Speaker
Description
For the last decades, the planning of our cities has been heavily centered around automobility. This focus has fostered a widespread reliance on private cars, resulting in numerous adverse consequences at both local and global scales. These include compromised safety, lowered physical and mental health, environmental damage, multi-leveled injustice, and the excessive use of space, time, and resources (e.g., Nieuwenhuijsen & Khreis, 2016; Miner et al., 2024).
Addressing these challenges requires a fundamental reshaping of urban systems to prioritize and enable public and active transportation (Gössling, 2016; Nieuwenhuijsen & Khreis, 2016; Miner et al., 2024). Hence, among other actions cities worldwide are investing in public transportation, with Light Rail Transit (LRT) often viewed as a promising solution for enhancing transit networks and serving as the backbone of sustainable urban mobility systems.
In 2023, a new LRT system started operating in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland. The new LRT enhances the transverse public transport connections and increases the reliability, capacity, and comfort of public transport, among other benefits.
Our study aims to assess the impacts of the new LRT in the Helsinki metropolitan case. We are particularly interested in the interplay of lifestyles and mobility behavior to understand how such public transport interventions impact different population groups. We also wish to see if the new LRT can decrease the car usage of the residents living in the vicinity of the new LRT.
To achieve these objectives, we employed randomly sampled Public Participation Geographic Information System (PPGIS) surveys conducted before and one year after the LRT started running. Through the survey, we collected data on participants' regular destinations, frequency of visits, travel modes, and preferences regarding mobility and neighborhood values, aiming to reveal the underlying lifestyles and mobility habits. We used comparative analysis to assess the changes in mobility over one year, and k-means clustering to identify three different resident profiles.
As a result, we found that the share of trips made by public transport increased in our study area following the LRT implementation. However, at the same time, car usage also increased in the area. Furthermore, we found one group that was especially prone to change their mobility behavior following the LRT intervention. This group, representing 43% of the participants, increased their public transport usage the most while reducing their car usage. Conversely, residents with car-centric lifestyles were the least likely to change their behavior in a more sustainable direction.
Our results suggest that more ambitious actions are needed for a large-scale sustainability transformation. These could include simultaneous push and pull methods to realize the synergetic benefits of transport interventions.
Our study provides an in-depth understanding of the effectiveness of LRT in altering urban mobility patterns and promoting sustainable transportation. By analyzing shifts in residents' mobility behaviors, the findings will offer insights for urban planners and policymakers to design more sustainable and efficient mobility systems.
References
Gössling, S. (2016). Urban transport justice. Journal of Transport Geography, 54, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.05.002
Miner, P., Smith, B. M., Jani, A., McNeill, G., & Gathorne-Hardy, A. (2024). Car harm: A global review of automobility’s harm to people and the environment. Journal of Transport Geography, 115, 103817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2024.103817
Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., & Khreis, H. (2016). Car free cities: Pathway to healthy urban living. Environment International, 94, 251–262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2016.05.032
| Keywords | Urban Mobility; Light Rail Transit (LRT); Mobility Behavior; Urban Lifestyles |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
