Research Tasks

Task 1 – A literature review.

The project’s first task is to review and build state-of-the-art information related to the topics that influence the execution of the project. Here, the strategy adopted is to use search pages such as Web of Science and Scopus to search for journal and conference proceedings papers. The exclusion and inclusion criteria will include only English and Portuguese documents present in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, excluding from the analysis book reviews and papers in other languages. Furthermore, books that are considered relevant may also be included in the analysis. Considering this, three main topics will be discussed and reviewed: MaaS, transportation modal integration, and STIs, which are detailed below.

Task 2 – Data collection

This task aims to collect data that will allow us to evaluate Resources, Opportunities, Outcomes, and Well-being (ROOW). To assess the Resources and Opportunities it will be collected the travel times, origin and destination of home-work trips, and incomes of the population, which will be used for calculating the “effective accessibility” before and after the intervention of MaaS that the PI of this project developed. The “effective accessibility” will be detailed and calculated in the next task. However, the advantage of using this method is that it can evaluate equality due to the variable income being considered in the assessment. For collecting some of these variables, it will not be necessary intensive work, since some of them will be collected through open-source data, such as Lisbon’s open data portal for collecting PT travel time (http://lisboaaberta.cmlisboa.pt); and average fuel prices for calculating travel costs. Assumptions for the calculations were also made based on previous work from our research group, such as the average walking speed in Lisbon of 4km/h. It is essential to mention that the datasets were already treated and used for publishing the work Va20, demonstrating the research group’s capability and knowledge of the methodology adopted and the less required time for analyzing, treating, and processing the data.

Task 3 – MaaS impacts on Resources and Opportunities.

In this task, we evaluate the resources and opportunities of the fairness of pre-MaaS and after the intervention using effective accessibility and Average Space Time Prism. It is important to emphasize that the “effective accessibility” methodology was developed by the PI (Va20). There are two primary forms of measuring accessibility: people-based and place-based (Mi05). While the people-based perspective measures accessibility through individual characteristics for accessing a transportation mode, the place-based perspective measures accessibility for a particular place, considering the possibility that a person who is located at a specific place at a certain time must interact with other relevant areas, which is often a more helpful planning tool, as it reflects land use and transport policies.

Task 4 – MaaS impacts on Outcomes and Wellbeing.

This task aims to evaluate the Outcomes and Well-being, complementing Task 3. Data collected in Task 2 (travel survey) will allow us to quantitatively assess the impacts of MaaS on Outcomes and Well-being, using the impacts on Resources and Opportunities (data from Task 3) as possible explanatory variables. This will include current and previous travel options and the cost and time associated with other mode(s) available to everyone. In this task, we will seek to understand if there were changes in the individuals’ mobility patterns and their perception of accessibility with the introduction of new SMS in their territories. In this Task, the behavior change will be addressed using exploratory and confirmatory statistical methods. We will use discrete choice models (DCM) methods, which seek to construct different utility functions based on different choices or alternatives while ultimately being able to explain the subjective perception of accessibility. FA and IST-ID have been developing several analyses with DCM and are quite familiar with the processes, the data preparation, and the computation software used to perform them (Python Biogeme). We will also use Structural Equation Models (SEM), which can easily incorporate latent variables as both dependent and independent variables. The team has experience developing these models within mobility research (Va16).

Task 5 – Qualitative evaluation of MaaS impacts on STIs

Task 5 signals the transition from quantitative to qualitative data analysis and aims to complement the previous evaluation of MaaS’ impact on socio-territorial inequalities. In this task, we will identify processes, mechanisms, and perceptions driving the quantitative analysis findings in tasks 3 and 4. We will use focus groups composed of individuals and households from three municipalities and have MaaS users and non-users participate. Three diverse municipalities have been selected to provide varied socio-spatial conditions: Lisbon, Cascais, and Vila Franca de Xira. These municipalities were specifically selected based on their MaaS and PT accessibility levels and their socio-economic status. Cascais represents a medium-to-high-income municipality with some SMS offerings, whereas Vila Franca de Xira is a medium-to-low-income municipality with no SMS offerings. Our team has already gained support from these municipalities to conduct the proposed focus group research.

Task 6 – Integration strategies

This task aims to interview and perform workshops with public and private managers who deal with transportation policies in Lisbon to evaluate their opinions on the barriers, implementation, and STIs consequences of MaaS. The decision-makers selected for this task are from PT companies (metro and buses), the three municipalities involved, and shared mobility companies such as car-sharing, bike-sharing, and e-scooters. Here, it is very important to analyze the perception of two distinct sectors (private and public) regarding the integration of SMS and PT. According to Smith et al. (Sm20), one of the main barriers to MaaS is not from a technological perspective but in institutional and legal arrangements. The integration of policies of public and private companies may be a barrier in terms of bureaucracy and legal/regulation frameworks.

Task 7 – Coordination and dissemination

This task will run throughout the entire duration of the project. We will set up and maintain a dedicated website (online on month 2) and accounts on social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others that might appear). A newsletter will be written and sent to members after the end of each task, as well as after each seminar and the international conference. A final newsletter will be sent at the end of the project (a total of 10 newsletters). Simultaneously, we will maintain active social media pages, in which not only will we post the contents of the newsletters but also share all relevant information regarding MaaS and STIs that we will obtain throughout the project. We will organize one national seminar (in month 11) to show and discuss the results of tasks 1 and 2 (Literature review and Data collection) and raise awareness of this issue among Portuguese urban and transport planners and politicians. It will occur in one of the suburban municipalities that constitute our case studies. A second national seminar will be organized in month 26 to present and discuss the results of tasks 3, 4, and 5 (quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the relationship between MaaS and STI). It will take place in the other suburban municipality.