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Open research questions in Urban Transport and Accessibility

128 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 2,921 Urban Transport and Accessibility papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Although on-demand delivery may expand service opportunities through digital platforms and third-party riders, its contribution to CPS potential accessibility and equity remains underexplored.

    How does on-demand delivery impact the accessibility and equity of community pharmacies? Perspective from groups with heterogeneous geographic-digital barriers · 2026 · DOI

  • As the research project conducted within this online survey moves toward pilot operations, these results establish a baseline for longitudinal evaluation of real-world usage and trust dynamics. Subsequent research should examine how the identified user segments evolve once autonomous buses become part of daily service. Longitudinal tracking will reveal whether initial openness translates into sustained adoption and how trust develops through direct experience. Future work should also expand the analysis beyond Munich, enabling comparative studies across multiple research projects to assess how cultural, infrastructure-related, and regulatory factors influence acceptance. From a policy perspective, the next phase of research and development should focus on: Implementing universal accessibility standards as a precondition for operation (cid:129) (cid:129) Developing uniform strategies for communication between passengers and autonomous buses (cid:129) Establishing feedback channels for continuous user participation in system design Ultimately, the successful introduction of autonomous buses in Munich will depend not only on technological maturity but on social readiness: the ability of all population groups, regardless of age or ability, to trust and benefit from automation. By aligning innovation with inclusivity, autonomous public transport can evolve into a cornerstone of sustainable, equitable, and resilient urban mobility.

    Demographic profile and usage behavior of public transport users in the Munich Metropolitan Region: findings from a large-scale online survey on current and autonomous transit · 2026 · DOI

  • An educa- tional institution is a model type of public infrastructure that is limited to the neighboring holding capacities of transport and retail. The numbers of colleges and preschools were placed excessively over lo- cal road capacities, but the number of EIs providing pub- lic services and schools was insufficient compared to the desired numbers supported by road networks.

    Optimizing spatial placement of educational institutions using POI and geo-information · 2026 · DOI

  • Addressing RQ2, the results revealed a structurally uneven spatial relationship between the development of ski slopes and ski lift transport systems, characterized by the coexistence of areas with oversized lift capacity relative to slope potential and areas where ski lift provision remains insufficient, with the most pronounced positive and negative disparities concentrated in specific districts, localities, and individual slopes.

    Multi-scalar spatial inequalities in ski tourism infrastructure: A MAUP-informed examination of Romanian ski areas · 2026 · DOI

  • While this study offers detailed insights into spatial accessibility patterns in Szczecin, several limitations should be acknowledged. First, the analysis relies on static travel time data, which does not account for variability in service frequency, congestion, or tempo- ral fluctuations. Second, accessibility was measured at the spatial scale of grid cells, Geographia Polonica 2026, 99, 1, pp. 5-33 which may obscure important local barriers such as pedestrian infrastructure quality, per- ceived safety, or micro-level urban form fea- tures (Kwan, 1999). Third, the study focused primarily on quantitative measures, without incorporating user perceptions or qualitative aspects of accessibility, which are essential to understanding lived experiences of transport disadvantage.

    Assessment of spatial equity of school and workplace locations from the perspective of source and destination: a case study in Poland · 2026 · DOI

  • The results of the study emphasise strengthening the institutional and policy environment, enhancing the asset base available to actors in the informal transport sector, and reducing the vulnerability context that drives risky coping strategies. These recommendations align with the SLF’s principles: strengthening institutions, reducing vulnerability, and nurturing the assets that underpin sustainable livelihood strategies. • Strengthen and streamline permit and regulatory processes: A transparent, efficient, and corruption-free permit system would improve drivers’ access to physical and financial assets, reduce operational uncertainty, and promote a fairer market. The government should digitise permit applications, establish clear timelines, and enforce accountability mechanisms to curb bribery. • • Enhance institutional coordination between government and taxi associations: Taxi associations are critical sources of social capital that can help ensure safer, more orderly operations. Formal partnerships through co-regulation, conflict resolution training, and participatory route planning would align institutional processes with actual livelihood realities. Improve infrastructure and signage to reduce vulnerability: Better roads, clearer signage, street lighting, and designated ranks would reduce congestion, accidents, and the security risks faced by drivers and passengers. Investments in infrastructure are central to strengthening the SLF’s physical asset base. Introduce driver protections and standardised contracts: Given the long hours and insecurity highlighted in the findings, labour protections are essential. Standardised contracts, legally defined working hours, and mechanisms for reporting abuses without retaliation would reduce livelihood risk and promote more sustainable outcomes. Increase public awareness of legal taxi identification: Colour-code vehicles by district and run public awareness campaigns to help commuters distinguish legitimate from illegal operators, improving safety and strengthening institutional trust.

    Accessibility and Regulation in Lesotho’s Informal Transport Sector: A Sustainable Livelihoods Concern · 2026 · DOI

  • The physical capital of affordable imported cars, human capital in driving skills, and social capital embedded in networks of drivers, owners, and passengers all enable individuals, especially unemployed youth, and retrenched workers, to create income-generating opportunities where formal employment is scarce.

    Accessibility and Regulation in Lesotho’s Informal Transport Sector: A Sustainable Livelihoods Concern · 2026 · DOI

  • Several limitations shaped the research process. First, securing interviews with national and institutional officials proved difficult, limiting the depth of state-level perspectives in the dataset. This constrained our ability to triangulate fully between policy narratives and practitioner accounts. Second, some prospective participants expected compensation and withdrew when informed that none would be provided, narrowing the pool of interviewees. Third, scheduling interviews with students, key users of the 4+1 system, was challenging due to competing academic commitments. Despite these challenges, steps were taken to maintain methodological rigour. The use of semi- structured interviews supported consistency across interviews while allowing flexibility for participants to share experiential detail. Reflexive journaling and attention to intersubjectivity helped minimise personal bias and ensured that participant narratives, not our assumptions, guided the analysis. These limitations do not invalidate the findings but suggest that future research should include a broader sample of government authorities, private owners, and young commuters to deepen insights into multi-level institutional dynamics.

    Accessibility and Regulation in Lesotho’s Informal Transport Sector: A Sustainable Livelihoods Concern · 2026 · DOI

  • With respect to resource use, future research should focus on refining the CRM indicators and exploring possibilities to include capital goods and digital infrastruc- ture in the system boundary.

    Life cycle and critical raw material analysis of shared e-scooters in Helsinki, Finland · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should address these limitations by utilizing Global Posi- tioning System(GPS)-enabled large-scale travel surveys that capture precise departure times and detailed route trajectories.

    Environmental constraints on conventional and electric bikes: a mode choice analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • Through the integration of GPS- based behavioral data, GIS spatial analysis, and statistical modeling, the research fills a gap in empirical knowledge by applying established behavioral mobility analysis techniques to a rapidly urbanizing, car-oriented Gulf context where such evidence remains scarce.

    Canalside infrastructure and cycling behavior: GPS-based insights from Dubai’s water canal · 2026 · DOI

  • Originality/value This study addresses an underexplored area by extending the TPB to six grounded variables, integrating both subjective and objective factors and providing an empirical prioritization to inform strategy and investment decisions.

    Bridging human behaviour and public transport policies: applying the extended theory of planned behaviour for sustainable urban mobility · 2026 · DOI

  • The study acknowledges several limitations. First, data col- lection relied on Baidu Street View images, which may not fully capture the pedestrian perspective, potentially affect- ing the accuracy of insights regarding the environment. The streetscape data were collected across seasons in 2022, 1 3Landscape and Ecological Engineering Fig. 8 Walking environment special enhancement resulting in a temporal discrepancy with the 2024 question- naire survey. This leads to seasonal bias in GVI and shade index, which represents a common limitation in most street view–based walkability studies. Although such bias affects absolute indicator values, the relative ranking and spa- tial contrast of path quality remain consistent, so the key findings concerning spatial mismatch and supply–demand coupling are not substantially compromised. Meanwhile, this research concentrates on Tianjin’s core old urban area, where the urban fabric and road network structure remained systematically unchanged throughout the study period. Additionally, residents’ behavioral preferences developed through prolonged exposure to this stable environment. Consequently, this temporal gap has a limited impact on the study’s core findings. Then, the research is cross-sectional, which means it identifies correlations rather than causations, primarily due to the time lag between the collection of streetscape data and the administration of questionnaires. This time lag also constrains the study’s capacity to account for seasonal or temporary environmental changes, thereby limiting the shift from “static diagnosis” to “dynamic governance” in urban planning. Future research should prioritize longitudinal studies to investigate the causal relationship between ‘path quality and visit frequency.’ Moreover, this study examines the influence of the built environment on park visitation behavior. However, the cur- rent modeling only partially accounts for residents’ percep- tions and preferences concerning environmental conditions. We recognize that macro-level contextual factors, including seasonal climate variations, also play a significant role in park usage. Future longitudinal research that gathers data across various seasons could effectively elucidate the intri- cate interplay between climatic conditions and the micro- scale built environment factors analyzed in this study.

    Unveiling hidden inequities: a dual-perspectives diagnostic framework for pedestrian environment mismatches in urban park accessibility · 2026 · DOI

  • The study focuses on a single bike sharing system (Bicimia BSS) in one city; generalization to other systems with different user behaviors and characteristics is unclear.

    The impact of machine learning forecasting on strategic decision-making for bike sharing systems · 2026 · DOI

  • The models were validated on 2017 observations while 2018 remained unobserved, which may explain performance deterioration and limits generalization to truly unseen future data.

    The impact of machine learning forecasting on strategic decision-making for bike sharing systems · 2026 · DOI

  • To address a gap in the literature regarding differential effects of built environments (BE) on minority populations, this study uses boosted regression tree modeling to explore travel behaviors of Hispanic and Latinx (H/L) households, finding significant differences in the variables that influenced these households compared to others.

    Studying Understudied Populations’ Travel Behaviors with a Machine Learning Approach: A Focus on Hispanic and Latinx Households · 2024 · DOI

  • Public participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) tools are valued for participatory mapping of various spatial data, but their usefulness has not been examined sufficiently in understanding street-scale built environments.

    The methodological challenges of using public participation Geographic Information System for understanding micro-scale physical characteristics of streetscapes · 2023 · DOI

  • Work to date, however, has not yet established the ecological construct validity, and thus the meaning, of streetblock 311 call counts for specific physical incivilities.

    Can streetblock 311 physical incivility call count shifts predict later changing on-site conditions? Gauging ecological construct validity of 311 litter calls · 2023 · DOI

  • While increasing evidence suggests that rail infrastructure plays a structuring role in shaping and transforming cities and regions over time, empirical studies on the simultaneous development of rail infrastructure and socio-spatial transformation of surrounding neighbourhoods, especially at a local scale, are scarce.

    Socio-spatial transformation of neighbourhoods around rail transit stations: an experience from Tehran, Iran · 2022 · DOI

  • We examine the understudied implications of TIA on housing by drawing on empirical evidence from distinct bodies of research in the transportation and land use planning literatures to describe the mechanisms through which TIA may affect housing markets.

    Traffic Trumps All: Examining the Effect of Traffic Impact Analyses on Urban Housing · 2021 · DOI

  • Even pre-COVID-19, when the research in this Special Issue was undertaken, this impact on the urban structure and the social fabric of cities was significant, but it had remained underexplored.

    New spatialities of work in the city · 2021 · DOI

  • Further investigation into the causal links between the NBE and life satisfaction, including the complex roles that transit accessibility and resident perceptions of neighborhood geography play, is warranted.

    Do Neighborhood Walkability, Transit, and Parks Relate to Residents’ Life Satisfaction? · 2020 · DOI

  • Our study is limited by the use of a simple cohort model, calibrated to a single predictive scenario run of SACOG’s Sacramento Regional Activity-Based Simulation Model (SACSIM) travel demand model.

    Meeting Climate, Mobility, and Equity Goals in Transportation Planning Under Wide-Ranging Scenarios · 2020 · DOI

  • Domański [2004] outlines, location decision makers <i>usually have limited knowledge and incomplete information and in many cases the decision maker does not behave like the</i> homo oeconomicus.

    Behavioural location theory – evolution, tools and future · 2018 · DOI

  • The article’s methodology makes use of limited information to identify where reductions in inter-island travel time can be proposed for people living in areas of greater relative transport, social and economic disadvantage, so that individual economic and personal travel opportunities can be made more accessible, reducing exclusion risks and promoting well-being.

    Indicators of Socio-Spatial Transport Disadvantage for Inter-Island Transport Planning in Rural Philippine Communities · 2017 · DOI

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128 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 2,921 Urban Transport and Accessibility papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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