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Assessing the Willingness to Use Personal e-Transporters (PeTs): Results from a Cross-National Survey in Nine European Cities
Get PDFIn the last few years, there has been a strong increase in the interest in and usage of so-called “Personal e-Transporters” (PeTs), also referred to as micro-mobility devices. Empirical research on the usage of PeTs as a transport mode is virtually non-existent, especially within Europe. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating people’s motivations and barriers to the use of PeTs. To this end, a behavioural survey was conducted in nine European cities. A representative sample of approximately 250 respondents per city was collected, resulting in a dataset, after data cleaning, of 2159 observations. Generally, respondents’ perceptions of PeTs are not (yet) very favourable. Respondents’ perceptions related to cost and safety received the lowest scores. The results from the transtheoretical model of behavioural change show that a variety of factors influence the stage of behavioural change in which the respondents can be situated. These factors include cycling norms, current walking behaviour, walking attitudes, pro-environmental orientation, gender, PeTs possession, cycling obstacles and subscription to a bicycle sharing service. An important strength of this study lies in the international nature and the size of the data collection, ensuring the reliability and transferability of the results to other cities. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first large-scale survey to investigate people’s travel behaviour related to the usage of PeTs and possibly the only large-scale investigation that took place before the deployment of shared e-scooters in many European cities. Furthermore, an explicit link is made with other modes of active transport (walking and cycling).publishedVersio
The Responsibility of an Audience: Assessing the Legitimacy of Non-elected Representatives in Governance Networks
Get PDFNon-elected actors in governance networks are legitimate representatives when the constituency accepts their claims of representation. However, not all constituents have the resources to approve or oppose this representation. Consequently, I argue that the audience, often the decision-making authority, which enables non-elected actors to act as representatives has a responsibility to consider their legitimacy. Drawing on seven business and urban development networks in Norway, this article explores how the decision-making authority considers credibility, qualifications and connectedness to legitimise non-elected representatives in governance networks. Through interviews with civil servants and politicians organising and participating in the network, relevant documents and observations, this article demonstrates that the decision-making authority legitimises non-elected representatives based on credibility and qualifications rather than connectedness with the constituency. The decision-making authority believes that claims grounded in specialist expertise, self-representation and shared experiences with the constituency legitimise non-elected representatives. Similarly, truthful representatives are considered legitimate. Finally, the decision-making authority is divided with regards to how the interactive process between the non-elected representative and the constituency legitimises the content of the representation.publishedVersio
App-based automatic collection of travel behaviour: A field study comparison with self-reported behaviour
No full textIngeborg Storesund Hesjevoll, Aslak Fyhri, Alice Ciccone, App-based automatic collection of travel behaviour: A field study comparison with self-reported behaviour, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Volume 12, 2021, 100501, ISSN 2590-1982, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2021.100501 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198221002062)Smart phone apps hold great promise for travel behaviour research, but their performance relative to traditional methods is still not well understood. The aim of this study is to evaluate the magnitude and direction of differences between travel behaviour from a completely automatic travel mode detection mobile app and a traditional travel behaviour survey. We present data from n = 230 participants who used the app (sense.dat) for four weeks. Participants also completed a one-day travel diary and one-week retrospective account of cycling and walking in the same period. Correspondence between app and survey varied across levels of aggregation and modalities. Overall, the app recorded substantially more km, minutes and non-zero trip days than the one-day survey, but when split up by mode this was not true for public transport. On the individual level there was a tendency for the app to register modes not self-reported by the respondents for all modes except public transport, possibly indicating that the app captures trips that the user may have forgot or intentionally left out. For bike, car and foot, the Spearman correlations between app and survey registered (one-day) distances and durations were moderate (r > 0.5) or strong (r > 0.8) when based on observations that were non-zero in both data sources, and moderate or weak when based on all observations. For one-week reports of active transport modes, app-survey correlations were lower than for the one-day data, especially for foot.publishedVersio
Public transport competitiveness vs. the car: Impact of relative journey time and service attributes
No full textErik B. Lunke, N. Fearnley, J. Aarhaug, Public transport competitiveness vs. the car: Impact of relative journey time and service attributes, Research in Transportation Economics, Volume 90, 2021, 101098, ISSN 0739-8859, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2021.101098 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885921000706)In order to give empirically based policy advice on public transport (PT) competitiveness, we have studied revealed mode choice for commuting trips. This has been done by combining data on mode choice from the Norwegian National Travel Survey (NTS) with evidence-based, as opposed to static level-of-service data, trip characteristics extracted from Google Maps’ travel planner. This combination enables us to explore the demand and market effects of relative travel times and other non-monetary PT quality factors. Our main finding is that high PT shares require that all of the studied factors; efficient travel times, direct routes or few transfers, and high service frequency is in place. If either one of these are not in place, the market share for PT is significantly reduced. The study contributes to the literature on transport mode choice by combining travel characteristics with revealed mode choice data, and showing how the relative travel time and other service attributes affect the choice of PT over car on commute trips.publishedVersio
Proposing a tool for assessing the level of maturity for the engagement of urban freight transport stakeholders: A comparison between Brazil, Norway, and Poland
No full textSustainable growth is a solution to reduce the negative effects of transport systems functioning in cities. It deals mainly with analysing the reasons for excessive exploitation and deterioration of the environment and specifying a strategy for limiting the process in the following areas: ecological, economic, social and cultural. The most effective activities in a sustainable urban transport policy combine all the aspects while minimising the costs connected with meeting the expected goals. Stakeholders' engagement is essential for the effectiveness of sustainable urban mobility plans. This paper proposes a tool for assessing the level of maturity of the engagement of urban freight transport stakeholders, comparing cities in Brazil, Poland and Norway. We proposed the minimum requirements of stakeholders' engagement and levels of maturity based on the literature. A comparative analyse was performed. The results indicate that Brazilian cities represent a low level of maturity, Polish cities represent intermediary level, and Norway cities, mainly Oslo, represent the more advanced level of maturity in the stakeholder’s engagement. The results also indicated that the cities with sustainable urban mobility plans represent the highest level of maturity in the stakeholder’s engagement.submittedVersio
Handling false information in emergency management: A cross-national comparative study of European practices
No full textSten Torpan, Sten Hansson, Mark Rhinard, Austeja Kazemekaityte, Pirjo Jukarainen, Sunniva Frislid Meyer, Abriel Schieffelers, Gabriella Lovasz, Kati Orru, Handling false information in emergency management: A cross-national comparative study of European practices, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Volume 57, 2021, 102151, ISSN 2212-4209, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102151 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420921001175)During emergencies, exposure to false information can increase individual vulnerability. More research is needed on how emergency management institutions understand the effects of false information and what are the various approaches to handling it. Our document analysis and 95 expert interviews in eight European countries – Ger-many, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary, Norway, Finland, and Estonia – show that approaches vary consider-ably: some have instituted central management of identifying and tackling false information while others prioritise the spreading of accurate information. A review of national practices and an analysis of recent crisis cases show that both approaches may be necessary. The diffusion of false information is strongly affected by the lack of timely and verifiable information from governments. We also find that in several countries, the emergence of false information is often associated with malicious foreign influence activities. Our study contributes to a better understanding of how the effects of false information are mitigated by the emergency management sys-tems in Europe.publishedVersio
Competence, equipment and behavioural adaptation on Norwegian winter roads: A comparison of foreign and Norwegian HGV drivers
Get PDFThere seems to be a widespread view that foreign lorry drivers’ lack of competence on Norwegian roads, especially related to winter driving, is a significant safety problem. It has, however, been suggested that foreign heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers perform bet-ter than expected on Norwegian winter roads, as they feel less safe than Norwegian drivers, and adapt by driving slower and more carefully. The aim of the present paper is twofold. First, we examine whether foreign HGV drivers in Norway actually have poorer compe-tence on, training for, experience with and equipment for winter driving than Norwegian HGV drivers. Second, we discuss whether the expected negative effect of these safety chal-lenges is mitigated, as foreign HGV drivers adapt their behaviours. We use four data sources to shed light on the aims: (1) interviews, (2) roadside inspections, (3) small-scale survey and (4) towing incidents. Our data support the hypothesis about behavioural adaptation, indicating that foreign HGV drivers experience winter driving as more difficult or unsafe, as they have supposedly less suitable vehicles and equipment, less experience, training and competence for winter driving. They are therefore more likely to get stuck while driving uphill on winter roads, supposedly as they drive more carefully and slower than Norwegian HGV drivers. Norwegian HGV drivers feel safer and more confident while driving on winter roads, because of their equipment and their experience.publishedVersio
Democracy, governance, and road safety
Get PDFCountries scoring high on the Democracy Index developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit have fewer traffic fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants than countries scoring low on this index. The statistical relationship between democracy score and fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants is statistically highly significant and robust with respect to control for potentially confounding factors. A similar relationship exists between democracy score and the number of traffic fatalities per 100,000 motor vehicles. The statistical relationship between level of democracy and level of road safety is strong, although the analyses reported in this paper do not justify a causal interpre-tation of the relationship. Changes over time in government effectiveness (one of the indicators of the World Governance Index developed by the World Bank) are weakly associated with changes in road safety performance.publishedVersio
Stick or carrot? Asymmetric Responses to Vehicle Registration Taxes in Norway
Get PDFVehicle registrations have been shown to strongly react to tax reforms aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from passengers’ cars, but are the effects equally strong for positive and negative tax changes? The literature on asymmetric reactions to price and tax changes has documented asymmetries for everyday goods but has not yet considered durables. We leverage multiple vehicle registration tax (VRT) reforms in Norway and estimate their impact on within car-model substitutions. We estimate stronger effects for cars receiving tax cuts and rebates than for those affected by tax increases. The corresponding estimated elasticity is − 1.99 for VRT decreases and 0.77 for increases. As consumers may also substitute across car models, our estimates represent a lower bound.publishedVersio
Intraurban geographies of car sharing supply and demand in Greater Oslo, Norway
Get PDFThis paper examines urban patterns of car sharing supply and demand at neighbourhood level. By using literature on spatial inequality and unequal mobility access, we provide new insights into the urban geographies of car sharing. We draw on register data of members and vehicles of station-based car sharing for Oslo, Norway, spatially coupled with population composition, urban form and public transport accessibility ratios. We find both the demand and supply of station-based car sharing to be unevenly distributed. Some of the most profound contributors to car sharing demand include middle income levels, middle and higher levels of education, higher shares of the population working in cultural sectors, higher shares of men, higher shares of multifamily housing, and higher strengths of the public transport regime compared to that of the private car. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for sustainable urban mobility, mobility justice and urban and transport planning.publishedVersio