The last free-range children? Children’s independent mobility in Finland in the 1990s and 2010s

The study reports the degree of children’s independent mobility (CIM) in Finland for over two decades, from the beginning of the 1990s up to 2011. The first part of the research examined the differences of CIM in five different settlements in 2011: inner city, suburban, large town, small town, and rural village. A cross-sectional survey was used on a total of 821 7- to 15-year-old children in various settlements in different parts of Finland. Independent mobility was operationalized both as mobility licenses, meaning parental permits to perform certain activities independently, and as actual mobility, the proportion of active and independent school travel and independent weekend activities. In the second part of the study, we used the same measures to compare the independent mobility of Finnish children in the 1990s and 2010s. The second sample consisted of a total of 306 8- to 10-year-old children and their parents who participated in the CIM study in 1993–94 or in 2011. The major finding of the study was that in Finland children’s independent mobility had decreased significantly during a span of 20 years, even more noticeably in the small town and rural village settings than in the inner city settlements. Finnish children, nevertheless, still enjoy a very high degree of independent mobility when compared with the children from the 16 countries involved in the large international comparative study for which the current research was conducted. In the discussion, we give some possible factors that can provide some understanding of and explanation to these trends.     

Understanding modal choice for the trip to school

This paper examines the factors that lead parents to select travel modes for their children’s trip to school. It does so with reference to parents whose children attend a suburban school in Auckland, New Zealand, where walking and driving are the two main travel options. Four focus groups were conducted in order to understand parents’ transport decisions. This approach revealed the significance of the following factors: perceived distance and time constraints; concerns about children’s health and fitness, as well as their competence; road safety and congestion issues; and social norms. We conclude that the reasons leading parents to drive are manifold, and, as such, a variety of interventions is needed to promote walking.     

Children's active travel and independent mobility in four countries: Development,social contributing trends and measures

In many countries a decline in children's active and independent mobility, like walking and cycling is registered. In this paper the development of children's mobility in Denmark, Finland, Great Britain and Norway is compared to examine differences and similarities in these countries. Accessible data are used, which implies that not all of them are directly comparable, but they are employed as indicators of development. The trends are the same in these four countries, an increase in car use and decrease in bicycling and walking. Distance to school has increased, both as a result of bigger units and more children in private schools. Traffic is an important reason for taking children to school by car, but convenience for the parents is also part of it. Organized leisure activities has also contributed to less walking and cycling, in addition to more time pressure in families, increased access to car(s) and easier access to parents as a ‘transport service’ by the help of the mobile phone. The measures that different countries use in trying to meet the challenges of children's mobility tend to focus on the school trip and most often on traffic safety, both at national and local levels.     

Children aged 9-14 living in disadvantaged areas in England: Opportunities and barriers for cycling

The aim of this paper is to take a holistic perspective to explore levels of cycling and opportunities and barriers to increase children’s safer cycling in disadvantaged areas in England. The study was one part of a larger study which explored the factors underlying the high level of road traffic casualties especially among children in the most disadvantaged areas of England and to explore how this impacts on mobility and quality of life. The methods involved a cross sectional survey comprising school based questionnaire surveys with children aged 9-14 and focus groups with parents who had children within this age range. The surveys were conducted in 2007 and the focus groups during 2008. 4286 children completed the survey and eight focus groups were held. Bike ownership (77%) was high, use in previous week moderate (39%) but only 2% cycled to school. Ownership was significantly lower in minority ethnic groups. Despite young children’s strong preference to travel by cycle (30%) than walk or go by car, most parents felt it was too hazardous. It is unlikely that these findings would be any different from the rest of England, however the combination of environmental and social factors may elevate the risks for young cyclists in these areas. This paper concludes that a number of barriers exist to increasing levels of cycling among children living in disadvantaged areas particularly amongst ethnic groups. These barriers could be addressed by environmental modifications to reduce speeds and by reducing the levels of antisocial driving and riding in residential areas and around destinations where children travel, by providing cycle training to improve children’s skills and parent’s confidence, and by providing secure storage facilities for bikes. Until these barriers are addressed it is unlikely that cycling will increase despite the strong preferences children have to travel by bike. Such preferences to cycle provide an opportunity for local authorities to act on.     

Children's school commuting in the Netherlands: Does it matter how urban form is incorporated in mode choice models?

Walking and cycling to school is environmentally sustainable and increases children's physical activity. Although it is known that the built environment influences children's travel behavior, there is scant knowledge of how urban form along children's commuting routes affects walking and cycling separately, or of how to incorporate urban form exposures in transport mode choice models. This research investigated (a) the associations between children's transport mode choice and urban form correlates en route, and (b) the consequences of different urban form operationalizations (i.e., individual variables, composite measure, and principal components [PCs]). Global Positioning System devices were used to track 623 trips to and from school made by Dutch children aged 6–11 years. Urban form exposures were derived with geographic information systems, and their relationships with mode choice were tested with mixed multinomial logit models in a cross-sectional research design. Differences between the number of associated urban form variables, their magnitudes, and their significance levels were found for both walking and cycling, independent of the operationalization. Urban form was most influential for walking, whereas distance-related effects were absorbed when modeled as PCs. The highest model fit was achieved through PCs; the composite measure resulted in the lowest fit. To maximize the effectiveness of planning and health interventions, walking and cycling must be targeted separately. Policymakers should avoid “one-fits-all policies,” which are deemed to be inefficient. Because urban form affects model interpretation and fit, careful attention should be paid to how urban form is modeled, and sensitivity analyses should be performed.     

School commuting: the relationship between energy consumption and urban form

A large amount of research in the past has focused on the relationships between the energy consumption for home-to-work travel and land-use patterns. However, little is known about children’s mobility. This paper analyses the energy consumption, travel distances and mode choices for school commuting based on two decennial surveys in Belgium. The results highlight the following: (1) mobility behaviours have evolved drastically over the past decades for school commuting, an evolution that cannot be entirely related to land-use variables, (2) the energy consumption for school commuting is strongly dependent upon the school level, and (3) the links between land-use patterns and energy consumption for school commuting are different than those highlighted within the literature between urban forms and home-to-work commutes. The concentration of secondary schools and tertiary institutions in urban centres induces higher energy consumption rates, whereas the decentralisation of nursery and primary schools across the entire territory leads to very low local energy consumption and increased walking and cycling. These results provide a better understanding of school commuting within the European context and could guide future policies focused on transport energy consumption at the local scale.     

Children’s independent mobility in Portugal: effects of urbanization degree and motorized modes of travel

This study is aimed to evaluate the impact of urbanization in children’s independent mobility in Portugal. Mobility licenses, actual mobility, fear of traffic, stranger danger and sense of community were compared in highly, moderately and non urbanized environments and according to gender. Results showed that increase of urbanization leads to a decrease of children’s licenses to independently cross and cycle main roads; go out after dark and go to places other than school. The rising of urbanization leads to an increase of children’s mean age for independent active travel; and at the same time a decrease of independent active school-home travel and leisure time activities. Parental fear regarding traffic is the most frequent cause for concern regarding children’s safety when they are outdoors. Stranger danger and low sense of community are more prevalent in parents from the highly-urbanized environment. Overall, girls enjoy less actual mobility than boys. The discussion shows that children’s freedom of movement in the highly-urbanized setting is very restricted due to a pervasive automobile dependence, proposing a shift from a motorized to a walkable city.     

Institutional governance, scale and transport policy – lessons from Tyne and Wear

This paper explores some of the current problems surrounding the institutional governance of transport in the Tyne and Wear conurbation in North East England, particularly through the use of theoretically informed combinations of institutional and state-centred approaches. Amin and Thrift’s (cf. Amin, A., Thrift, N., 1994; 1995) institutional thickness framework, as well as neo-Gramscian state theory, as utilized recently by Jessop (1990; 1997; 1998) are used to highlight issues of institutionalization, scale and the role of the state in the governance of transport policy. It is argued that that even though Tyne and Wear is institutionally ‘well-endowed’, there are problems apparent in terms of the actors, arenas, networks and discourses existing within and between the transport sector and other policy areas. Furthermore, problems are apparent in terms of the spatial scale at which transport is being governed. In this respect, the importance of the central state in deriving policy, and the degree of mediation available to new, as well as existing (institutional) actors operating sub-nationally is argued to be crucial to developing more effective processes of governance for transport in Tyne and Wear and elsewhere.     

Scatters and clusters in time and space: implications for delivering integrated and inclusive transport

This paper calls for a refinement in the literature on social exclusion/inclusion, and an alteration in the counterpart policy practices, in order to take account of ‘scatter’ and ‘cluster’ dimensions in the patterning of transport deprivation. Disaggregating social exclusion and inclusion data to enable the identification of scatters and clusters is key to the development of appropriate transport planning strategies. The degree to which lack of mobility is scattered or clustered can have profound implications for the ways in which time and space are treated by policy.     

How persuasive is ‘free’ public transport?: A survey among commuters in the Brussels Capital Region

In Belgium, several cities have been experimenting with ‘free’ public transport based on the concept of a third payer system. This study explores the modal shift potential of this measure for commuters by means of a large-scale survey. The results indicate that there is still a margin for a further modal shift, but in order to make public transport more attractive to car users, the price paid by the commuter should be lowered, the quality and capacity of the public services should be improved and the mobility policy of the companies should be adjusted in favour of public transport.     

Pre-schoolers' transport imaginaries: Moving towards sustainable futures?

Being on the move is part of children's everyday life in cities. However, little is known about how young children experience transport systems or their aspirations for mobility in cities. In this paper, we explore pre-schoolers' experiences with the mobile world and show their affinity with different transport modes and hopes for their current transport system. We draw on a participatory research project that engaged children in class discussions, a tile-based city building exercise and neighbourhood walks. Findings suggest that although the voices of children aged 3–5 years are absent in mobility or transport debates, children are fascinated by mobility and transport related activities and services. Pre-schoolers from Dunedin, New Zealand, though recognising a predominantly motorised transport system, also showed creative or alternative modes making their way into their own transport systems. In this paper we argue that children should be introduced to and experience alternative modes of transport in the early years to allow for more imaginary transport geographies creating greater support for more sustainable, liveable urban environments for all ages.     

The spatial characteristics of inland transport hubs: evidences from Southern India

This paper investigates the spatial characteristics of inland transport hubs with evidence from the users’ choice of dry ports in cargo exportation in Southern India. The findings indicate that the current solution, where shippers often choose dry ports located closest to their production base, is not the optimal solution in terms of the minimisation of transport cost, mainly due to government policies and dry port’s inability in providing value-added services to shippers. This study provides important insight on the major attributes in explaining the spatial characteristics of inland transport hubs, especially in developing countries.     

Local accessibility inequalities and willingness to walk in Latin-American cities: Findings from Medellín,Colombia

As planning for accessibility is becoming a priority for most cities, policies encouraging short-distance traveling and the use of active modes of transport are gaining force. Emphasizing short-distance travel and localized practices can produce positive sustainable outcomes, but in order to design proper public policies, a deeper understanding of the determinants of this mobility of proximity is still needed. This paper uses mobility data from the city of Medellín, Colombia, to examine the role of local accessibility and the proximate scale in the city's everyday mobility. The analysis aimed at testing whether significant efforts on improving local conditions and fostering local mobility would help to improve social exclusion and transport disadvantage situations by alleviating the need of motorized and long-distance transport. Unlike most traditional analysis, proximity is not defined by Euclidian distance but instead using travel and modal choice variables. Results show the relevance of socioeconomic variables at determining travel behaviors as well as the importance of local accessibility for social groups in situations of transport disadvantage.     

Measuring airports’ operating efficiency: a summary of the 2003 ATRS global airport benchmarking report

This paper provides a partial summary of the 2003 ATRS (Air Transport Research Society) Global Airport Benchmarking Report which uses the annual data for 2000–2001. The objective of the ATRS benchmarking report is to measure and compare the performance of several important aspects of airport management and operation: productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results. The report also examines the relationships between various performance measures and airport characteristics in order to better understand the observed differences in airport performance. This particular paper extracted from the benchmarking report focuses on measuring and comparing operating efficiency performance of the world’s major airports. In particular, the paper presents the results on the airports’ Variable Factor Productivities (VFP) after removing the effects of the variables beyond managerial control. In the process, it identifies the effects of various factors influencing airport’s VFP, and computes a ’residual’ VFP index as an indicator for airports’ operations efficiency.     

School travel mode choice in Beijing,China

This study explores school travel mode choice behavior of 7–18 year-old students in Beijing, China, based on the data collected in Fifth Travel Survey of Beijing Inhabitants. The integration of tree-based and logit-based models is employed to examine the influence of key variables on school travel mode choice. In particular, the tree-based model is used to preliminarily select the traits which have a statistical effect on mode choice, and the logit-based model is used to provide deeper understanding of the underlying decision processes and the correlation effects of the variables. Results show that car ownership, poor walking/cycling environment, and adults' convenience for escorting students significantly stimulate the use of cars in school commuting. Students are more inclined to choose cars when their departure time is at rush hour compared to the other time. Moreover, the longer distance encourages the use of motorized transport, where the households with local hukou (usually related to the car ownership and other welfares) are more willing to drive their children to school. A number of recommendations on car restraint, sustainable travel environment improvement, different working hour implementing, and educational resources layout for the encouragement and promotion of sustainable travel practices are lastly proposed.     

Mobility management outside metropolitan areas: case study evidence from North Rhine-Westphalia

In recent years ‘mobility management’—a means of promoting modal shift and alternatives to the journey—has gained importance in continental Europe. Especially in metropolitan areas this approach is seen as a way of improving the effectiveness of traffic system management measures. This paper outlines some key options and constraints of transferring mobility management to rural regions, drawing on evidence gathered from a research and demonstration project currently underway in rural regions of North Rhine-Westphalia. Basic conditions for implementing mobility management in rural regions as well as preliminary findings are presented.     

Transportation and recreation: a case study of visitors driving for pleasure at Acadia National Park

Automobiles and roads are as much of a way of experiencing national parks as they are a means of conveyance. This study examines experiential aspects of transportation on Acadia National Park’s primary scenic road – Ocean Drive. Interviews with vehicle-based road users were conducted to identify indicators to measure and manage experiential quality on Ocean Drive. Also, a survey was conducted to make comparisons with important variables identified on “transportation-only” urban roads. Results suggest that (1) Ocean Drive is important to park visitors’ experience; (2) experiential indicators for Ocean Drive include vehicle crowding, scenery, and travel freedom/convenience; and (3) experiential aspects of transportation on scenic roads in parks may differ substantially from urban roads. Study findings suggest a need to deliberately and thoughtfully plan and manage for quality recreational experiences on roads in national parks and related areas.     

Sustainable mobility at tourist destinations: The relevance of habits and the role of policies

Fostering environmentally friendly transport choices lies at the core of the strategies aimed at implementing a sustainable transport system. The discussion on the possible strategies and policies to reach this goal has attracted the attention of both scholars and policy makers. Limited attention appears to have been devoted to the mobility time at tourist destinations by considering environmentally friendly transport options and private motorized ones. This paper fills this gap by performing a beta regression analysis to assess which variables influence the mobility behaviour of tourists at the destination. The main finding of this paper shows that mobility at home, the use of a friendly transport mode to reach the destination and the choice of a static holiday in sea, sun and sand destinations are the most relevant variables that positively influence environmentally friendly mobility. Moreover, improved infrastructures and more appropriate mobility policies and strategies may determine more sustainable transport choices of visitors and residents.     

Understanding attitudes towards public transport and private car: A qualitative study

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study of public transport users and car users in order to obtain a deeper understanding of travellers’ attitudes towards transport and to explore perceptions of public transport service quality. The key findings indicate that in order to increase public transport usage, the service should be designed in a way that accommodates the levels of service required by customers and by doing so, attract potential users. Furthermore, the choice of transport is influenced by several factors, such as individual characteristics and lifestyle, the type of journey, the perceived service performance of each transport mode and situational variables. This suggests the need for segmentation taking into account travel attitudes and behaviours. Policies which aim to influence car usage should be targeted at the market segments that are most motivated to change and willing to reduce frequency of car use.     

Fares and tolls in a competitive system with transit and highway: the case with two groups of commuters

This paper deals with pricing and modal split in a competitive mass transit/highway system with heterogeneous commuters. Two groups of commuters that differ in their disutility from travel time, schedule delay and transit crowding, select the transit or auto mode for traveling from a residential area to a workplace. We compare three pricing schemes: the marginal cost-based transit fare with no-toll (called ‘m’ for short), the average cost-based fare with no-toll (‘a’) and marginal cost-based fare with time-invariant toll for subsidizing transit (‘s’), and derive a socially optimal combination of transit fare and road toll which minimizes the total social cost of the competitive system meanwhile ensuring no deficit to the transit side (‘o’). The main findings from the analytical and numerical results are: (1) the ‘o’ policy generates the most total transit usage, then ‘s’, ‘m’ and ‘a’ in order; (2) the total usage of each mode is independent of the demand composition when group 1 uses both modes; (3) the group 2’s aversion to transit crowding does not affect total transit usage; (4) group 2 has relatively larger welfare gains from some changes in pricing policy, such as changing ‘m’ to ‘s’ or to ‘o’; (5) the a-policy results in the highest total social cost, then ‘m’, ‘s’ and ‘o’ in that order.