The rise of multimodal travel underscores the need to design a cohesive journey that considers the passenger experience from start to finish. Achieving this requires integrating diverse travel modes and coordinating infrastructure and mobility services, especially at major transport hubs. This research employs qualitative methods to study passengers’ experiences in multimodal travel involving air transport in-depth. Using autoethnographic and interview methods, researchers and practitioners undertook a total of 26 multimodal journeys involving air transport at four European airport hubs to study the travel phases these journeys and factors influencing the experience. The findings indicate that multimodal journeys involving air transport differ significantly from traditional air-to-air journeys. Multimodal passengers encounter friction as they must cross more system boundaries compared to single-mode travel, with each system governed by its own distinct rules and regulations. Consequently, multimodal journeys require different passenger flows, infrastructure, and services than air-to-air journeys. This research identified eight journey integration factors that impact the passenger experience of multimodal journeys involving air transport: (1) journey explanation and preparation, (2) personalized and pro-active assistance, (3) wayfinding, (4) proximity of modalities and facilities, (5) multimodal transfer services, (6) balanced transfer time, (7) waiting environments, and (8) in-travel comfort. Importantly, the passenger experience in multimodal journeys involving air transport is influenced by passengers’ expectations and cannot be understood in isolated segments, as travel phases are interdependent. This highlights the importance of designing multimodal journeys involving air travel as cohesive units and emphasizes the crucial role of collaboration among actors across transport systems.

In an increasingly volatile world, organisations must be prepared to navigate high-impact crises such as pandemics, geopolitical tensions, and disasters. As a result, resilience has become a strategic priority. Operationalising resilience, however, remains challenging due to three key barriers. First, the complex, interconnected nature of organisations makes it difficult to understand interdependencies and implement effective resilience interventions. Second, many crises are considered unimaginable, so-called Black Swans, hampering proactive resilience-building. Third, resilience is highly contextual and conceptually ambiguous, leading to uncertainty about its practical application. To address these barriers, this study investigates what decision-makers within complex systems can learn from wargaming (i.e. the practice of simulating decision-making in environments of conflict or competition) Black Swans to support the operationalisation of resilience. Based on four wargames with 57 decision-makers from aviation, defence and other sectors, we conducted a thematic analysis to interpret their outcomes. Our findings suggest that wargaming helps decision-makers (1) develop a shared understanding of their organisation within its complex system; (2) imagine the impact of type-B (unknown knowns) and type-C (ignored knowns) Black Swans on their organisation; and (3) operationalise resilience-as-an-outcome while deepening their theoretical understanding of it. Finally, conducting wargames may enhance resilience capabilities, namely shared situational awareness, the management of keystone fragilities, anticipating future developments, and sensemaking. Our findings suggest that wargaming can be a valuable tool for organisations to operationalise resilience.

Mobility is vital for societal wellbeing, economic growth, social inclusion, and access to essential amenities. However, the current system faces significant challenges, including environmental impact, unequal access, and safety concerns. […]

In designing a bus rapid transit (BRT) system, various design choices are made. This article introduces a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) approach to examine the effectiveness of combinations of BRT characteristics (design choices) and their impact on ridership and occupancy . Robust factors for ridership in most configurations are, in line with expectations, offering a high frequency and easily accessible vehicles. Branding as a special tire is in some contexts like services around airports or campuses, not part of effective configurations in terms of ridership. However, success in generating higher average trip occupancy levels is achieved with coaches that are branded as a higher level of service. These regional services that fill in gaps in rail, combine long stop spacings with a shorter headway during morning peak hours. Based on enhanced bus services with a wide variety of BRT characteristics (n = 141), the followed method can be considered as a first step. To obtain more specific results, it is recommendable to narrow down the focus to bus services that have more characteristics in common. This study underlines once more that gaining ridership with enhanced bus services, is more than just offering a service in high frequencies.

The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be an existential public health and economic crisis for the airport system. An interview study was conducted using Amsterdam Airport Schiphol as a use case to prepare for future public health disruptions. The study aimed to uncover key experiences and lessons learned by an airport system during the COVID-19 pandemic by interviewing 16 experts from airport operators, airlines, public health agencies, security services, and the government. After thematic analysis, four themes emerged. The first theme addressed the limited readiness of the airport system; the COVID-19 pandemic seemed unimaginable regardless of prior experiences with infectious diseases or weak signals. The second theme depicts an airport system running behind the facts, one that had difficulties implementing operational interventions and had to deal with extensive reorganisations. The third theme illustrated the complex relational dynamics within the airport system, such as the hesitancy of public health stakeholders towards aviation stakeholders and the government utilising a top-down approach. Finally, theme four provides lessons learned for the future whereby actively fostering a systemic approach, sensemaking capabilities, and informal relations are recommended. Current constructions like Crisis Management Teams and the Airport Operations Centre support these learnings. Further reflection and operationalisation of the study's findings are critical to proactively supporting the airport system's transition from a potential pandemic liability to a strategic asset in mitigating public health disruptions.

Abstract. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the aviation industry is interested in becoming more resilient; however, its operationalisation remains challenging. This study aims to support the operationalisation of resilience by investigating the sources of resilience of airport crisis management teams' (CMTs). Through six training and debriefs with 54 operational managers and reflexive thematic analysis, three sources of resilience were identified. The first source emphasises the role of metacognition, where practitioners adopt a reflective approach to their decision-making. Metacognition is critical for creating shared situational awareness (SSA) and directionality. The study identified two ways to foster metacognition: being explicit and reflective about the SSA level and asking metacognitive questions. The second source is directionality, which involves establishing and adjusting a shared goal during disruptions. Directionality helps align CMTs, prioritise goals, and provide a benchmark for success. It also facilitates timely escalation to higher-management CMTs when necessary. The third source highlights the importance of mastering the rules of play (e.g. protocols, procedures and leadership styles) as it creates a robust decision-making process. Given the high turnover in aviation personnel, further research is needed to ensure that protocols and procedures are easy to use. Finally, the training methodology used in the study proved effective for evaluating and improving resilience capabilities. It provides a near-real-life experience that allows for detailed analysis. Further exploring the interactions between participants and antagonists could help develop a qualitative resilience indicator, offering new insights into measuring, standardising and operationalising resilience.

Many people believe that low digital skills are only a problem of the elderly. However, the group of analogue or non-digital travellers is much larger and much more diverse than that. In the Netherlands alone, it is estimated that a group of 3–4 million people is not digitally able enough to make use of digital services. This is due to several reasons. In order to make use of digital mobility services, users need to be able and willing to use digital services. In transport, especially for demand responsive transport (DRT) services, the lack of digital skills can create a barrier for people to make use of the service. Based on insights from literature and interviews about digital skills, we have categorized the different groups of non-digital travellers, and created five need-based personas. On the basis of this, we formulated user requirements and design recommendations for mobility services, and for DRT services specifically.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the existential public health and economic fragilities of the civil aviation industry. To prevent future public health disruptions, the civil aviation industry is gaining interest in becoming more “resilient” but rarely elaborates on its meaning, hampering decision-making and strategy development. When looking into the academic literature it seems that a proliferation of resilience-related concepts occurred. Although enriching resilience, it also dilutes its meaning and reduces its use for practice. This paper aims to create concept clarity regarding resilience by proposing a categorization of resilience. Based upon a scoping review, this categorization dissects resilience into four reoccurring aspects: fragility, robustness, adaptation, and transformation. This categorization is expected to support sensemaking in disruptive times while assisting decision-making and strategy development on resilience. When applying this categorization in the civil aviation and public health context, the transformative aspect seems underused. Further research will focus on maturing the categorization of resilience and its use as a sensemaking tool.

To gain ridership, bus services need to offer more than just high frequencies. An attractive system design for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a result of various configurational choices concerning infrastructure, rolling stock and operations. To find out which configurations are preferred by potential and current passengers, a Discrete Choice Experiment was carried out in The Netherlands. For this study, eight BRT characteristics were included. Results (n = 1019) show that four characteristics are valued the most: frequency, service hours, reliability and stop spacing. The attractiveness of three different service formulas or configurations is evaluated. The more conventional bus configuration is preferred by the majority of the respondents. However, a considerable amount (25%) of respondents that prefer this configuration does not consider using this service formula. Configurations that either address offering more passenger comfort or higher capacity, do seem to be attractive to distinct passenger segments who are more likely to actually use the service. These appealing BRT configurations address different types of passenger segments and therefore could coexist on certain routes.

As city-level modal splits are outcomes of city functions, it is essential to understand whether and how city attributes affect modal splits to derive a modal shift toward low-emission travel modes and sustainable mobility in cities. This study elucidates this relationship between modal splits and city attributes in 46 cities worldwide, proposing a two-step data mining framework. First, using the K-Means method, we classify cities into private-vehicle-, public-transit-, and bicycle-dominant groups based on their modal splits. Second, we categorize city attributes into environmental, socio-demographic, and transportation planning factors and quantify their interlocked impacts on cities' modal splits via the decision tree method. We observe that the socio-demographic factor has the highest impact on determining the cities' modal splits. In addition, high population density and employment rate are positively associated with low-emission travel modes. High gasoline tax and low public transit and taxi fares often make people reconsider possessing private vehicles. On the other hand, extreme weather conditions (e.g., hot temperatures) can prevent bicycle usage. Our contribution expands the impact of introduced city planning and policies for modal shifts toward a real-world paradigm and we present implications of the proposed framework in developing practical modal shift strategies.

The aviation industry is constantly making compromises when designing comfortable airplane cabins. Providing passengers with a pleasant acoustic environment without adding weight to the cabin structure is a field of tension that challenges cabin interior designers. The aim of this study was to investigate whether noise levels affect the comfort and physical discomfort experienced by airplane passengers, and whether control influences comfort perception. To this end, 30 participants experienced three conditions (silence, aircraft engine noise at 75 dB, and the same noise with the ability to use earplugs), and comfort and discomfort were measured using a questionnaire. It was concluded that aircraft engine noise negatively affected the airplane passengers’ comfort experiences. Having the ability to control this noisy environment with earplugs resulted in the lowest reported physical discomfort.

De toegang tot het internet en GPS leidt tot een duidelijke trend in de ov-wereld: digitalisering van ov-diensten. In vergelijking met vaste buslijnen heeft dit onder meer een hoger financieel rendement voor de vervoerder en presteert het (in theorie) beter op duurzaamheid. Toch valt er flinke winst te behalen op de gebruikerservaring. Met name analoge reizigers zullen een barrière ervaren om gebruik te (blijven) maken van vraaggestuurde busdiensten. In dit artikel wordt (de omvang van) het probleem geschetst, inclusief een verhelderende blik op deze gebruikersgroep.

The outbreak of COVID-19 demonstrated the fragility of the transportation system and its Multimodal Transport Hubs (MTHs). Global travel reduced dramatically, leading to an existential crisis in MTHs. To cope with the pandemic, MTHs implemented multiple resilient measurements including social distancing, rapid testing regimes, and infrared cameras. Although these measurements are valuable tools, this research advocates to transcend resilient measures and move towards antifragility by applying a systems thinking approach. As Nassim Taleb (2013) defines: “Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.” Our goal is to contribute to a long-term future of the transportation system by transforming MTHs into a tool to effectuate antifragility during the management of health disruptions.

The problem of physical inactivity, caused by both lifestyle and work-related factors, is affecting an ever greater number of the office-based workforce. In addition to this, physical inactivity has been associated with an increased risk for various chronic diseases as well as various musculoskeletal disorders. As the majority of an individual’s time is spent at work, a means of introducing more activity into the workplace environment would appear to provide potentially the most effective solution. One of these potential solutions is that of dynamic workstations. In a controlled laboratory setting, the biomechanical, physiological, subjective and performance effects of two dynamic workstations were contrasted against two more conventional workstations. Measures assessed included physical activity and percent of heart rate reserve. The performance of basic computer and office tasks was assessed using a standardized battery of tasks included a typing task, a reading task, a telephone task, a task examining mouse dexterity and a set of cognitive tasks. The set of cognitive tasks included two reaction tasks, a memory test and an Erikson flanker test. To determine the acceptability of these workstations, subjective experiences of the participants were recorded using a questionnaire.

The boundaries between collective and individual transport are fading. Current solutions for payment and planning of trips are suboptimal for journeys that span across individual, collective and shared transport modalities. The discussion around these innovations often tends towards public authorities needing to strengthen their integrating role, or towards the private companies developing key innovations. We argue that focusing on only one of these perspectives, either integration or innovation, is likely to lead to what we call ‘subtopias’. Furthermore, we discuss and resolve the conflict between the two roles based on four different scenarios, ranging from nightmare to utopian dream. Our claim is that a balance is needed between, rather than a prevalence for private and public, for integrated and innovative mobility services to manifest themselves. As we see it, authorities will need to direct, harmonize and coordinate specific elements of personal mobility systems in order to be able to facilitate a seamless multi-modal mobility experience for travelers.

An airport can be a stressful place for passengers. One of the reasons to get stressed might be the result of poor wayfinding. Current wayfinding signs are often static, which makes them difficult to adapt to new situations. In contrast, dynamic signs can be updated and adjusted accordingly. Light projections can be used as dynamic signs. The aim of this study is to understand if the use of animated projections onto the floor can improve the wayfinding experience. Four animations have been developed and tested within a controlled testing environment of which one animation has been tested in a real airport environment. Results indicate that animation for wayfinding purposes should show a clear vertical motion to guide towards a certain direction. Additionally, higher velocity in the animation was perceived as more positive. The observation in the airport showed that a projection in clear daylight and on the floor is not noticed by the passengers walking by.

Interferences during the boarding procedure are one of the main reasons of delay and increased turnaround time, becoming a relevant problem for airlines. Observations of the boarding process and questionnaires inside the aircraft revealed three main bottlenecks during the boarding process: (1) Hand luggage: Storage space is not sufficient and/or not used efficiently; (2) Preparation: Passengers are not well prepared for the boarding process; and (3) Communication: Audio announcements are unclear and unfocused. By translating these bottlenecks as possibilities for improvement, solutions were designed for the airport and aircraft interiors to reduce boarding time and improve the passenger boarding experience. Concepts ranged from an app to scan your hand luggage at home and make a reservation for overhead bin space; to a redesigned waiting area to help passengers prepare for boarding; to new boarding methods and redesigned aircraft seats. In this paper, several design concepts are presented in more detail.

To save fuel costs, lightweight designs and materials are preferred for aircraft interiors. One of the challenges for aircraft seats is to reduce weight without compromising passenger comfort, or perhaps even while increasing comfort. This case study describes three different projects on lightweight designs for aircraft seats, using three-dimensional (3D) scanning methods (Franz, Kamp, Durt, Kilincsoy, Bubb, & Vink, 2011) to determine the ideal seat contour following the human body. The first project on upright sitting in an economy aircraft seat (Hiemstra-van Mastrigt, 2015) set out to collect imprints of the human body in a vacuum mattress by using a handheld 3D scanner to scan the body imprints and obtain a 3D surface. Subsequently, the different scans were superimposed in such a way that differences between the scans were minimized. Based on this “ideal curvature,” an adjustable seat pan concept was developed (Kuday, 2018). A similar 3D scanning method was applied in two other projects: first, developing a prototype for passengers sleeping sideways in a premium economy class aircraft seat (Lam et al., 2014) and, second, a human contour-based business class seating concept (Smulders et al., 2016). This case study concludes with advantages and recommendations for applying 3D scanning in similar projects.

Airplane boarding is a time-consuming procedure due to a number of factors. First of all, passengers cannot pass each other in the aisles, but also stress is experienced in finding the seat or the space to store hand luggage and some passengers repack their luggage in the aisle. To reduce boarding time and improve the overall boarding experience a light guiding hand luggage system (GHL-System) was developed within the PASSME project. Due to the GHL passengers in the airplane see a light in the overhead bin which will shine more bright coming closer. This GHL-system did reduce stress levels while boarding and indicated a time saving of 3-4 minutes on a Boeing 737-800 flight with 189 passengers. Indicating a personal luggage spot located near the passenger seat might solve the problem of passengers not being able to find their space. Further research is needed on actual flight conditions to prove the effect of this system.