Towards User-Centric Transport in Europe 3

The urban mobility landscape for both, freight and passengers, is in transition. During the last decade new business models, enabled by digital technologies, are blooming. However, sometimes the new mobility solutions do not fit with local regulations, their impacts are unclear, and legislative issues are hindering the economic niche exploitation and their implementation. This chapter describes the current transition that urban mobility systems are undergoing and presents an approach for guiding cities towards the implementation and adoption of new digital urban mobility solutions. This approach, based on the Horizon 2020 SPROUT project, consists of assessing the impacts and feasibility of the new mobility solutions, identifying areas where policy intervention to enable the implementation would be required and co-creating those specific policies with all the urban mobility stakeholders. This is complemented by an implementation feasibility and user acceptance analysis.

Many people in Europe still have limited access to transportation modes overall. Socio-economic constrains as well as cognitive, sensory and physical impairments affect everyday life of these citizens, posing challenges to access mobility services.

Technologies for vehicle automation have advanced greatly in recent decades and it is expected to become part of vehicle fleets in the foreseeable future. Yet, the implementation and use of automated and autonomous vehicles (here jointly referred to as AVs) entails chances but also hurdles regarding accessibility and inclusivity of vulnerable groups. This concerns both the use of the vehicle by humans as well as the interaction between humans and vehicles as participants in road traffic.

In this chapter, these aspects shall be presented by identifying opportunities and risks as part of our mobility system, starting from a narrowing down of the vulnerable social groups we are looking at. Subsequently, we present the benefits that co-creation and universal design can have in overcoming or, in the best case, avoiding these obstacles. Even though the authors are aware that no detailed recommendations for action can be given within this framework, at least suggestions for solutions are outlined.

The mobility is becoming ever more complex in a changing environment with the emergence of new means of transport and mobility solutions. In this ecosystem in flux, authorities responsible for mobility must plan for the arrival of such changes, considering the desired mobility model to be attained, one where sustainability, health, digitalisation, and equity, among other aspects, take a prominent role; and all this without disregarding the public, who must be placed at the centre. The digitalisation occurring in society today offers a wide range of solutions; these digital solutions must consider that there is a percentage of the population who are non-digital and that its deployment must the different types of territories, urban and rural.

The analysis set out in this article examines the case of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region, describes the characteristics of its citizens from a standpoint of mobility and their acceptance of new trends, identifies existing aims and strategies regarding mobility in the region, and specifically distinguishes the digitalisation strategy in this European region. Finally, this analysis must consider the changes brought about by the COVID-19, in which certain habits have been altered, and where digitalisation has played and will continue to play a sizeable role.

Digitalization has fostered the emergence and transformation of transport services, such as shared transport. Digital literacy and having access to digital platforms are increasingly necessary prerequisites to be mobile and benefit from these services. Consequently, new forms of transport disadvantages have emerged, which might result in the exclusion of vulnerable populations.

This paper reviews the literature about transport disadvantages, digital exclusion and shared transport to identify a comprehensive approach to the study of digital shared mobility services (DSMS). By incorporating the digital divide into the Capabilities Approach, a theoretical framework to study DSMS is proposed.

The findings of this paper are relevant to decision-makers, practitioners and researchers working within the field of urban mobility and shared transport services. The theoretical framework proposed is useful to understand the unequal use of DSMS and appraise their inclusivity. This framework is also useful for transport operators and policy-makers interested in adopting a user-centred perspective.

Many people believe that low digital skills are only a problem of the elderly. However, the group of analogue or non-digital travellers is much larger and much more diverse than that. In the Netherlands alone, it is estimated that a group of 3–4 million people is not digitally able enough to make use of digital services. This is due to several reasons. In order to make use of digital mobility services, users need to be able and willing to use digital services. In transport, especially for demand responsive transport (DRT) services, the lack of digital skills can create a barrier for people to make use of the service. Based on insights from literature and interviews about digital skills, we have categorized the different groups of non-digital travellers, and created five need-based personas. On the basis of this, we formulated user requirements and design recommendations for mobility services, and for DRT services specifically.

Physical, digital and graphic interface requirements of digital mobility and delivery services (and target groups) are a result of a comparison between the capabilities and limitations of each target group. A summary of the main users/non-users capabilities, limitations, and requirements (hereafter CLR) identified by populations that are more vulnerable will be the basis for understanding the most relevant needs threads: space, time and human factor. While space and time are traditional threads for capturing needs in transport and mobility (i.e. origin-destination, distance, time-saving etc.), the third thread ‘human contact’ appears as a new and clear need for the use of digital mobility and delivery solutions. A relevant number of inclusiveness requirements deals with this aspect that becomes a “must” for the extension of the inclusive digitalization in mobility. This chapter will conclude with the presentation of the most important insights in terms of capabilities, limitations and requirements that deal with the human contact factor.

With a shift towards the digitisation of mobility services, user involvement is vital for success. Especially critical is the inclusion of groups vulnerable to exclusion, so they can equally benefit from such services. In this respect, the Inclusive Digital Mobility Solutions (INDIMO) project established a multidisciplinary perspective on digital mobility services by considering the needs and concerns of vulnerable-to exclusion groups such as those who lack digital skills, belong to an ethnic minority or have reduced mobility.

Using data collection methods such as interviews and surveys targeted at vulnerable persons in five pilot locations, we collected information about user needs, intentions and preferences when using a digital mobility service. In this paper, we provide insights into the user recruitment process for this study and share tips for working with groups vulnerable to exclusion. Not to be forgotten are the lessons learnt from conducting this research during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper demonstrates the co-creation process of digital mobility and delivery services applied in the Inclusive Digital Mobility Solutions (INDIMO) project mainly based on the local Communities of Practice (CoP) drawing on the knowledge and experience of their members to propose solutions adapted to their needs and interests. In the context of the INDIMO project, CoPs were established at five pilot locations and included users, mobility service providers, (digital) developers, user interface designers, and policymakers associated with each pilot. This chapter aims to report on the experience of the INDIMO project in employing the CoP as a tool to integrate the development of digital mobility and delivery services and the contribution and cooperation of different actors such as operators, developers, policymakers, and organizations representing the end-users. The creation of common spaces such as the INDIMO communities of practice was fundamental to enhance cooperation among different actors, co-design inclusive digital mobility solutions, and empower the participants in using the above-mentioned services. This chapter shows the development of the CoP process, the activities and challenges, and its role in making digital mobility services inclusive and universally usable.

In 2021, the Berlin district Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf offered residents various mobility options on a part of an urban square called Mierendorffplatz. The overall objective was to explore how people living at the square or in the closer neighbourhood could change their mobility habits to become more environmentally friendly. The test aimed at exploring how sustainable urban mobility can be successfully implemented on a wider scale in in other parts of the city - thus seeking to contribute to mainstreaming sustainable mobility planning in regular city-wide mobility planning processes.

This article describes results from evaluating the project: Implementing such exploratory living labs successfully and without excluding specific user groups, depends on the integration of knowledge and resources of both the local governing bodies and civil society. This puts a focus on the question of accessibility of urban space and on the need to re-organize it differently if sustainability criteria should be met.

It concludes that sustainable forms of mobility need to become more demand-orientated and that different legal and economic frameworks are necessary to make it a real alternative for everybody. These two aspects will be elaborated. The findings are based on empiric evaluation and validated through consultations with high-ranking experts.

Most technological advances in mobility result in better accessibility for many, yet the benefits remain unevenly distributed. Universal design is a strategy to counter social exclusion, involving the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialised design New and improved mobility technologies typically result in increased mobility. However, most new technologies create both winners and losers – and who wins and who loses depends on how the mobility solution in question is introduced to the mobility system. This study finds that many of the new mobility technologies that are introduced, though not directly relating to universal design, strongly affect the universality of access to mobility. The chapter aims to give insight into how certain new mobility solutions affect different user groups, and to highlight how the outcome is a function of the interplay between technology and its implementation. The paper concludes by pointing at the need for regulation to align the objectives of the actors behind new technologies and an inclusive society.

Co-design is an established method for ensuring a more democratic approach to design and change propositions. It is however not without friction. In this chapter we describe parts of a process aimed at co-designing inclusive transport systems. In response to the friction of putting such theory into practice, we propose a set of coping mechanisms based on participant feedback. We suggest that such mechanisms have the potential to improve the co-design process beyond this particular case.

Challenging the acceptance of what have been defined as universal and standard pictograms, this paper promotes a conceptual approach to improve non-textual communication in digital mobility and delivery services, to ensure that different types of people may access content in an intuitive manner, overcoming language, cultural, physical and cognitive barriers. Starting from the user-centred methodological process applied in the development of the Universal Interface Language tool, one of the main outcomes of the INDIMO EU project (Inclusive Digital Mobility Solutions), this paper presents a methodological path that can provide UX/UI designers, developers and service providers with a practical guide to defining a proper set of accessible and inclusive icons as part of the user interface, be it digital or physical. In particular, this paper points out the need for bottom-up initiatives based on the co-design of physical and digital interfaces and their components to create symbols and icons with a higher degree of universality. To this end, user evaluations of mobility specific and general icons, and recommendations based on the empirical research in the INDIMO project, are presented. These address the design, selection and integration of visual icons in accessible user interfaces for digital applications.

Shared mobility services play an essential role in a sustainable mobility transition and unfold among so-called smart technologies. Although this can positively affect mobility, it also poses challenges for the development of sustainable urban mobility, for example, because the smart options are not equally available to all people or are inaccessible. Issues of social or ecological inequality as well as the digital exclusion of people in the mobility sector are increasingly becoming the focus of attention. Largely unexplored in this context is how the subjects of shared mobility services will be conceived, and what knowledge, skills, and resources they should bring to use smart and shared mobility services in the future. We contribute to closing this research gap by investigating the rationalities that sustainable smart and shared mobility transformation follow, which developments are triggered by the technologies, and in which ways identification offers address subjects. Foucault’s concept of governmentality is used as a theoretical perspective and nuanced with critical (feminist) literature on identity formation. Methodologically, this article works with qualitative content analysis of policy documents and an ethnographically oriented observation of registration conditions in various car-, bike-, electronic moped, and scooter-sharing services. The results show that subjects are addressed in a rather general way, and their (special) needs are hardly considered. Instead, they are addressed as flexible citizen-consumers and correspond with the rationality of (green) economic growth and the liberal paradigm. Accordingly, the technologies aim for innovation, fair competition, and the provision of public space by the state.

Digital transport eco-systems worldwide provide great advantages to many but also carry a risk of excluding population groups that struggle with accessing or using digital products and services. The DIGNITY project (DIGital traNsport In and for socieTY) delves into the development of such eco-systems to deepen the understanding of the full range of factors that lead to disparities in the uptake of digital transport solutions in Europe. A starting point for developing digitally inclusive transport systems is to obtain state-of-the-art knowledge and understanding of where local transport eco-systems are in relation to the digital gap and digital mobility gap in terms of their policies, transport products and services, and population digital literacy. This chapter presents the methodology developed in the DIGNITY project to frame this digital gap, incorporating a self-assessment framework that may be used by public authorities to identify potential gaps in the development of local digital transport eco-systems. This framework is informed by results from customer journey mapping exercises that provide insights into the daily activities and trips of users, and larger scale surveys on digital technology access, use, attitudes and competence in the area. In the DIGNITY approach as a whole, the results from the framing phase are then used to inform subsequent work on bridging the digital gap through the co-creation of more inclusive policies, products and services. The chapter provides concrete results from the framing exercise in four DIGNITY pilot areas: Barcelona, Tilburg, Flanders and Ancona. The results clearly show that a digital transport gap exists in these areas, and that this is manifested in different ways in different local situations, requiring tailored approaches to address the gap.

The introduction of smart technologies in mobility has created a vast landscape of possibilities and options, but at the same time they have also created uneven impacts across society. It is, therefore, the goal of this paper to introduce the online Service and Policy Evaluation Tool (SPET) for evaluating the accessibility and inclusivity of digital mobility and delivery services. The tool shall enable policy makers to design strategies necessary for all citizens to fully benefit from the digital mobility system (e.g. social and educational strategies, new regulations, etc.) and identify strategies to avoid digital exclusion in terms of social and spatial aspects. Structurally, the tool is built on the capabilities approach, in combination with the principles of universal design, and co-creation was used for the development of the tool contents. The recommendations from the SPET will assist policy makers, developers, operators and other parties to provide promised benefits of digital services to all sections of the society, especially to people vulnerable to exclusion.

Digital technologies constitute an essential building block for the modernisation of transport systems and their sustainability. Since improvements in usability and accessibility are intrinsic to most digital solutions, their integration in mobility systems may further contribute to an increased inclusiveness. Nonetheless, digital solutions could potentially exclude vulnerable groups by not catering to their specific needs. Inclusiveness can, however, be maximised when individual technologies are established with such goals in mind and are accompanied by the necessary development of the required (hardware) infrastructure.

The widespread introduction of digital applications was triggered by a major German funding programme aiming at enhancing digitalisation in German municipal transport systems to improve air quality. Given the versatility and high adaptability of digital solutions, the substantial progress toward that objective unlocked a high potential for a more inclusive mobility system, so that further improvements in this direction have become low-hanging fruit that can be easily reaped with further projects and funding directed immediately at this objective. The potential of digital solutions to contribute to various societal and thus political objectives, particularly inclusiveness, is identified in this chapter through an analysis of projects that serve as a collection of successful real-world examples.