Multimodal mobility hubs are increasingly promoted as sustainable solutions to reduce car dependency, yet many do not align with user needs due to limited public involvement in the design process. To see if the planning of hubs can align with community preferences, this study performs a Participatory Value Evaluation (PVE) focused on the Dutch city of Zwolle. PVE makes it accessible for a large and diverse group of citizens to be involved in policy issues and decision making. Through two choice tasks, participants allocated limited resources among various hub design options, reflecting real constraints and trade-offs faced by decision-makers. The PVE set-up is grounded in structural and functional components of four European mobility hubs, innovatively using the Technological Innovation System (TIS) framework as a learning tool. Latent Class Cluster Analysis (LCCA) revealed preference-based user segments, ranging from bike- and public transport enthusiast to mainly car-oriented users. Despite varied priorities, all clusters emphasized the importance of physical and social safety, and core amenities like public toilets, parking and public transport integration. Qualitative analysis showed respondents reasoning behind numerical choices, highlighting once more, concerns about safety. Expert interviews confirmed PVE's relevance as a practical planning tool, especially when implemented in the right phase of hub design. While sample representativeness and expert diversity were limited, the findings suggest that integrating PVE into recurring planning cycles can improve the social legitimacy and effectiveness of mobility hubs. This research offers a replicable framework for embedding community values in urban transport planning, with implications extending to other Dutch and European contexts.

Urban congestion and sustainability goals have prompted hospitals to explore strategies for reducing car dependency among employees. This study investigates which factors influence the likelihood of a modal shift toward cycling alternatives, in the context of a hospital facing significant traffic issues. To explore employee preferences, a Discrete Choice Experiment was conducted among hospital staff. The results reveal substantial heterogeneity in preferences, with delay emerging as a particularly influential factor in mode choice. Aside from delay, weather also showed a significant impact, with good weather increasing the likelihood of choosing a bicycle, and bad weather increasing the likelihood of choosing car or public transport. While current commuting patterns are relatively fixed for some, many respondents showed openness to switching to cycling, especially when practical barriers are addressed. Open-ended responses further showed that employees proposed concrete interventions, such as shared e-bikes and a different travel allowance stricture. These findings offer valuable input for developing targeted mobility policies aligned with both institutional sustainability objectives and employee needs.

Regional mobility hubs offer a promising solution to address growing mobility demands and sustainability challenges across urban and rural areas. While their potential is widely recognized, regional hubs often face the challenge of solving urban problems, such as congestion, through interventions located outside the city, leading to a mismatch between problem and solution space. This misalignment complicates local buy-in and contributes
to fragmented stakeholder collaboration across multiple governance levels. This research investigates how collaboration can be improved during the development and implementation
phases of regional mobility hubs. A conceptual collaboration framework was developed from literature and applied to a case study of the Brainporthubs in the Eindhoven region. The
findings reveal that relationship quality is a critical prerequisite for effective engagement, eventually leading to successful collaboration. Additionally, shared value creation, especially through integrated policy agendas, emerges as a key driver for stakeholder commitment. Based on these insights, the original framework was refined and translated into actionable strategies for both existing and future hub projects. This study contributes an evidencebased model and concrete strategies to enhance collaborative governance in complex transport initiatives.

People with a Disability (PwD) often rely on public transport, towards their need for accessibility. Knowledge about the user's perspective on accessibility policies is crucial to decide what is most urgent, yet remains limited. Hence, this study researches what accessibility policies people with a disability and citizens in general prefer. The preferences of citizens are relevant, for they illustrate public support for different accessibility measures.
To fill this knowledge gap, Participatory Value Evaluation (PVE) is performed in the Netherlands. 1254 respondents, of whom 328 had a disability, advised policymakers on which accessibility policies are most urgent. In the PVE, participants could indicate for nine policy measures whether they should get more priority, subject to an effort constraint.
The results show that both PwD and citizens prioritised the repair of broken elevators most, followed by wheelchair accessible vehicles. These policies were prioritised despite the high effort required. The results show great homogeneity of results amongst different disabilities. Participants prioritised policies because of their perceived necessity and effectiveness in helping people with a disability use public transport. The research suggests that people prioritise more expensive, long-term policies that facilitate independent travel for most PwD, over less expensive measures that do not improve independence in the long term.
Policymakers and scholars are recommended to focus on the necessity and effectiveness of accessibility policies, prioritising long-term improvements.

In the Netherlands, the integration of cycling with train travel plays a crucial role in enhancing urban mobility by promoting accessibility, reducing congestion and lowering emissions. This paper investigates the operational efficiency of bicycle parking facilities at railway stations, with the aim of bridging the gap between infrastructure design and the evolving demands of users, such as the need to accommodate a variety of bicycle types and fluctuating commuting patterns. There is still limited insight into the operational dynamics that affect efficiency. This study operationalises usage efficiency by analysing occupancy, turnover and parking pressure, using data from Dutch railway stations from 2023 to 2024. Through a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative interviews and quantitative time-series analysis, the paper identifies key strategies for optimising these facilities. The findings reveal variability in efficiency across different contexts, showing that a high turnover relative to parking pressure rate indicates greater operational efficiency. Cluster analysis utilising temporal clustering techniques differentiates facilities by efficiency patterns and identifies distinct challenges and opportunities for targeted interventions. The paper advocates enhanced monitoring, targeted enforcement, context-specific design adjustments and the accommodation of diverse bicycle types to improve efficiency. These insights aim to guide planners and operators in optimising bicycle parking facilities to support sustainable, multimodal mobility in urban environments.

This report presents the development and application of a standardized methodology for assessing the accessibility of multimodal public transport systems. As cities around the world face growing pressure to deliver efficient, inclusive, and sustainable mobility, there is a clear need for analytical tools that can evaluate how well transit networks serve diverse populations across both space and time. This is particularly important in multimodal systems, where the overall user experience depends not only on the performance of individual modes, but also on how well these modes are integrated in terms of spatial layout, service availability, and schedule coordination. Although many existing studies have evaluated public transport accessibility, most of these focus on single modes or static indicators such as travel time and coverage. They often neglect the dynamic, interconnected nature of real-world transit systems, and provide limited insight into how multimodal integration affects system performance. To address these gaps, this research introduces a comparative framework that combines spatial and temporal accessibility metrics using publicly available GTFS data and graph-based network representations. The primary objective of this research is to design a methodology that enables structured, comparative analysis of multimodal public transport networks. The study applies this methodology to a diverse set of twelve cities and investigates whether the resulting metrics reveal meaningful insights into the spatial and temporal structure, coordination, and operational strategies of their networks. These insights then serve as the foundation for identifying system strengths and weaknesses and developing targeted policy recommendations.

As the demand for a more inclusive society increases, fair access to transport has become a pressing issue, especially in rural areas where mobility is under increasing pressure. This thesis investigates how equity in transport can be meaningfully included in the decision-making processes of transport projects in sparsely populated regions of the Netherlands. Focusing on the MIRT (Multi-Year Programme for Infrastructure, Spatial Planning and Transport), the study applies the concept of broad welfare, which includes not only economic outcomes but also social, environmental and health dimensions. Rural regions continue to face limited transport options, increasing the risk of social exclusion, transport poverty and regional decline. Through a qualitative, multi-method approach combining literature and policy analysis, stakeholder mapping and interviews with twelve Dutch transport planning experts, this research identifies key barriers to embedding equity: conceptual vagueness, limited political prioritisation, fragmented governance and a lack of practical tools. The findings underline the importance of including equity from the earliest planning stages and highlight the role of political support and institutional clarity. Financial barriers, particularly for smaller municipalities, worsen regional inequalities. In response, the thesis proposes a long-term strategy towards a national framework for transport equity. This includes a standard definition of transport equity, better coordination between different levels of government, refined evaluation methods such as cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria analysis and participatory value evaluation, and improved funding mechanisms. By adapting the MIRT process to embed equity, the Netherlands can move from fragmented recognition to concrete, equitable transport networks.

When considering elderly individuals in the context of transportation, qualitative research seems to focus rather on mobility and the problems related than on the actual achievement of access. Additionally, certain bias and misconceptions about this diverse group still influences accessibility studies for elderly. This paper therefore explores the accessibility challenges faced by elderly individuals, particularly focusing on urban environments like Rotterdam. Interviews in a semi-structured format using the approach of microstories were conducted in May 2024 among elderly residents of Rotterdam, aged 67 and above. The Capability Approach was used as a framework to categorise the findings of these in-depth interviews. This study with its findings underlines the inherently heterogeneity of this group. Further it presents barriers as well as enablers of accessibility for this group and how this influences the way participants move and access activities within their city. These findings show how important it is to develop specific policies not just for ‘the elderly’ but for various sub-groups of them, as they show very different characteristics and abilities. Furthermore it challenges the typical view at accessibility, usually simplified by the land use and transportation system and time or distance-based thresholds, and whether these are really usable for this group.

This thesis addresses a hypothetical scenario in which all flights within most of Europe are substituted by rail and estimates the resulting additional rail demand, with a focus on night train demand. Routes, cities and countries with high potential for (night) trains under maximum air-rail substitution are highlighted, and rolling stock requirements are estimated. Several research gaps regarding long-distance travel behaviour and mode choice are shown to require assumptions in the modelling approach; the results are indicative of areas with higher demand potential for night trains than others.

Integrating bike-sharing programs with public transport enhances car-independent mobility, yet a comprehensive societal cost-benefit analysis of this integration remains scarce. This study addresses this gap by conducting an ex-post analysis of the OV-fiets program in the Netherlands, a station-based round-trip bike-sharing system designed to improve last-mile connectivity for train commuters. Spanning from 2004 to 2023, the analysis identifies 19 critical factors through an exhaustive literature review and expert consultations, with 14 factors subsequently quantified and monetized. The findings reveal a positive net present value (NPV) for the OV-fiets scheme, with benefit-cost ratios (BCRs) ranging from 1.1:1 to 2.4:1 and a median ratio of 1.5:1. Primary benefits include enhanced accessibility, reduced road congestion, and improved health outcomes, while significant costs are associated with initial investments and road safety impacts. This research underscores the considerable societal value of the OV-fiets program, warranting continued investment in the program and emphasizing the need for ongoing safety measures and infrastructure improvements. Additionally, it provides a robust framework for future assessments and improvements in similar urban contexts.

This thesis explores the impact of transport disadvantage on the unemployed's participation in out-of-home activities beyond the labor market. It delineates eight distinct groups primarily based on transport accessibility and car availability among the unemployed, assessing how these factors are shaped by socio-demographic characteristics and influence engagement in various activities, such as shopping, social visits, and recreational activities.

Latent class cluster analysis is employed to identify distinct patterns of transport accessibility and car availability among the unemployed, avoiding arbitrary definitions and incorporating socio-demographic determinants. This approach reveals a broad spectrum of transport accessibility and car availability patterns, ranging from low to medium to high, organized into groups or clusters.

The research contrasts out-of-home activity participation between unemployed and employed individuals with similar socio-demographic profiles to identify relative deficits, using propensity score matching. This method isolates the combined effect of employment status and non-socio-demographically determined transport disadvantage on activity participation and travel behavior. The study then conducts a comparative analysis of deficits in activity engagement across the eight groups, allowing for the separation of the direct impact of transport disadvantage from direct effects related to employment status.

A key discovery of this thesis is a compensatory mechanism among unemployed individuals who tend to increase their participation in non-work-related activities. However, this compensatory behavior is not uniformly realized across all groups, particularly not among those with low car availability, who exhibit significant deficits in out-of-home activity participation. Surprisingly, accessibility does not seem to influence the differential in activity participation between the unemployed and their employed counterparts, suggesting that car availability is the primary dimension through which compensatory behavior is enabled.

This finding challenges the hypothesized compensatory relationship between transport accessibility and car availability and suggests that individuals with higher car availability, regardless of their level of accessibility, are at a lower risk of transport-related social exclusion, whereas those with low car availability exhibit a higher risk, irrespective of their accessibility levels.

Furthermore, the results suggest that socio-demographic factors compound with employment status and transport disadvantage to inhibit the full expression of this compensatory mechanism among low car availability groups. These groups, representing 61% of the unemployed sample, typically have higher accessibility and comprise younger people, individuals living in single-person households, those with lower household incomes, and individuals with a non-native (parental) birthplace, predominantly residing in highly urbanized areas.

This study, informed by existing literature on affordability limitations, recommends enhancing affordable transport accessibility for unemployed individuals with low car availability, advocating for subsidized public transport fares and travel allowances for low-household-income groups. It supports promoting mixed-use developments and enhancing infrastructure for active transportation modes to increase activity options within reachable distances for those with limited car availability. Future research should explore physical and digital in-home activities, subjective experiences of social inclusion, and the role of transport and housing expenses in shaping transport affordability.

Recent research studies have been focused on the adoption of shared cars and mobility hubs separately. Which is why there exists a knowledge gap regarding the influence of a mobility hub on the adoption of shared cars. This qualitative research study aims to fill the knowledge gap by answering the main research question: To what extent could a mobility hub play a role in the adoption of shared cars located at the mobility hub? Multiple angles had to be researched as unilateral answering the main research question was not possible. Therefore, a literature study provides insight in which aspects that are related to the use of a shared car could be influenced by a mobility hub (sub question 1). Next, expert interviews contribute to the knowledge regarding the mutual influences between mobility hubs and shared cars (sub question 2). Finally, a case study captures what stimulates residents to use a shared car at their nearby mobility hub (sub question 3).

In the extensive literature study 50 relevant articles were collected. The Thematic Content Analysis (TCA) that followed identified reoccurring themes. This resulted in subthemes that are related to: financial aspects; functional requirements; personal requirements; aspects of the journey; the attitude of potential users; psychological influences; challenging characteristics of potential users and aspects of a mobility hub. By analysing their influence, it became apparent that the identified themes (i.e. the independent variables) have a causal relationship with shared car usage (i.e. the dependent variable) and that certain aspects of a mobility hub (i.e. the moderator variable) could influence this relationship. These relationships have been presented in a conceptual model. Based on the influence of the identified subthemes, suggestions have been made for the guidelines that a mobility hub should fulfil in order to influence these relationships. By fulfilling the guidelines, a mobility hub can be developed in such a way that it considers the tangible and intangible aspects potential users value to attract more potential users to the hub and lower the barrier of using a shared car located at the mobility hub. Therefore, this qualitative research study showed that there are indeed factors of a mobility hub that can influence the adoption of shared cars located at the hub.

Urban Speed Limit Reduction (USLR) policies, aimed at enhancing road safety and reducing emissions, pose substantial implications for public transport (PT) operations. This study evaluates the impact of implementing a USLR policy in The Hague, Netherlands, reducing speed limits from 50 km/h to 30 km/h on select streets. A multimodal simulation model was employed to quantify changes in PT travel times, operational costs, and modal share. Results indicate a modest average increase of 1.2% in PT travel times, with corresponding timetable hours (TTH) rising by 0.9% and no increase in PT modal share. This would lead to elevated operational costs without increased ridership or revenue. On a city level, the modal share of bikes increases with 0,2% while the modal share of cars decreases with 0,2%. Locally, the results show changing trip destination choice, mode choice, and route choice to circumvent the USLR policy. The findings underscore the need for targeted mitigation measures, such as traffic flow optimizations and speed segregation, to offset increased costs and maintain PT efficiency. This research highlights the nuanced trade-offs of USLR policies, providing actionable insights for urban policymakers and transport operators.

This research explores how shared bicycles can enhance the modal shift from cars to public transport for commuter trips in suburban areas, focusing on South Holland. The study combines a literature review with a survey, comprising revealed and stated preference components, to assess travel behaviour and quantify the effects of shared bicycle attributes. A multinomial logit model is applied to estimate behavioural responses, with 105 respondents commuting to Drechtsteden and Leiden as case studies.

Results underline the critical role of competitive public transport travel times in fostering shared bicycle adoption. In areas where public transport significantly lags behind cars in travel time, the potential for shared bicycles is diminished. Shared bicycles are most effective for last-mile distances between 500 and 3,000 metres, but availability issues and reliance on private bicycles limit their adoption. Cost measures, including employer subsidies and reduced shared bicycle fees, significantly encourage uptake, while car parking charges predominantly shift commuters to public transport. A combination of free shared bicycles and paid parking achieves a potential modal shift of 10 percentage points, though inclusivity remains essential.

The stated preference model reveals that shared bicycle costs are perceived as three times more negative than travel time, particularly among younger and low-income travellers. Women and lower-educated individuals are more sensitive to public transport travel times, while frequent car users show less aversion to longer car journeys. Furthermore, hybrid systems such as Donkey Republic meet the needs of frequent commuters, while e-bikes provide limited added value in suburban areas due to car dominance over longer distances.

This study concludes that optimising public transport competitiveness, improving shared bicycle availability, and introducing cost incentives are vital for achieving a sustainable modal shift. Recommendations include integrating shared bicycles into public transport cards, reallocating bicycle parking, and enhancing hub locations to strengthen the synergy between shared bicycles and public transport.

Urban areas such as The Hague face traffic congestion and environmental issues due to frequent car usage, especially for short trips up to 5 kilometres. To address these challenges, combining cycling with public transportation (PT) offers a promising alternative. This study examines the potential of bicycle parking facilities at public transport stops in The Hague, aiming to encourage multimodal travel and discourage short car trips.

The qualitative part of the research involved structured interviews with residents of The Hague. The results showed that people are open to considering the bicycle-PT combination but have not yet adopted it. The main barriers are the lack of safe, accessible, and well-maintained bicycle parking at public transport stops. Respondents emphasized the need for more bike parking and cited bad weather and convenience as common reasons for choosing the car.

The quantitative analysis, based on a stated preference survey and a multinomial logit model, confirmed the interview findings. Residents are more likely to opt for the bicycle-PT combination if certain bicycle parking facilities, such as bike racks or lockers, are available. These specific facilities could shift up to 2 percentage points of trips toward the bicycle-PT combination and reduce short car trips by up to 3 percentage points.

Additionally, the results indicate that cost and travel time are important factors in transport choice. Increasing car-related costs and reducing public transport fares were tested and could further contribute to a modal shift from car to bicycle-PT. Tested scenarios showed a potential increase of up to 5 percentage points in bike-transit usage and a reduction of up to 6.5 percentage points in car trips.

Based on these findings, it is recommended to invest in user-friendly and more abundant bicycle parking at transit stops, particularly bike racks, which are cost- and space-efficient. Policymakers are also advised to explore pricing policies that make public transport more financially attractive compared to car use.

These findings are not only relevant for The Hague but also offer insights for similar cities striving to create a more sustainable mobility system by better integrating cycling with public transport.

The relation between sociodemographics and travel behaviour (TB) patterns is relevant to understand to devise policies that can direct people towards more sustainable travel options as well as to be aware of people’s possibly restricted mobility for the sake of mobility justice. Especially in the Netherlands, both of these interests are relevant to the aim of broad welfare which has been formulated in 2019. In this research Latent Class Analysis was performed on the Dutch National Travel Survey combined datasets from 2018 and 2019 to uncover TB patterns. This analysis was conducted for necessary travels and leisure travel purposes and resulted in 7 distinct classes (8 for necessary travels) which each showed clear associations with specific sociodemographics. The results could be related to axes of disadvantage previously identified in a literature study and were subsequently assessed with 7 experts from the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. It was found that people who conform to many of the disadvantaging factors identified, such as low income, low education levels and women travel with active modes as well as public transit more often, possibly due to general modal disadvantage (i.e. difficult or no access to a car). Travellers who travel with children but besides that have other advantaging factors (high income, older age) or travellers who live in rural areas and thus have spatial disadvantages, travel by car more often, also for very short distances. Against initial expectations, the research did not necessarily show extensive difference in distance travelled for travellers with disadvantaging factors. Recommendations concluded from these findings include the need to detach car use from car ownership, by e.g. promoting car-sharing more as well as enabling travelling with young children to be possible on public transit (physically as well as information wise).

Urbanization, a desire for a reduction of CO2 and a need for a more efficient use of space are likely to greatly increase demand for rail travel in the coming decades. To improve railway capacity, extra infrastructure can be built, or existing track can be optimized. A silo analogy provides an interesting idea for an integral approach to network development that combines the demand of heavy-rail and bus, tram, and metro: either obtain more demand for the heavy-rail system and thus validate expensive infrastructural investments or reduce demand. Both options require a broadening of the analysis so that it includes bus, tram, and metro networks. To explore the practical implications of this analogy, the research question is set up as follows:
“Does integrated public transport network development in the form of a simultaneous consideration for infrastructural investment in both heavy-rail and hierarchically lower public transport modes offer a better solution for fulfilling transportation needs, compared to a segregated approach?”
To answer the research question, literature review has been used to gain insights in public transport integration from a technical and a governance perspective. Literature has also been used to form integration strategies that could be applied in network development. The formed strategies consist of using network hierarchy as a guideline for either applying bus, tram, and metro to take over lower hierarchy services from the heavy-rail and vice versa. A case study on the corridor Amsterdam – Lelystad in The Netherlands was used to apply the integration strategies on and to analyze the effects of the development following the different strategies in a real-life situation.
The results show that the variant following the strategy of assigning lower hierarchy services to heavy-rail appears best in terms of generalized travel time, synthetic demand, and investment costs. It scores well on fairness of the offer, but lowest on ambition fulfillment and operational costs. It turned out that each variant needed investment in more heavy-rail infrastructure to allow for completing of the heavy-rail ambitions. The variant with more tasks assigned to bus, tram, and metro scored the worst, except for ambition fulfillment. Furthermore, the multicriteria analysis, although useful for providing insights in the qualities of the different variants, does not give a definitive answer on what the best variant would be. Using external input to assign weights to the multicriteria analyses would have been a good improvement in getting to that answer. Instead, a stakeholder reflection is done to give insight in possible stances regarding the criteria from the stakeholder’s perspective.
The research suggests that it is worth considering ambitions and problems outside of just the bus, tram, and metro or just the heavy-rail system. The process of brainstorming based on expertise, using qualitative multicriteria analyses for making decisions with supporting arguments in the design phase, planning a plausible timetable and analyzing and comparing several variants forms a good skeleton for investigating the possibilities of public transport network development in places where heavy-rail capacity becomes problematic.

The planning of railway operations is a very complex process, in which timetables and other logistical plans need to be both reliable and robust to effectively prevent and cope with disturbances. However, research in the robustness of initial stabling plans, designed in an earlier planning phase, during the following planning phases, has been lacking, with the models created in research in the Train Unit Shunting Problem (TUSP) being generally deterministic in nature, even though stabling plans could quickly become infeasible when the stabling demand in the form of arriving and departing trains changes.
This thesis therefore proposes a definition of the robustness of an initial stabling plan to changes in the stabling demand, such as changes in train lengths, as well as provide an assessment method of said robustness. The created Robustness Assessment Model (RAM) first generates an initial stabling demand and stabling plan, then performs a Monte Carlo simulation to generate a set of stabling plans created for variations of the initial stabling demand, based on changes in stabling demand such as train length. Finally, the RAM estimates the robustness of the initial stabling plan by analysing the differences between the initial and these generated stabling plan variations and how efficiently the initial plan is able to change to these plans to optimally facilitate the variations of the initial stabling demand.
Running this model across three locations, each with three capacity utilisation scenarios, has shown that the model is able to estimate the robustness of an initial stabling with acceptable confidence, and furthermore is able to give insight into how capable the stabling plan creation method is in generating a robust solution. Furthermore, the RAM can also be used to investigate patterns in stabling plans which could predict the robustness of said stabling plans. Current shortcomings to the RAM are its relatively long runtime, the simple stabling plan creation process used in the RAM, and that only one-sided stabling yards without servicing scheduling have been incorporated. Further research is therefore recommended for extending the RAM with other stabling yard layouts and the scheduling of services, as well as improve the stabling plan generation process to take more constraints into account.

This research aims to understand the influencing attributes of passengers and station layout elements on transfer walking times for metro transfers. Little research has been performed to include passenger-related attributes to model transfer walking time besides station layout elements. Through a literature review, the effect of gender, luggage size, group size and level of crowding are potential attributes. Furthermore, the vertical transport mode choice, including the lift, the waiting condition to board a vertical transport mode and the alighting location, are also part of the influential attributes besides the transfer length. The walking time and passenger characteristics have been collected through a covert observation. In the data analysis, the effect of group size, vertical transport mode choice, waiting condition to board and the alighting location significantly impact the transfer walking time and the walking time on a transfer segment level. These attributes have been captured in walking time and passing speed models for various transfer segment types. The walking time models can predict a lower, mean and upper bound of the walking time for each combination of attributes. The case study for the walking time collection was metro station Beurs, Rotterdam.

The number of digital systems that is used for business processes in many organizations is increasing. These digital systems can be used to support decision-making in the maintenance process. In this research the effects of digitalization on the maintenance process are evaluated. This is done by focusing on five aspects: actors, agreements, approach, applications and availability. By comparing the recent knowledge described in the literature with the experiences from practice, a maintenance aspect framework is designed. The experience from practice is obtained from conducting interviews at four organizations. These organizations are: NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen), Port of Rotterdam, Rijkswaterstaat and ProRail. At each of the organizations, one specific asset is selected for which the effects of digitalization are evaluated. The findings of
the comparisons are reflected on the features of the asset and the organization to generalize the conclusions. Furthermore, an implementation plan and recommendations on how to use the framework to ensure that all the relevant aspects are included in future policies, are derived from the findings. The implementation plan is designed to be applicable in general, and the recommendations are made for NS specifically. In the recommendations, advice is provided on which aspects should be prioritized more and which aspects are
already well formulated in the long-term plans. Lastly, a time line is presented in which the phases of the digitalization transition process are represented. The implementation plan can be used as a guideline to determine in which phase an organization is currently in, and what steps should be taken to proceed to the next phase.