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By offering the opportunity to make longer trips at a lower level of physical activity, the e-bike provides a promising alternative to car use. Despite all advantages (e-)cycling brings to urban accessibility, the environment, physical and mental health, not all car commuters regard the e-bike as a suitable alternative yet in their daily activity patterns. This study reports on changes in behavioral intention and actual e-cycling brought about by an e-cycling incentive program in the province of Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands. The impact of the program on behavioral intention and the actual change to e-cycling were analyzed based on a longitudinal three-wave survey design on past, intended, and actual commuting behavior. To explore the changes in behavioral intentional, the differences between intention and actual behavior and the factors influencing them, descriptive and ordinal logistic regression analyses were conducted. To explore the dynamics between e-cycling intentions and behavior a longitudinal structural equation model was developed. In general, this study shows that the incentive program has a positive impact on participants’ behavioral change to e-cycling during the incentive program. Results show that two-third of the participants actually use the e-bike as much as they intended at the start of the program. People who were used to taking the conventional bicycle to work before the stimulation program, are more consistent between their intention and behavior. Results also show that personal beliefs, habits, and goal-related variables do not influence the intention–behavior consistency.

Abstract Background In the context of socially sustainable urban development, comfortable, safe, and accessible public transport is crucial to motivating people to travel more sustainably. Using the framework given by Masoumi and Fastenmeier (2016) to examine the concepts of safety and security, we explore how perceptions of safety about different transport modes shaped the mobility of older adults in Bengaluru, India. Methods In-depth telephonic interviews were conducted with 60 adults, aged 50 years and over, residing in urban Bengaluru, using a semi-structured in-depth interview guide to explore the perceptions of safety in different transport modes. Observations were conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Applying thematic analysis, we present how the perceptions of safety during their everyday travel shaped their mobility. Results According to our research, older adults’ perception of safety during their everyday travel is shaped by past negative experiences with accidents, pickpocketing, theft of mobile phones, and chain snatching. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the already existing inequalities, further limiting older adults’ mobility to carry out regular activities such as buying groceries, socialising, making a hospital visit, or going to work due to the fear of getting infected. Conclusion Our findings indicate that the use of public transport needs to be encouraged among older adults by enhancing necessary safety features following the age-friendly cities framework. Furthermore, it can help policymakers develop transport polices, which suit the mobility needs of older adults.

Rapid suburbanization in China is dramatically reshaping the daily life of urban residents. In China, long-distance commuting, traffic congestion, spatial mismatch and the low quality of life resulting from residential suburbanization are causing widespread concern. This paper compares the changes in time allocation from a time-use perspective, based on two activity-travel survey datasets collected in suburban Beijing in respectively 2007 and 2017. Travelling time to work has increased substantially between 2007 and 2017 and particularly impacted non-working activities. Working and commuting showed to have the greatest impact on time allocated to non-work activities, both in home and out of home, both maintenance and discretionary activities. Furthermore, residents’ allocation of time to non-work activities shows to be influenced too by their socioeconomic attributes, such as gender, marital status and household configuration (e.g. extended family). We found that the space–time constraints imposed by household responsibilities leads to greater gender differences in time allocation. This paper provides insight into how urban residents reallocate their time as a result of increasing suburbanization.

Abstract Transportation is among the key aspects that influence active ageing. This realist review intends to understand the mechanisms of urban mobility infrastructure interventions and policies in low- and middle-income countries for older adults and to identify factors, which influenced the success or failure of interventions. We followed the steps suggested by Pawson and colleagues for a realist review. Electronic databases were searched from inception until August 2020. Studies were screened based on titles, abstracts and full text. The quality of included studies was assessed based on rigour and relevance. The evidence was obtained from 36 articles with diverse study designs conducted in 36 low- and middle-income countries. Findings were validated through stakeholder consultations from three low- and middle-income countries. Of the various individual factors identified, behaviour change communication interventions were low-cost, had a long-term impact and were efficient in increasing awareness among users to improve safety, social inclusion and about transport schemes for older adults. Improved transport infrastructure resulted in a shift from private to public transportation. For a sustainable urban transport infrastructure, good governance and involvement of stakeholders for planning and implementing transport interventions were considered necessary. Lack of evaluation, experience of transport planners, and inter-sectoral coordination were key challenges to successful interventions. The review highlighted a lack of older adult-specific transportation policies, and gender-targeted interventions for older women, suggesting a need for interventions and policies based on the contextual factors existing in a region.

Abstract Background Walkability indices have been developed and linked to behavioural and health outcomes elsewhere in the world, but not comprehensively for Europe. We aimed to 1) develop a theory-based and evidence-informed Dutch walkability index, 2) examine its cross-sectional associations with total and purpose-specific walking behaviours of adults across socioeconomic (SES) and urbanisation strata, 3) explore which walkability components drive these associations. Methods Components of the index included: population density, retail and service density, land use mix, street connectivity, green space, sidewalk density and public transport density. Each of the seven components was calculated for three Euclidean buffers: 150 m, 500 m and 1000 m around every 6-digit postal code location and for every administrative neighbourhood in GIS. Componential z-scores were averaged, and final indices normalized between 0 and 100. Data on self-reported demographic characteristics and walking behaviours of 16,055 adult respondents (aged 18–65) were extracted from the Dutch National Travel Survey 2017. Using Tobit regression modelling adjusted for individual- and household-level confounders, we assessed the associations between walkability and minutes walking in total, for non-discretionary and discretionary purposes. By assessing the attenuation in associations between partial indices and walking outcomes, we identified which of the seven components drive these associations. We also tested for effect modification by urbanization degree, SES, age and sex. Results In fully adjusted models, a 10% increase in walkability was associated with a maximum increase of 8.5 min of total walking per day (95%CI: 7.1–9.9). This association was consistent across buffer sizes and purposes of walking. Public transport density was driving the index’s association with walking outcomes. Stratified results showed that associations with minutes of non-discretionary walking were stronger in rural compared to very urban areas, in neighbourhoods with low SES compared to high SES, and in middle-aged (36–49 years) compared to young (18–35 years old) and older adults (50–65 years old). Conclusions The walkability index was cross-sectionally associated with Dutch adult’s walking behaviours, indicating its validity for further use in research.

Recent methods to measure multimodality only consider the diversity and evenness of mode use, while ignoring that the classification of transport modes also matters. This study proposes a multigroup multimodality index to measure the extent of being multimodal at both single mode and mode group levels in a nested manner. The index is compared with the two most commonly used indices, the Herfindahl-Hirschman index and the Shannon Entropy index, to assess its reliability and improvement over existing approaches. Results show that the multigroup multimodality index can simultaneously distinguish the degree of being multimodal at both mode level and group level, which addresses the classification issue in measuring multimodality.

Improved accessibility by transit service constitutes a critical component in removing spatial barriers in daily mobility for disadvantaged groups. However, the effects of transit accessibility on the daily mobility and activity participation of different social strata remain inconclusive. This study investigates the role of transit accessibility on the activity space of three income groups in Hong Kong. The results show that the availability of transit stations and network accessibility by mass transit rail (MTR) are significantly linked to the spatial extensiveness of activity space of the higher- and medium-income commuters, while bus plays a more important role for the daily mobility of the low-income group. Concerning non-work activity participation, the low-income non-commuters appear less affected by the availability of MTR stations than the other two groups, suggesting a potentially lower ability of using MTR to carry out different daily activities. Our findings offer some in-depth insights into the possible social inequality of using transit service, thereby contributing to a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between transit accessibility and mobility in relation to economic status. Policy recommendations to alleviate transport disadvantage and improve social equity are proposed.

As a newly emerged bike-sharing system, dockless bike-sharing has the potential to positively influence urban mobility by encouraging active cycling and drawing users from car, public transit and walking. However, scant empirical research explores the extent to which dockless bike-sharing replaces other travel modes for different travel purposes. There is a lack of knowledge about how dockless bike-sharing users’ personal characteristics and neighborhood environment features influence their mode substitution behaviors. Using survey data collected from residents in Beijing and geodata of land use and public transit, we conduct four multinomial logistic models to explore potential mode-substitution behaviors influenced by dockless bike-sharing for four travel purposes: work or education commuting, sports and leisure, grocery shopping, and recreational activities such as shopping, eating and drinking. The results indicate that, for the majority of respondents, dockless bike-sharing systems potentially substitute for walking or public transit. In addition, our analysis of travel attitudes points out that dockless bike-sharing not only attracts bicycle lovers but also users with a preference or positive attitude toward other travel modes. The positive association between the length of bicycle paths and the likelihood of potentially replacing public transit or motorized vehicles by dockless bike-sharing also reveals that the cycling infrastructure of residential neighborhood could be an important facilitator for users of public transit and motorized vehicles to switch to dockless bike-sharing systems.