods, the analytic hierarchy process and the preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation, for a hybrid consensual model by aggregating the individual priorities defined by each decision-maker. The introduced model presents advantages in terms of reducing time, cost, and effort compared to statistical methods and requires solely necessary information from the users via objective and subjective evaluations. The model's effectiveness is tested with real-world data from the city of Budapest; highlighting the significant impact of the underground mode on users' behavior toward public transport. In addition, the outcomes are compared to other existing results of student preference surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The linear induction motor based on local public transport has turned out to be more cost-effective in respect of energy cost as well as maintenance. This is due to the fact that linear induction motors constitute a strong durability rate, simple geometrical structure, large force application capability, and independent adhesiveness that make the motor more advanced than conventional motors based on propulsion systems. The single linear induction motor for urban transit modeled by T-type equivalent circuit model enhancement is proposed in this paper. For the proposed system, a double-sided and single-sided linear induction motor is described. For the linear induction motor, the converter control strategies are implemented which is responsive to the velocity and force/current control system, and their integrated performance propulsion drives is described in this paper. Finally, the efficiency and other intrinsic factors needed for the structure's performance assessment are derived. The relationship between penetration depth and frequency is performed and the penetration rapidly drops at low frequencies and tends to stabilize beyond 10 Hz, with the Al having a relatively larger penetration depth. Finally, the performance analysis such as variation in the number of poles, mechanical air gap, penetration depth and frequency variations are calculated on the basis of various features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is no secret that decision-making around mass transit infrastructure can be highly political. Transport policy research, however, has tended to view political dynamics mainly as barriers. There is a need to better understand how and under what conditions political interests and institutions can enable mass transit projects, especially in cities which are not yet locked into car-centric transport systems. This paper addresses this gap with new inductive evidence from 32 expert interviews on the politics of bus rapid transit (BRT) in low- and middle-income countries. It develops two novel analytical frameworks, one on the politics of system adoption and another on the politics of system durability. The first framework highlights how BRT proposals often pitch broad but shallow political support against narrow yet deep political opposition. This renders them inherently contentious. Proposals move forward when their implementation generates political benefits for powerful decisionmakers. The second framework challenges the conventional view that BRT systems prove durable when their operations perform well. Instead, it posits that systems endure when their operations mitigate or adapt to adverse political feedback. The paper offers a novel holistic perspective on how to understand the politics of BRT, and presents a critical intervention in the BRT literature which has tended to focus on isolated political dynamics, such as the need for a local champion or resistance from paratransit operators. • Political analysis can strengthen policymaking for mass transit development. • BRT proposals often pitch broad, shallow support against narrow, deep opposition. • Proposals move forwards when they generate political benefits for decisionmakers. • BRT operations, in turn, often suffer from adverse political feedback. • BRT systems prove durable when operations mitigate or adapt to political feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent mobility is an important component of healthy ageing. Public transit may be an affordable way to achieve independent mobility, and yet little is known about older adults' transition to public transit. This paper addresses this research gap by providing an exploration of older adults' experiences transitioning to public transit use, and by comparing these experiences to those of older people who have always travelled using transit. Twenty-four older adults (65+) living in Hamilton, Canada, who use public transit completed semi-structured interviews during which they discussed their experiences when they first began to use transit. These experiences are framed herein with the concept self-efficacy, i.e. how one's belief in their ability to complete a task shapes their ability to complete said task. Results indicate that most older adults acquire skills to transition to public transit, such as trip planning, boarding, knowing where to sit and exiting the bus. These skills are developed through practice. As one gains experience, one becomes more confident in their ability to meet their daily travel needs using transit. Therefore, the transition to public transit as an older adult can be more challenging for those with little experience using public transit. This paper highlights the danger of assuming all older adults will effortlessly take up transit and stresses the importance of older adults gaining experience using public transit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the development of public transport (PT) in rural areas in the context of the implementation of the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) concept. This paper aimed to indicate whether and how rural areas can use the MaaS concept to develop PT and improve transport accessibility. The financing model for the operation of collective PT in the example of Poland was analysed. The case study Pomeranian Voivodeship was selected due to the strong influence of the Tri-City agglomeration, which does not directly include western parts of the region such as Słupsk County. Several research methods were used: desktop research, case study and GIS analysis. The results highlight that the MaaS concept has the potential to be implemented in rural areas; however, this will be a longterm process and will require advanced cooperation between local authorities, private operators and service providers. This process is dependent on measures being taken to support the use of MaaS at a national level. From the inhabitants' perspective, such changes are a positive direction for PT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 26 November 2022 the Andrews Labor Government was reelected for a third term in the State of Victoria. The starting point for this paper is its decision during the pandemic to seemingly break with neoliberal political orthodoxy, by boldly and deliberately leveraging the state's balance sheet to avoid recession, using debt-funded record levels of spending, particularly on infrastructure, as a means of doing so. The paper argues that in decisively embracing a neo-Keynesian budget strategy, the Andrews government did not actually break with the recent neoliberal past. It turbo charged it, with the dramatical increase in debt-funded spending being used to finance a massive expansion of an intricate network of private monopoly contractors operating everything from ports, tollways and public transport, to policy advice, jails and road maintenance. The paper concludes that over the last four decades of policy reform, Victoria has been transformed into a 'Rentier State'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have altered mobility flows worldwide and caused people to adopt new ways of being and moving in public space. These changes have been considerably pronounced across modes of public transportation. This paper explores the experiences of individuals who continued riding and working in public transport throughout the pandemic to yield insight into changing mobility meanings and grounded realities of urban mobility processes in the context of COVID-19 and beyond. Through the combined analysis of ethnographic fieldwork, participant observations and interviews, the paper unpacks lived experiences of riding and working in public transport in the city of Amsterdam during lockdown by addressing the changed nature of embodied encounters and mobile sociability in public transit. Findings denote that COVID-19 has altered the conditions of mobile sociability in spaces of public transport, and has produced complex experiences of daily travel with others involving mutually negative and positive impressions. As a result, we argue that when challenged by COVID-19 related restrictions, mobile sociability and fleeting encounters on the move significantly shape the experience of traveling with others in ways that call into question how we think of public transport as a social space in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lacuna in our understanding of how publicness of public transit is being constituted is the primary point of departure for this paper. In recent times, publicness has been articulated through two parallel readings – one, a political economic reading that sees publicness through static macrostructural constraints; and two, micro-sociality aboard public transit manifests an in situ and spontaneous public space. Moving beyond the static and the spontaneous, we articulate a dynamic co-constituted notion of publicness. Building upon recent work that examines the entangling of micro- and macropolitics onboard public transit and relying upon a mobile ethnographic approach revolving around situated observation and interviewing surrounding buses located in the Indian metropolis of Bengaluru, this paper offers publicness as a contingent entity that is constituted through the process of transiting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public transport plays an integral role in urban centres by promoting economic development, mitigating environmental degradation and fostering social cohesion. It also enables users to experience the socio-cultural and linguistic diversity of a locality. Public transport is important to the cosmopolitan city-state of Singapore: its public transport system, which is ranked among the best in the world, is used by over 7.54 million passengers daily. Nevertheless, not much is known about how the linguistic landscapes, soundscapes and place names are tied to public transport use and encounters. This study analyses Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station names, effectively toponyms (place names) in their own right. Specifically, it focuses on the East West and North South Lines, two of Singapore's oldest MRT lines. Besides tracing the (initially) tumultuous history of the MRT system, the paper studies the languages used in the MRT stations of both lines. It argues that place names, taken together with the sights and sounds of the MRT, are part of everyday multilingualism, or the linguistic dynamism when different linguistic groups occupy public spaces. This paper also explores some of the linguistic, socio-political and policy making considerations behind the MRT stations through a critical toponymic perspective. From the viewpoint of the special issue's interests, the paper contributes to understanding the historicisation of Singapore's rail system and its contesting political and economic choices when developing the MRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a public space, the environment of public transportation services is maintained by an ordered set of rules and conditions. Such rules and conditions are prescribed by law as they are in generally-accepted norms of social behaviour within public space. Through the examination of the Conditions of Carriage that govern bus transportation in Cape Town, South Africa, using Golden Arrow Bus Services, this paper seeks to highlight the myriad ways that urban public space on the move is mediated, negotiated and controlled through rules of conduct that differentiate mobile public space from its counterpart in the environment outside the bus. Understood as a mundane part of the social life of the city and its inhabitants, mobility in the form of public transportation is constituted by micro-communities whose publics are in a constant state of flux and negotiation. Using analysis of the Conditions of Carriage and an ethnographic case study of bus passengering, this paper demonstrates how the Conditions mediate the situated and lived assemblage of actors in mobile public space that is a liminal zone between inclusion and exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand-responsive feeder transit (DRFT) is an emerging urban public transport mode with the advantage of offering flexible door-to-door services in the high-speed railway hub area. However, the existing bus scheduling schemes can hardly meet personalized and diversified passenger transfer demands in the station-city integrated high-speed railway hub, reducing the attractiveness of DRFT. This paper studies the DRFT scheduling problem considering static and dynamic travel demands under the background of mobility as a service (MaaS). An information-based DRFT system framework is proposed, where the K-means clustering algorithm is implemented to select target bus stops from regional road networks for passengers to get on and off. A two-stage mixed integer programming model is first formulated to generate operational routes and optimize the static and dynamic scheduling before and after departure. The objective functions reflect the operating benefits of public transport enterprises and the travel costs of passengers, and the demand characteristics in different driving directions are taken into account in the model. Then, an improved genetic algorithm is developed to solve the model, which is called the genetic algorithm-exact algorithm (GA-EA) in this paper. Finally, the proposed model and algorithm are evaluated using the case study of the Nanjingnan Railway Station area. The experiment results show that the optimal scheme can provide a 100% demand-response rate, reasonable service time, and valid driving routes. In addition, compared with GA, the average search time of GA-EA is shortened by 43.5% and the total objective function value is increased by 2.16%. The findings in this paper can provide practical guidance on DRFT scheduling and improve the efficiency of bus feeder service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts at changing individual car use behavior towards increased use of public transport have so far largely failed. This paper will argue that the continued rise in individual car use needs to be understood as part of an overall trend towards protecting oneself instead of protecting the environment, i.e. an individualized sensory response to an omnipresent collective threat. The car industry serves this trend perfectly with features that turn cars into "cozy" cocoons that protect passengers from the dangers of the outside world. Although the Covid-19 pandemic has fostered this trend, it has been inherent in the resistant nature of cars for decades. Thus, today cars are increasingly used for their sensory aspects related to safety and protection from an infectious, dirty, and violent outside world. This trend is supported by highly individualized cushioning and comfort factors that make cars "special places." Any strategies for promoting alternative forms of transport thus need to consider these sensory developments when creating incentives for people to travel by train, bus, etc. instead of driving cars. The paper ends with a few speculations on how public transport could be made more attractive given the current role of sensory perception in car driving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 outbreak changed travel behaviour in many ways. This paper evaluates these changes in Tehran, Iran, from a transportation sustainability perspective. It uses data from travel surveys before and during the pandemic to evaluate changes in travel activity and their impacts on public transportation (PT) system costs and revenues, air quality and traffic crashes. A structural equation model (SEM) is used to assess the potential impact of passengers' characteristics, details of each transportation mode and the severity of Covid-19 on travel behaviour. Hypothesis testing is used to compare the changes that occurred in air quality and traffic crashes. SEM outputs indicate that the frequency of trips previously made by sustainable modes and changes in regular trips have the highest impact on the sustainability of trips made during the Covid-19 pandemic. Air quality declined in many city districts. The pandemic caused reductions in PT ridership and an increase in private car use, which threaten the long-term sustainability of public transit services. Crash fatalities declined slightly, particularly during periods of movement restrictions. However, motorcycle fatal crashes increased in comparison with the reduction in motorcycle trips, apparently due to increased traffic speeds. The government did not use the pandemic as an opportunity to promote sustainable and low-contagion modes. This analysis infers that the Covid-19 outbreak reduced the overall transportation sustainability in Tehran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a mixed method and comparative case study approach, this paper has analyzed the formulation process of mobility policy strategies and plans and their implementation in four Asian cities. The key findings are: (1) there was some evidence on leadership shown by mayors, governors, public transport administrators and police in all four cities; (2) limited stakeholder engagement in the whole process of policy formation to implementation and some forms of donor influence were observed in three capital cities that resulted in follow-up projects or studies; and (3) the implementation of policies and plans faced many challenges relating to leadership, resources, prioritization, and coordination among various organizations. There was much focus on the formulation of mobility policies and plans and the users could not feel a meaningful improvement to urban mobility services despite the implementation of large urban mobility projects. A comprehensive evaluation framework is proposed and used to evaluate the whole process of improving urban mobility from policy formulation to implementation. There seems to be much preference for large urban transit projects vis-à-vis infrastructure for active mobility and low-cost solutions. The research also indicates the need for meaningful public engagement so that the mobility plans take a citizen-centric approach that reflects the needs of the urban residents, rather than taking a modernistic approach with solutions more suitable for middle-income groups. Delays in the implementation of major projects also suggest that more realistic planning, scheduling, and improvement in project management and coordination is necessary. • Reviews and assesses the whole process of mobility polices and plans in Asian cities. • There was some evidence of leadership shown by mayors, governors, public transport administrators and police. • Limited stakeholder engagement in the process of policy formation to implementation and some donor influence observed. • There was much focus on the formulation of mobility polices and plans and without much improvement to mobility services. • A comprehensive evaluation framework is proposed to evaluate mobility polices and plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One dominant aspect of cities is transport and massive passenger mobilization which remains a challenge with the increasing demand on the public as cities grow. In addition, public transport infrastructure suffers from traffic congestion and deterioration, reducing its efficiency. In this paper, we study the capacity of transport in 33 worldwide metro systems under the accumulation of damage. We explore the gradual reduction of functionality in these systems associated with damage that occurs stochastically. The global transport of each network is modeled as the diffusive movement of Markovian random walkers on networks considering the capacity of transport of each link, where these links are susceptible to damage. Monte Carlo simulations of this process in metro networks show the evolution of the functionality of the system under damage considering all the complexity in the transportation structure. This information allows us to compare and classify the effect of damage in metro systems. Our findings provide a general framework for the characterization of the capacity to maintain the transport under failure in different systems described by networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featuring rapid adoption rates in recent years, personal standing scooters, as a micromobility, represent a missing complement to the first and last mile of public transport. This paper examines intermodal trips involving private (e-)scooters and trains with the objective to investigate the influence of this intermodal combination on station catchment areas. The methodology is based on the analysis of existing scientific research and empirical evidences. The case study focuses on access data from 12 railway stations collected by SNCF Réseau in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in September and October 2020. Main findings of this secondary analysis, based on 53 passengers using this personal device, suggest an over-representation of male and younger users, with very frequent intermodal practices mainly dedicated to work or study, and a feeder distance between combined walking and cycling. There appears to be similarities between bike-and-ride and scoot-and-ride but also clear distinctions that characterize this emerging mode, among which the fact that scooter is almost always used both during access and egress stages. This article advocates that station areas should be better considered by redesigning the surrounding public spaces to better balance the space of each mode, in favour of alternatives to the car and sustainable cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aim to understand the effect of different information types on risk perception and examine the relationship between perceived risk and travel behaviour during a pandemic outbreak. A hybrid choice model structure, incorporating a multiple discrete-continuous extreme value model, was formulated and estimated to explore travellers' mode choice and usage changes. We used a risk perception map to visually explain which risk elements felt unfamiliar and uncontrollable to travellers. Virus variation , Potential sequelae , and Long-term coexistence of coronavirus with humans were perceived as the most unfamiliar and uncontrollable risk elements. The model results indicate that increased perceived risk tends to reduce travellers' use of public transport and increase the use of shared bikes and private cars. Reducing passengers' perceived risk is critical to encourage the re-uptake of public transport in the post-pandemic era. As travellers also show significant heterogeneity, governments should aim to design targeted intervention strategies to encourage different travellers to return to public transport when considering risk communication. • This paper examines the effect of different information on perceived risk and the influence of perceived risk on travel behaviour changes during the Covid-19 pandemic. • A risk perception map is used to find out risk elements that feel unfamiliar and uncontrollable to travellers. • A hybrid choice structure, incorporating a multiple discrete-continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model is formulated and estimated to understand mode choice and changes in the frequency of usage of these modes. • As Travellers show significant heterogeneity, targeted intervention strategies for different types of travellers are required to encourage re-uptake of public transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "MyFairShare" project develops fair CO2 mobility budgets for individuals. Here, "fairness" mainly depends on the people's location as everyone should be able to access all destinations necessary to perform everyday tasks. Therefore, a basic understanding about the accessibility of facilities to visit within an area is needed, regarding all activities that must be performed. Given this, the amount of emitted CO2 is computed, assuming the use of sustainable modes while regarding reasonable ranges, i.e. a travel time of 15 min. In order to achieve this, a software system for computing this metric has been developed. It is based on open source applications and uses data that—besides public transport data in GTFS format—is freely available throughout Europe. This paper describes the method and presents the results of applying it to the project's five Living Labs Berlin, Jelgava, London, Sarpsborg, and Vienna. The results show that besides population density, the possibility to use sustainable modes of transport highly depend on the land use mix, i.e. the allocation of facilities daily activities may be performed at in the vicinity of places of inhabitancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the scheduling of electric vehicles in a public transit system. Our main innovation is that we take into account that charging stations have limited capacity, while also considering partial charging. To solve the problem, we expand a connection-based network in order to track the state of charge of vehicles and model recharging actions. We then formulate the electric vehicle scheduling problem as a path-based binary program, whose linear relaxation we solve using column generation. We find integer feasible solutions using two heuristics: price-and-branch and a diving heuristic, including acceleration strategies. We test the approach using data from the concession Gooi en Vechtstreek in the Netherlands, containing up to 816 trips. The diving heuristic outperforms the other heuristic and solves the entire concession within seven hours of computation time with an optimality gap of less than 3%. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2022.0253. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]