In search of sustainable and inclusive mobility solutions for rural areas

Abstract

Background Despite emerging research on novel mobility solutions in urban areas, there have been few attempts to explore the relevance and sustainability of these solutions in rural contexts. Furthermore, existing research addressing rural mobility solutions typically focuses on a specific user group, such as local residents, second-home owners, or tourists. In this paper, we study the social inclusivity, economic viability, and environmental impacts of novel mobility solutions in rural contexts based on published scholarly literature. When doing so, we bring both permanent and temporary residents of rural areas under one research framework. Methods We used grey literature to identify and categorise novel mobility solutions, which have been applied in European rural areas and are suitable for travelling longer distances. By using six service flexibility variables, we reached four categories of novel mobility solutions: semi-flexible demand-responsive transport, flexible door-to-door demand-responsive transport, car-sharing, and ride-sharing. We analysed the social inclusivity, economic viability, and environmental impacts of those categories based on criteria and evidence identified from scholarly literature by including the perspectives of both permanent and temporary residents of rural areas. Conclusion: Integration of the needs of various user groups is essential when aiming to achieve the provision of environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable mobility solutions in rural areas. Results Our findings revealed that while single novel mobility solutions are seldom applicable for all rural travellers, strong spatial and temporal synergies exist when combining different solutions. The need for a connected and flexible set of mobility solutions sensitive to the temporal and spatial patterns of mobility needs is inevitable. Accessible and easily understandable information on routing, booking, and ticketing systems, as well as cooperation, shared values, and trust between various parties, are key success factors for sustainable rural mobility. Conclusion Integration of the needs of various user groups is essential when aiming to achieve the provision of environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable mobility solutions in rural areas.

Implementation of COVID-19 measures in railway operation in the Slovak Republic

“…The slowdown in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has been achieved by reducing the mobility of the population. Travel within the country and abroad and the transfer of a large proportion of the population to work were limited (Poltimäe et al, 2022). The reduction in mobility has an impact on passenger transport performance.…”

Desarrollo Sostenible una mirada rural: revisión sistemática

“…El "Índice de Desarrollo Humano" (IDH) permite evidenciar significativas desigualdades, como por ejemplo la percepción de injusticia social y el poco acceso a condiciones de vida digna; lo que motivó, que el "Programa de las Naciones Unidades para el Desarrollo" (PNUD) se pronunciara en el sentido que, para medir el crecimiento económico se deben -complementariamente -evaluar otros factores como tecnología, educación, crisis climática, trato igualitario y la no discriminación, además de las brechas de diferencias territoriales. El Perú -en el ámbito de América Latina se ubica en el puesto 82 de un total de 189 países -con un índice de 0,75; no obstante, el significativo valor positivo del índice, evidencia reveladoras desigualdades asociadas con la percepción de injusticia social y el poco acceso a condiciones de vida digna (PNUD, 2019). Tomando como base la propuesta del PNUD (2019), que para alcanzar el "Desarrollo Sostenible" (DS) -entre otros -se requiere involucrar la evaluación y medición de los aspectos que van más allá de cuantificar ingresos; analizando el DS en los diferentes niveles individual, organizacional o nacional, a través de las dimensiones económica, social y ambiental, como pilares de la sostenibilidad.…”

“…2022) plantean que el control conductual percibido es clave para la reducción del consumo a nivel doméstico, conllevando a un mejor manejo de los desperdicios principalmente. Del mismo modo se tienePoltimäe et al (2022) que encontraron diversos factores que permiten mejorar la movilidad rural sostenible, contribuyendo a una menor contaminación ambiental. Así también se tiene aPeng et al (2022), quienes encontraron que, para mantener un adecuado manejo de los paisajes en China, es fundamental los subsidios que otorga el gobierno a las familias Yin et al (2021).…”

Ensuring sustainable mobility in urban periphery, rural areas and remote regions

“…Transport and mobility planning has been going through a fundamental paradigm change, from conventional approaches focusing on physical and economic dimensions to minimize generalized cost of travel towards more sustainable approaches also incorporating social dimensions (e.g., Banister [ 2 ]). Regarding urban areas, the European initiative of Sustainable Urban Transport Planning (SUMP), which incorporates good practices mainly in Europe but also around the world (Rupprecht et al, [ 8 ]), is to a certain extent recognized as a state-of-the-art planning approach. In urban areas, available policy instruments for sustainable mobility are well known, and the density of cities and the concentration of knowledge and planning competence accelerate their implementation.…”

“…For example, active means of transport are relatively frequently deployed as travel distances in dense urban areas tend to be short. Public transport can offer high-frequency services, and various New Mobility Services such as car sharing (cf., Shibayama & Emberger [ 8 ]) can also be introduced relatively easily due to the agglomeration of travel demand. Moreover, urban density makes it relatively straightforward to integrate land-use and transport planning, as most of the transit-oriented developments (TODs) takes place in urban areas .…”