BackgroundPhysical inactivity is one of the leading risk factors for non-communicable diseases, yet many are not sufficiently active. The Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) study aims to better understand active mobility (walking and cycling for transport solely or in combination with public transport) as an innovative approach to integrate physical activity into individuals’ everyday lives. The PASTA study will collect data of multiple cities in a longitudinal cohort design to study correlates of active mobility, its effect on overall physical activity, crash risk and exposure to traffic-related air pollution.Methods/DesignA set of online questionnaires incorporating gold standard approaches from the physical activity and transport fields have been developed, piloted and are now being deployed in a longitudinal study in seven European cities (Antwerp, Barcelona, London, Oerebro, Rome, Vienna, Zurich). In total, 14000 adults are being recruited (2000 in each city). A first questionnaire collects baseline information; follow-up questionnaires sent every 13 days collect prospective data on travel behaviour, levels of physical activity and traffic safety incidents. Self-reported data will be validated with objective data in subsamples using conventional and novel methods. Accelerometers, GPS and tracking apps record routes and activity. Air pollution and physical activity are measured to study their combined effects on health biomarkers. Exposure-adjusted crash risks will be calculated for active modes, and crash location audits are performed to study the role of the built environment. Ethics committees in all seven cities have given independent approval for the study.DiscussionThe PASTA study collects a wealth of subjective and objective data on active mobility and physical activity. This will allow the investigation of numerous correlates of active mobility and physical activity using a data set that advances previous efforts in its richness, geographical coverage and comprehensiveness. Results will inform new health impact assessment models and support efforts to promote and facilitate active mobility in cities.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2453-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

IntroductionOnly one-third of the European population meets the minimum recommended levels of physical activity (PA). Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Walking and cycling for transport (active mobility, AM) are well suited to provide regular PA. The European research project Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) pursues the following aims: (1) to investigate correlates and interrelations of AM, PA, air pollution and crash risk; (2) to evaluate the effectiveness of selected interventions to promote AM; (3) to improve health impact assessment (HIA) of AM; (4) to foster the exchange between the disciplines of public health and transport planning, and between research and practice.Methods and analysisPASTA pursues a mixed-method and multilevel approach that is consistently applied in seven case study cities. Determinants of AM and the evaluation of measures to increase AM are investigated through a large scale longitudinal survey, with overall 14 000 respondents participating in Antwerp, Barcelona, London, Örebro, Rome, Vienna and Zurich. Contextual factors are systematically gathered in each city. PASTA generates empirical findings to improve HIA for AM, for example, with estimates of crash risks, factors on AM-PA substitution and carbon emissions savings from mode shifts. Findings from PASTA will inform WHO's online Health Economic Assessment Tool on the health benefits from cycling and/or walking. The study's wide scope, the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and health and transport methods, the innovative survey design, the general and city-specific analyses, and the transdisciplinary composition of the consortium and the wider network of partners promise highly relevant insights for research and practice.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval has been obtained by the local ethics committees in the countries where the work is being conducted, and sent to the European Commission before the start of the survey. The PASTA website (http://www.pastaproject.eu) is at the core of all communication and dissemination activities.

Mobility is an important prerequisite for equal participation in social life and satisfaction of basic human needs. Mobility impairments can restrict the participation in social life of those affected such that people lack fair opportunities for fulfilling their needs. In the past, mobility problems of people with a physical or sensory disability were the focus of attention, while other attributes causing mobility impairment, such as immigrant backgrounds, poverty, and so forth, were mainly ignored by research and planning, even though, according to estimates, more than one-third of the population are affected. Therefore, there is little qualitative or quantitative knowledge about these impairments and the individual consequences. The objective of this paper is to help fill this knowledge gap. The issue of fair opportunities regarding mobility and the term “mobility impairment” as used in this paper are defined. Fifteen types of mobility impairment are considered. The stratified sample for this survey included 541 mobility-impaired people in Austria with whom semistructured face-to-face interviews were conducted. A key result of the survey is the estimate of the number of people affected and the degree of their impairment. About half of those interviewed were hampered by more than one type of mobility impairment. From the point of view of those affected, there are difficulties that go beyond the mere physical barriers, which have been the focus of traffic planning. Problems are also caused by insufficient welfare systems, gender relations, inappropriate behavior of other transport users, and inadequate information and its transfer within the transport sector. For the solution, new and disregarded strategies are required.

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The lack of reliable information about the occupancy of on-street parking places in the inner districts of large cities causes an unnecessarily high amount of parking search traffic. Previous attempts to solve the problem rely on accurate information systems that navigate drivers to the next available parking space. They have failed due to high costs for roadside sensors and are also controversial, because they indirectly support car use. A service that informs road users early about the situation at the destination would support a shift towards public transport modes and reduce parking search traffic particularly at times of unexpectedly high parking pressure. The real-time occupancy model presented in this article does not aim to indicate the occupancy of single parking lots, but to provide a sufficiently accurate description and reliable prediction of the occupancy at the destination. Three existing realtime indicators were tested for their predictive power: (i) location data of mobile-phone parking; (ii) counts of car parks in the vicinity; and (iii) traffic flow volumes. Experimental results indicated that models using mobile-phone parking data have the potential to improve predictions of the occupancy rate by detecting exceptional deviations from the average day curve.