Mobility as a service and sustainable travel behaviour: A thematic analysis study

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a novel brand of transport that promises to replace private cars with multimodal personalised mobility packages enabled by a digital platform capable of integrating travel planning, booking and ticketing, and real-time information services. It is an intervention that through its digitisation, connectivity, information and sharing merits intends to inspire and support the transition to a more sustainable mobility paradigm. Recent research suggests, however, that the potential uptake of MaaS might not be overwhelming; current car drivers could face considerable difficulties in bypassing their personal car for it and, more worryingly, future MaaS users may substitute not only personal car trips but also public transport journeys with car-sharing and ride-sharing services. This means that MaaS might not be able to create travel behaviour change, and even if it does, the changes may not be always towards the right direction. Through conducting 40 semi-structured interviews in three different UK cities, namely London, Birmingham and Huddersfield, and employing a robust Thematic Analysis approach, this study explores the factors underpinning the uptake and potential success of MaaS as a sustainable travel mechanism. The challenges and opportunities reflecting and affecting potential for responsible MaaS usage refer to five core themes Car Dependence; Trust; Human Element Externalities; Value; and Cost, each of them with distinctive and diverse dimensions. Policy-makers and mobility providers should realise that MaaS success relies on changing people’s attitudes to private cars (something very challenging) and thus they should incentivise responsible MaaS use, promote public transport as its backbone, use public engagement exercises and trials to expose people to the concept and somewhat demonise private car ownership and car use.     

Understanding bike-sharing acceptability and expected usage patterns in the context of a small city novel to the concept: A story of ‘Greek Drama’

Developing initiatives that allow societies to embrace more sustainable travel behaviour patterns is a prerequisite for creating more livable urban futures. Bike-sharing, a measure designed to inspire modal shift from short car-trips, despite its recent exponential growth, is still understudied. This paper discusses a quantitative survey of 640 responses examining road users' attitudes towards bike-sharing and its possible introduction to Drama, a small Greek city resembling many others in terms of size, transport culture and socio-economic characteristics, which has never been exposed to a similar intervention. Most of the respondents recognised that bike-sharing is a mode with pro-environmental, cost-effective and health-improving qualities and the potential to promote a greener identity for the city. Evidence is provided that people would support a bike-sharing investment even in cases where the frequency of their current bicycle use and the regularity with which they intend to use an eventual scheme is low. Age, gender, the primary factor for modal choice, its perceived effectiveness in reducing traffic congestion and their usage expectations were all factors influencing the respondents’ acceptability of such an introduction. The lack of cycling infrastructure and road safety concerns were identified as possible usage barriers but the pro-social potential of bike-sharing combined with policy efforts to create a more pro-cycling culture could outweigh them. The present analysis suggests that bike-sharing can go beyond, what is typically regarded as its primary function, that of a last-mile solution for metropolitan areas, and be a publicly acceptable investment for smaller cities.     

Are Two Reasons Better Than One? The Role of Appeal Type in Consumer Responses to Sustainable Products

In the face of the growing prevalence of multiple appeals to sustainable consumption in marketers’ sustainable product communications, we examine the efficacy, in terms of consumer reactions, of adding an extrinsic appeal (e.g., “Purchase this green product to save money!”) to an intrinsic appeal (e.g., “Purchase this green product to save the environment!”) based communication for a sustainable product. Three studies provide support for our basic assertion that, compared to an intrinsic appeal, joint appeals (i.e., an intrinsic and extrinsic appeal together) reduce consumer preference for sustainable products. As well, these studies demonstrate that this adverse effect of joint appeals is based on a lowering of consumers’ attributions of the company's sustainability efforts to intrinsic motives (e.g., to the company's genuine concern for the environment). Finally, not all consumers react adversely to joint appeals; relative to intrinsic appeals, such appeals increase, rather than decrease, the intrinsic attributions and sustainable product preferences for consumers with lower involvement with sustainable consumption.     

What is the best way to promote cycling? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Cycling has the potential to address a number of personal and societal challenges, not least with respect to health and the need for more sustainable modes of transport. However, the best way(s) to promote cycling is still unclear. In an effort to answer this question, we identified 39 interventions designed to promote cycling, with a total sample of 46,102 participants. Random effects meta-analysis estimated a small but statistically significant effect of interventions on cycling behaviour (g₊ = 0.14, 95% CI [0.05, 0.23]). To identify the most effective intervention strategies, we coded the behaviour change techniques used within each of the interventions. Interventions that prompted people to self-monitor their behaviour or added objects to the environment (e.g., provided shared bikes) were more effective than those that did not use these strategies. Interventions that restructured the physical environment (e.g., built new cycle paths) were less effective than the studies that did not do this. We also identified a number of factors that moderated the effect of the interventions on outcomes; specifically, interventions that targeted a specific group, used objective measures of cycling such as accelerometers, and that were tested using independent groups designs typically yielded stronger effects. The findings should help to guide interventions to promote cycling in the future.     

Sustainable system-of-systems and francophone activity-centered approaches in ergonomics: Converging and diverging lines of dialogue

This paper initiates a dialogue between the sustainable system-of-systems (SSoS) approach and one particular situated approach of activity analysis within francophone activity-centered ergonomics (FACE). This paper explores the possible cross-fertilizations between FACE and SSoS in coping with the challenge of enlargement which ergonomists have to face in order to address sustainability issues. We present how the SSoS model and FACE have currently considered the challenges of sustainable development and the theoretical-methodological principles that frame their approaches. Then, eight topics of dialogue are introduced and debated in order to open the dialogue between the two approaches where emerging lines of convergence are generated. We conclude by further discussing the complementarity between FACE and SSoS in the objectives of their approaches and the levels analysed by each approach, and by highlighting the importance of taking into account the emergent and complex aspects of systems. One possible way forward might be to “situate the sustainable system-of-systems” while also “systemizing systems of sustainable situations” for the future.     

Eficacia de tácticas de influencia en la intención de conducta proambiental

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of social influence tactics based on both psychological (commitment/consistency), and cultural principles (identitarian, conspicuous, statutory), for favoring the intention of pro-environmental behavior. An experimental study was conducted using a 2×5 factorial design, where the variables were the type of influence tactics manipulated by discourse in each experimental group and gender. The dependent variable measured the intention of pro-environmental behavior related to reducing waste, wasteful or unnecessary expense of water, gas and electricity at home. The effectiveness of the tactics for favoring the intention of pro-environmental behavior is verified, and significant differences are found between males and females in messages based on principles of coherence and conspicuous consumption.     

The bicycle and the dream of a sustainable city: An explorative comparison of the image of bicycles in the mass-media and the general public

This paper explores the representation of the bicycle by comparing data from various mass media sources and the general public in Italy. In study 1, a number of commercial advertisements published on paper magazines and aired by the major TV channels, as well as 405 articles published by the major online newspapers were content analysed in order to identify the main concepts and evaluations characterising the representation of bikes in the media. In study 2, 94 Rome residents were interviewed on their beliefs regarding the pros and cons of using the bike in the city and their perceived social approval. Results showed several points of overlap between the two representations, although different themes and structures emerged as well.