This systematic literature review examines the social impact of paratransit from a micro-level perspective, offering insights into how this mode of transportation influences individuals' daily lives. Using the PRISMA methodology, 33 publications were identified following an iterative screening process. Five key themes emerged: Barriers, Safety and Risk Concerns, Gender and Socio-Economic Influences, Users' Opinions and Lived Experiences, and Travel Behavior - Influences and Determinants. The review reveals that paratransit services present significant challenges, particularly for the elderly and disabled, restricting autonomy and social inclusion. Although safety concerns and dissatisfaction with service reliability and cleanliness were common, these issues did not result in notable changes in travel behavior, as users frequently lacked viable alternatives due to financial constraints. Notably, most reviewed studies were conducted in the Global South, which may limit the generalizability of findings to high-income or Western contexts. The review emphasizes the need to address both basic and psychological needs to enhance positive social impact of paratransit, especially in regions where income inequality shapes transportation options. Additionally, standardizing terminology is crucial to ensure consistency in future research.

Hope is defined as the capability to pursue a desired goal by leveraging one's abilities and potential pathways to goal attainment. This study aims to (1) chart and integrate conceptualizations and operationalizations of hope in travel and well-being research, and (2) investigate the relationship between hope and travel behaviour, as well as its associations with well-being concepts relevant to travel behaviour research, as a base for developing a Travel-Hope Framework. A scoping review was conducted with the following inclusion criteria: (i) adult participants, (ii) validated hope scales, (iii) relevance to travel behaviour and well-being research, (iv) written in English, and (v) peer-reviewed. A systematic search identified 13 studies on hope<acute accent>s conceptualizations and measurement. While none explicitly explored its link to travel behaviour, hope was associated with cognitive, emotional, and social well-being components relevant to travel behaviour research. Building on these insights, we introduce the Travel-Hope Framework, which posits that hope - particularly in the form of travel autonomy and perceived accessibility, and experience and anticipation - is essential for behaviour change and well-being. By illuminating the role of hope in travel decision-making, this framework provides a novel perspective for travel research and policy. Understanding the dynamic interplay between hope, travel and well-being can inform targeted interventions to improve commuting experiences, foster equitable accessibility, and promote sustainable travel choices.

Introduction: The pandemic disrupted daily lives and negatively affected psychological factors such as perceived security, social relations, distancing, stress, and engagement. Yet, empirical insights are still largely lacking of the complex evolving interplay of changing everyday mobilities and physical activities, accessibility perceptions, and mental health outcomes during and after the pandemic. This study explores how travel, physical activity and perceived accessibility affect mental health during the COVID-19 crisis. Method: Drawing on 2020, 2021 and 2022 panel survey data from residents of Greater Oslo, Norway, we (i) develop a theoretical framework on the interplay between travel and behaviour, perceived accessibility and mental health, (ii) we set up measurement instruments to capture key outcomes (Perceived Accessibility Scale, and Mental Health Index), and (iii) test the interplay using panel survey data from before, during, and immediately after the pandemic analysed in Structural Equation Models. Results: Substantial negative pandemic impacts on trip frequencies, public transport shares and accessibility perceptions are observed, the latter with important mediating effects on mental health. Physical activity levels and mental health were initially also negatively affected, but less so than travel and perceived accessibility and they also rebounded back to normal during the study period. Pandemic impacts on travel, perceived accessibility and mental health turned out to be uneven, with for instance stronger impacts for women than for men. Conclusions: The findings highlight the central role of perceived accessibility as a mediating factor between travel behaviour and mental health, underscoring its importance in transport policy and planning. The unequal impacts of the pandemic across socio-demographic groups, especially for women, demonstrate the need for more inclusive and resilient mobility systems. Moreover, the study illustrates the value of using subjective, longitudinal measures to understand how mobility and well-being are interlinked over time, particularly in response to societal disruptions like the pandemic. 

The occurrence of life events increases the likelihood of changes in travel behaviour and these are often discussed as windows of opportunity for interventions aimed at improving sustainable travel. Hence, theoretical knowledge of the process of change due to life events is important for enabling the development of interventions suited to these naturally-occurring situations. In this paper, the Framework of RoUtIne Transitions in daily travel (FRUIT) is presented, depicting the internal processes involved when one chapter of life, characterized by stability in daily travel, gives way to another. Building on theory relating to habit disruption and formation, and designed for the inclusion of existing models and concepts relating to deliberate decision-making, the framework points to two critical phases as focus areas. Using an empirical case, the applicability of FRUIT is illustrated, with the implications of the framework for future research and policy being outlined and discussed. 

Public transport (PT) success depends on targeted interventions, ranging first from push measures that discourage car use to pull measures that encourage PT use, and second from hard measures that intervene at physical infrastructures to soft measures that intervene at psychological elements of individuals’ behaviors. Focusing on soft-pull policy measures, and through a scoping review of 36 publications, we categorize these measures into three overarching groups: 1) Internally motivating strategies that gradually but firmly instill pro-sustainability attitudes and norms in people’s mind; 2) Satisfaction increasing strategies that primarily help retain current users especially those who feel forced to use PT and secondary attract new riders by improving the service factors and modifying travelers’ inaccurate perceptions of the service; 3) Stimulating PT-use and car-habit disrupting strategies such as attractive incentives and tailored information that encourage auto-drivers to give PT a try and break their car-habit. This review provides an analytical evaluation of each approach, offering recommendations for policy makers and PT service providers, along with identifying research gaps and suggesting future research directions. 

This study focuses on the association between cognitive, medical, and physical difficulties; mental illness; travel autonomy; and perceptions of the possibilities of participating in desired daily activities; further, we examine their association with happiness and life satisfaction. We present and empirically test an integrated framework with travel autonomy, defined as the prerequisites, freedom, and possibility to travel the way one wants, at its core. We use web survey data (n = 1041) collected in Sweden in 2021. Using partial least squares structural equations, we find a valid and reliable model with travel autonomy as a distinct and reliable latent construct. Furthermore, travel autonomy yields significant paths to perceived accessibility, happiness, and life satisfaction, highlighting the importance of capabilities, independent travel, freedom, and possibilities in the overall construct of travel autonomy. Finally, mental illness plays an important role in how people rate their travel autonomy.

Collaboration between different stakeholders is argued to increase the efficiency and quality of the transition to sustainable mobility by supporting the diffusion of knowledge and fostering innovation. In this paper, we examine the important role of collaborative capacity as an institutionalized practice in public transport by providing a 10-year collaborative academic and non-academic partnership case study from Sweden, including interviews with key non-academics. Three different collaboration working-forms are identified, exemplified, and discussed: joint efforts, parallel projects, and collaboration loops. It is shown that collaboration and research communication can be a very valuable asset that benefits all parties if it is done systematically and responsibly. However, if the translation from research to managerial implications does not materialize, the benefits of collaboration may get lost. Building upon Commitment-Trust theory, it is shown that even if dialogue between academics and non-academics may be exposed to pressure and challenged in different ways, if carried out responsibly it builds trust and respect for different knowledge horizons, problem formulations, time logics, and working methods. Over time goodwill trust may evolve. Although collaboration loops may be the most promising method to aim to develop collaborative capacity, general learnings are that small projects are equally important, especially if clustered, to provide benefits to both non-academic and academic partners. It is concluded that developing a collaborative capacity among both non-academic and academic partners can create new collaborative practices, increasing the possibility of contributing to difficult societal challenges, such as achieving a sustainable future.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous, significant challenges for elderly in their daily life. In order to reach a deeper understanding of the feelings and thoughts of the elderly related to their possibilities to travel and engage in activities during the pandemic, this study takes a qualitative approach to exploring the views of the elderly themselves. The study focuses on experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of in-depth semi-structured interviews with elderly aged 70 and above, were conducted in June 2020. Applied Thematic Analysis (ATA) was applied, as a first stage, to investigate meaningful segments of data. In a second stage these identified segments were combined into a number of themes. This study reports the outcome of the ATA analysis. More specifically we report experiences, motivations and barriers for travel and activity participation, and discuss how these relate to the health and well-being of elderly, and vice versa. These findings highlight the strong need to develop a transport system that to a higher extent addresses the physical as well as the mental health of old people, with a particular focus on facilitating social interactions. 

COVID-19 has brought severe disruption and demand suppression to mobility, especially to public transport (PT). A key challenge now is to restore trust that PT is safe again. This paper investigates pandemic impacts on PT safety and stress perceptions in three Nordic cities, drawing on 2018 and 2020 survey data analysed in structural equation models. While finding modest pandemic effects on safety and stress perceptions overall, strong heterogeneities exist across gender, age and geographic categories. Women perceive less PT safety and more stress, especially during the pandemic. Older adults reduced PT more during the pandemic and perceived no stress reduction like younger adults. Stockholm travellers feel less safe and more stressed than in Oslo and Bergen, whilst pandemic PT use and perceived safety reductions are least in Bergen. The paper discusses the long-term implications for theory and policy across multiple mobility scenarios accounting for modal change and travel demand uncertainties. 

Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, this study explains sharing economy platform usage intention. Our results based on PLS-SEM estimations with survey data (N = 655) from the carpooling context show that sharing orientation (i.e. sharing usage instead of owning/buying), grassroots engagement (i.e. non-profit organisation driven by volunteers), and platform authenticity (i.e. loyalty to the original carpooling practice) are strong determinants of people's attitudes towards the carpooling platform, while trend orientation (e.g. the 'sharing economy' paradigm) is not significant. This implies that while digitalisation can optimise older practices (e.g. hitchhiking), online platforms facilitating contemporary sharing practices need to be embedded in the original sharing ethos and values to raise usage intention - even though the sharing economy has become mainstream.