Urban travellers' mode choice: Towards a new culture for urban mobility

Abstract

Rethinking urban mobility involves various aspects, among which is the optimisation of the use of all transport modes and the adoption of means of policies aimed at improving quality and accessibility of public transit networks. Nevertheless, in order to be effective, urban mobility policies need to use an approach as integrated as possible, which combines the most appropriate tools to each individual problem. To that end, it is important to have a clear knowledge of urban mobility; data collection initiatives may help to fill the gap in statistics related to the phenomenon. In this paper, some considerations on a new culture for urban mobility are presented. In the light of new exigencies, decision-makers should support sustainable mobility-related measures to meet people's expectations. In addition, a survey on local public transport in Bari - a southern Italian city - is presented and a random utility model has been used to investigate probable transport users' attitudes for the future. It provides indications on the needs of public transport users and there are lessons that can be learned from the Bari case. © 2009 WIT Press.