Tom Rye

• Hrelja, Robert; Rye, Tom & Hansson, Lisa (2025). Understanding politicians’ positions about the role of car restrictive measures in sustainable transitions. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives (TRIP). 34(November ). doi: 10.1016/j.trip.2025.101780. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Contentious transport measures (CTM) are defined in this paper as those which reduce the amount of road space available for, or the cost of using, the private car. These measures have been shown to be necessary if a transition to a more sustainable transport system is to take place. Although they are the key decision makers as to whether such measures should be implemented at city level, there is a dearth of research on local politicians’ views on mobility issues in general, and to CTM specifically. This paper addresses this gap by presenting and analysing interviews with local politicians in Sweden, Norway and Spain. It finds that local politicians can be categorised broadly into three groups: those who do not support CTM as they see them as being incompatible with their ideology; those who will support a gradual implementation of such measures; and those for whom there is an urgent need for CTM and that their task is to respond to their voters and lead society towards the transition by implementing CTM even if they are unpopular with some sectors of the electorate. These findings align with earlier work identifying some politicians as radical and some as incremental in their approach to policy change; and the self-definition of politicians as ‘trustees’, leading change as elected representatives, compared to those who see themselves more as ‘delegates’, representing the views of their voters.

• Rye, Tom; Tønnesen, Anders & Hansson, Lisa (2025). A social justice perspective on protests against urban transport measures. Urban, Planning and Transport Research. 13(1). doi: 10.1080/21650020.2025.2480385. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper examines one category of contentious transport measure: that which reallocates parking space from cars to other modes of transport. Such restrictive measures are regarded as essential within the broader mix of policies needed to create more climate-friendly cities. The study analyses three Norwegian cases: two involving the removal of curb-side parking to make way for cycle lanes on urban streets, and one involving the removal of parking to pedestrianise three central-city squares. Using a social-justice framework, the analysis reveals three key findings. Firstly, although all three cases involve the removal of parking, the extent and nature of public resistance varied depending on the overall parking policy in place, with this broader policy context helping to explain the different levels and forms of protest. Secondly, the paper highlights the value of a social mobility justice approach in analysing transport system changes, showing that protests stem not just from the distribution of benefits and burdens but also from local values and perceived public-space qualities. Thirdly, diluting a road-space reallocation scheme to reduce opposition – for example, by providing extensive replacement parking – can risk weakening its impact on promoting sustainable transport. This underscores the challenge of balancing opposition management with policy effectiveness.

• Rye, Tom; Lyons, Glenn; Svensson, Tony; Lenferink, Sander; Mladenovič, Luka & Piras, Francesco [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2024). Uncertainty and triple access planning in European Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans : a long way to go yet? Transportation planning and technology (Print). ISSN 0308-1060. 48(2025)(6), p. 1330–1352. doi: 10.1080/03081060.2024.2311804. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Triple Access Planning (TAP) is the idea that accessibility can be delivered through physical mobility, digital connectivity, and spatial proximity. There is great uncertainty as to how far one of these three elements will substitute for or complement the others in delivering the accessibility we need in future. Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM) Planning is touted as a relatively new paradigm in local transport planning oriented to the achievement of a wide range of societal objectives. The paper presents a review of how well SUM Plans from eight European countries, and national guidelines from four currently account for TAP and uncertainty in their approach. Our findings suggest that while the concept of physical proximity is well-understood, other aspects of the TAP and uncertainty approach are not. Digital connectivity is largely ignored. The planning future is treated as largely certain, with no consideration of disruptive factors that might alter this future.

• Hansson, Lisa; Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard & Rye, Tom (2023). What is public participation in transport in times of change? In Hansson, Lisa; Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard & Rye, Tom (Ed.), Public participation in transport in times of change. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ISSN 9781804550380. p. 3–12. doi: 10.1108/S2044-994120230000018003. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  A general global wave of public participation is occurring. Students and researchers as well as civil servants, policy-makers, and NGO representatives are encouraged to study, propose, and engage in public participation. New innovative forms of participation are suggested, and experiments in participation are ongoing locally and nationally. Within the transport sector, most studies of participation focus on road infrastructure and other land use changes. However, for other areas within transport, studies are limited and fragmented. Based on this, we see a need for a volume on public participation in transport, aimed at practitioners, students, and researchers, in what are unarguably times of change. The overall aim of the volume is to provide examples of different forms of public participation in transport, which can work as a setting for further analyses and discussions of public participation in transport. Drawing on different cases, eight empirical chapters are presented covering three main themes: grass-roots participation initiatives, participation in unconventional areas, and public participation that throws up unexpected results. In this introductory chapter, we set the scene for later discussions and analyses of public participation in transport. This chapter also provides an overview of the structure and content of the volume. Keywords: public participation, participatory planning, exclusion, change, transprt infrastructure

• Maltese, Ila; Marcucci, Edoardo; Gatta, Valerio; Sciullo, Alessandro & Rye, Tom (2023). Challenges for public participation in sustainable urban logistics planning : the experience of Rome. In Hansson, Lisa; Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard & Rye, Tom (Ed.), Public participation in transport in times of change. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ISSN 9781804550380. p. 77–95. doi: 10.1108/S2044-994120230000018007. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Public participation in policy-making can play a fundamental role in improving effectiveness via two mechanisms: strengthening the alignment between public needs and proposed measures, and increasing public consensus (and compliance) about them. It is, therefore, particularly relevant to foster public participation in sustainable mobility planning at the urban scale, as strongly recommended by the European Union, not only to avoid protests and resolve conflicts but also to find the best solutions for the city. Among many different tools and methodologies for implementing public participation, Living Labs have also shown great potential in enhancing the co-creation of strategies and measures for achieving sustainable mobility for both passengers and freight. Through the analysis of the participatory process carried out by the municipality of Rome to support the definition of the Sustainable Urban Mobility and Logistics Plans, this chapter explores different involvement levels, tools and strategies in this field, with a particular focus on the innovative Logistics Living Lab developed in this city. This also contributes to filling a gap in the literature on how and to what extent citizens could or should participate in city logistics planning. The results of the analysis highlight that, despite these efforts, citizen participation in planning urban logistics is still a challenge that deserves additional effort and resources to be properly enhanced and improved and that a Living Lab offers great potential to meet this challenge. In turn, this case study could help policy-makers to identify solutions for more effective and acceptable measures to addressing city logistics and the externalities it generates.

• Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard; Hansson, Lisa & Rye, Tom (2023). The transformational potential of public participation in transport. In Hansson, Lisa; Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard & Rye, Tom (Ed.), Public participation in transport in times of change. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ISSN 9781804550380. p. 181–194. doi: 10.1108/S2044-994120230000018012. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Public participation is sometimes suggested as a way to establish legitimacy for contentious policies needed to realise a transformation in the transport sector to meet sustainability and climate goals. In this chapter, we first aim to summarise and draw conclusions from each part of the book, not least in relation to the transformative potential of public participation in the sector. The chapter also suggests recommendations for further research in the field. Important topics discussed are the diversity of public participation in transport; limits to participation; the specifics of participation in the field of transport; and the issue of consensus and dissensus. As regards transformation of the sector, public participation is considered a prerequisite, but the book also includes several cases where public participation does not seem to possess a transformational potential. We suggest representative, deliberative forms of participation as a possible solution to overcome dilemmas of representativeness, (lack of) knowledge, and the participation burden. We conclude that public participation is not easy, it has to be prepared and designed carefully to avoid unexpected consequences, and there is currently a need for more experiments and pilot projects on public participation in the field of transport.

• Rye, Tom (2023). Does more public participation in local and regional transport planning lead to ‘better’ outcomes? In Hansson, Lisa; Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard & Rye, Tom (Ed.), Public participation in transport in times of change. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ISSN 9781804550380. p. 157–178. doi: 10.1108/S2044-994120230000018011. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Both guidance to transport planning practitioners and scientific literature advocate the adoption of in-depth and inclusive participation and consultation methods when developing new transport plans and measures. The motivations for this normative stance are however unclear, other than general statements that public participation is inherently a good thing, and that new forms of transport planning must be different from what has gone before. However, these documents cite little or no evidence to demonstrate that more participatory transport planning has produced ‘better’ decisions or outcomes. It is also important to note that the legitimacy conferred on governments from adopting this form of participation and consultation is only one of several forms of legitimacy. The purpose of this chapter is thus to attempt to assess whether more participatory approaches to transport planning do indeed lead to ‘better’ decisions and outcomes. It does this by developing, based on the literature, a number of criteria by which to judge the decisions made and outcomes delivered. It then reviews the experience of consultation and participation in a non-random sample of four pairs of transport plans or measures, and evaluates the experience in each against the criteria developed. It finds little evidence that more in-depth and inclusive participation processes that follow the normative stance found in practitioner guidance and the literature lead to better outcomes, and some evidence that such processes may in some cases compromise legitimacy by slowing and changing measure implementation.

• Hrelja, Robert & Rye, Tom (2023). Delivering Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in low to medium density contexts : actor relationships and market conditions in smaller Swedish cities. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation. ISSN 1556-8318. 18(2024)(3), p. 236–249. doi: 10.1080/15568318.2023.2285318. Full text in Research Archive
• Hrelja, Robert & Rye, Tom (2022). Decreasing the share of travel by car : strategies for implementing ‘push’ or ‘pull’ measures in a traditionally car-centric transport and land use planning. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation. ISSN 1556-8318. 17(2023)(5), p. 446–458. doi: 10.1080/15568318.2022.2051098. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper analyzes strategies that can be successfully pursued to implement measures to reduce car traffic in what has traditionally been a very car-centric planning praxis. Analytically, the paper use path dependency theory to provide an understanding of why certain types of measure are not implemented in cities on as widespread a basis as policy objectives may require, and to understand how transport planning path dependence in urban authorities might be changed. Empirically, the analysis builds on a comparative case study of transport and land use planning in Swedish cities. The most effective strategies do not appear to be radical policies leading to fast implementation of goals about sustainable transport, for example by implementing very car restrictive measures, even in the face of resistance from the public and from within the city administration. The results support an approach that from a strategy making perspective can be understood as an institutionalizing process by which internal organizational and external public support for car restrictive and potentially controversial measures are built. Implementation may be achieved by building new institutions within city administrations, where routines and norms gradually change so that car restraint measures gradually become part of the normal way of doing transport planning. This then starts to lock-in certain patterns of travel and make further car restraint measures more feasible and institutionalized as part of a standard menu of measures that cities use, and not something out of the order. Keywords: traffic restraint, car restriction, transport planning, policy, sustainability, path-dependence

• Mladenovič, Luka; Plevnik, Aljaž & Rye, Tom (2022). Implementing national support programmes for sustainable urban mobility plans in a multilevel governance context. Case Studies on Transport Policy. ISSN 2213-624X. 10(3), p. 1686–1694. doi: 10.1016/j.cstp.2022.06.007. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) are a new approach to local transport planning strongly promoted by the European Commission and increasingly adopted around Europe. They exist, however, in a largely national legal and financial framework, one which varies greatly between countries. In recent years many countries have developed national programmes to support the development of SUMPs within their national framework. The paper explains the role of SUMP national supporting programmes by relating them to key factors that are critical to the success of SUMP development. It also seeks to understand how the national programmes that exist are improving; challenges related to development of SUMPs in complex multilevel governance contexts; and the degree of support provided by the programmes within this context. To answer these questions a two-stage methodology was used. The first element was a questionnaire survey focused on the existence and state of national SUMP programmes in several EU/EEA member states or regions. The second element was interviews with SUMP experts in four countries selected to represent the experienced, the new and active, and the new but less active, in terms of their activity with SUMP national programmes. The results show that the national SUMP supporting programmes in the countries surveyed and interviewed do not fully address the factors which have been identified as being critical to the success of SUMP development and implementation. The overall picture of national SUMP supporting frameworks is one where most of such frameworks are still in the early stages of development. On the other hand, the relatively small impact of the national SUMP supporting programme was seen as less of a barrier to SUMP implementation in most of the countries than lack of funds and public opposition to contentious transport measures. Keywords: Sustainable urban mobility plan, national support programme, multilevel governance, national government, local government

• Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard; Hansson, Lisa & Rye, Tom (2022). The role of meta-governance in public transport systems : a comparison of major urban regions in Denmark and England. Transport Policy. ISSN 0967-070X. 130(2023)(January), p. 37–45. doi: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2022.10.018. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The governance of public transport is experiencing growing interest as a field of research. Collaboration, contracts, ownership are among the concepts applied in the literature. Outside the specific field of public transport, the term meta-governance and meta-governors - referring to actors and activities that aim to govern and guide a network - has gained increased attention. The point of departure for this article is to study if and to what extent the concept of meta-governance can contribute additional insight to the study of public transport governance, if signs of meta-governance in public transport can be observed in two cases included in the study, and finally, what the nature is of the networks within which it takes place. The cases are the Copenhagen Region, Denmark, and the West Midlands Region, England. In both cases there are signs of meta-governance. It is not clear whether it has increased in scale or level of activity over recent years, but it is likely to increase in the future. The core meta-governor identified in both cases is the passenger transport authority, although in the Danish case there are more actors of almost similar significance and governing capability. We conclude that the meta-governance concept adds to other concepts used in analyses of public transport governance by including more instruments of governance, bringing to the fore the need of a core, nodal actor, and by stressing furthermore the autonomy but also interdependence of other actors in the network. Keywords: meta-governance, meta-governor, governance network, public transport

• Aguilar, Xavier Villa i; Rye, Tom; Cowie, Jonathan & McTigue, Clare (2022). Bus franchising in English and Scottish regions : viable solution or unfeasible instrument? Transport Policy. ISSN 0967-070X. 120(May), p. 1–10. doi: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2022.02.011. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Much research surrounds the move from publicly owned and operated bus markets to publicly controlled and privately operated markets, or in the case of Great Britain, a fully deregulated market. Little research however exists concerning the counter move and the issues that this may raise. Such a step would be consistent with Gwilliam's regulatory cycle, which suggests that a combination of self seeking behaviour of suppliers and unrealistic aspirations of politicians leads to instability in the regulatory arrangements for the provision of bus services. Consequently, the associated structural and institutional arrangements go through a cycle of private/public ownership and competitive/regulated markets. The paper discusses some of the practicalities at the regional level of introducing the measures provided by the Bus Services Act 2017 in England and the Transport Act 2019 in Scotland, both of which offer the option of a partial or full economic reregulation of bus services. Theories of radical policy change are examined and applied in the context of the issue through interviews with key informants in regional authorities in Scotland and England. The overriding conclusion from this analysis is that whilst deregulating the market does not actually break Gwilliam's regulatory cycle, it makes it very difficult to ‘re-connect’, and thus a further long term consequence of bus deregulation in Britain in the mid 1980s is that future policy options may have been severely restricted in the very long term. Keywords: Bus re-regulation, incremental and radical policy change, regulatory cycle, bus economics

• Hrelja, Robert; Olsson, Lina; Pettersson-Löfstedt, Fredrik & Rye, Tom (2022). Challenges of delivering TOD in low-density contexts: the Swedish experience of barriers and enablers. European Transport Research Review. ISSN 1867-0717. 14(1), p. 1–11. doi: 10.1186/s12544-022-00546-1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background: Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is key to the success of public transport and for sustainable urban and regional development. Previous research has often focused on delivering TOD in urban areas with high popula‑ tion and building densities. This highlights the need to broaden the scope of TOD approaches to also include less densely populated areas located outside the immediate urban cores as a key concern for policy. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to increase the knowledge of how to deliver TOD in such low-density contexts. Methods: Three case studies of attempts at delivering TOD in sparsely populated areas in three Swedish city-regions are made. The data for the case studies consist of planning documents and 13 interviews with key stakeholders involved in the planning processes of the three cases. Results: The results show that many of the barriers and enablers are rather similar to those identifed in research on TOD in much more urban contexts in other parts of the world, but the relationships between them are diferently nuanced in low-density contexts. The lack of clear quantifed defnitions of what TOD is (or is not) allows a more fex‑ ible, site-specifc understanding of TOD to emerge in this context. Results: It is important that a shared vision of TOD in each location is developed by the organizations involved—and such a shared vision appears to be crucial for the development to have a good chance of being delivered. Informal defnitions, and individual perceptions (including those of the public) are important; and in locations that are quite “marginal” for TOD, all enablers must interact together positively for the development to have the maximum likelihood of going ahead as planned. Keywords: transit-oriented development, public transport, sustainable urban development, low-density, Sweden

• Vujadinović, Radoje; Jovanović, Jelena Šaković; Plevnik, Aljaž; Mladenovič, Luka & Rye, Tom (2021). Key challenges in the status analysis for the sustainable urban mobility plan in Podgorica, Montenegro. Sustainability. 13(3), p. 1–28. doi: 10.3390/su13031037. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The paper presents the results of the application of a practical approach for collecting data, which provides a simple, cost efficient, and easily reproducible method that was applied to obtain the necessary data for the status analysis of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) for Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. Important data for the estimation of the existing condition of the traffic system were collected through desk research from the appropriate institutions and organizations. Several surveys and focus group interviews were conducted, in which about 5000 residents of Podgorica participated. In addition to answering questions, residents made numerous suggestions, confirming the correctness of a participatory approach in the new traffic planning paradigm that provides the SUMP with crucial advantages. A manual cordon count of traffic on five bridges for the traffic of the motor vehicles, as well as on two pedestrian-only bridges, was performed by students from the study program Road Traffic, and there are plans to repeat this in the coming years in order to enable more reliable monitoring and evaluation of the obtained data. Contemporary quality management tools such as BYPAD and ParkPAD were also used to assess the status of cycling and parking policy, respectively. It is especially important to emphasize that Podgorica is the first city in the West Balkans, and the fourth city in Europe, in which the ParkPAD tool was applied. A wide range of negative phenomena and trends was identified, like a rapid increase in the number of registered vehicles, an increase in the motorization rate and the number of traffic accidents, increased non-compliance with traffic rules, excessive use of passenger cars and auto-taxi vehicles, insufficient use of unattractive public transport, walking and cycling, etc. Based on the data collected, key challenges in status analysis in Podgorica were identified, which the SUMP should try to overcome. View Full-Text Keywords: sustainability urban mobility plan (SUMP), urban planning, vehicles, parking, public transportation, walking, cycling

• D’Almeida, Léa; Rye, Tom & Pomponi, Francesco (2021). Emissions assessment of bike sharing schemes: the case of Just Eat Cycles in Edinburgh, UK. Sustainable Cities and Society (SCS). ISSN 2210-6707. 71(August), p. 1–9. doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103012. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Transport accounts for 40% of global emissions, 72% of which comes from road transport, and private cars are responsible for 60% of road transport emissions. In cities, self-service bike sharing systems are quickly developing and are intended to offer an alternative and cleaner mode of transport than the car. However, the sustainability of such schemes is often taken as a given, rather than thoroughly evaluated. To address this gap, in this paper we undertake a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a public self-service bike sharing system in the city of Edinburgh, UK, modelling the production, operation and disposal elements of the system, but discounting additional food intake by users. Our results show that the bike sharing scheme is saving carbon dioxide equivalent emissions compared to the modes of transport by which its users previously travelled, but it is essential to optimize rebalancing operations and to manufacture bikes as near as possible to the point of use to further reduce carbon emissions; and that the overall emissions impacts of the scheme are critically dependent on how public transport providers respond to reductions in demand as users shift trips to bikeshare, since most trips transfer from walk and public transport, not private car. The policy implications for authorities seeking to use BSS as a GHG reduction intervention are not straightforward. Keywords: mobility,bike sharing schemes, carbon emissions, life cycle analysis, rebalancing operations

• Rye, Tom; Hrelja, Robert; Monios, Jason & McTigue, Clare (2021). Partnership or franchising to improve bus services in two major English urban regions? An institutional analysis. Transport Policy. ISSN 0967-070X. 114, p. 59–67. doi: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.09.001. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract This paper analyses two differing approaches to the improvement of local bus services, using the analytical lens of formal and informal institutions. Both formal and informal institutions govern the behaviour of authorities and operators, but they do it in different ways and they have advantages and disadvantages. In so doing we seek to understand both how the informal institutional approach (e.g. voluntary partnership working) can be used effectively, but also to assess its limits; and to understand why a formal institutional approach (e.g. franchising), in spite of its strong underlying basis in law, may nonetheless not always function. Through doing so, this paper contributes to the current understanding of how to handle the unintended consequences of a deregulated market through the different (formal and informal) ways available. Keywords: transport policy, bus, franchise, partnership, deregulation, UK, Great Britain

• Rye, Tom (2020). Parking enforcement activity and public attitudes to enforcement : a review of the current literature, some empirical observations and an agenda for further research. In Albalate, Daniel & Gragera, Albert (Ed.), Parking regulation and management : the emerging tool for a sustainable city. Routledge. ISSN 9780429278846. p. 75–89. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter presents important comparator data with that earlier work, showing the effect of a new parking enforcement regime. It provides short review of existing scientific and ‘gray’ literature on parking compliance and enforcement. The current scientific literature on parking enforcement and compliance is both limited and out of date as well as lacking in empirical case studies. The literature is clear that decriminalization increases enforcement. The streets were selected to be representative of main roads in the inner city, where development consists mainly of four-story flats with shops or restaurants on the ground floor. The residential street is typical of other residential streets in inner southwest Edinburgh in terms of urban topology and car ownership. The parking legislation also did not assist the parking attendants’ concern to be accountably fair and consistent, which was an obstinate problem. Methodologically, the sample was not large enough to provide more than indicative descriptive statistics.

• McTigue, Clare; Monios, Jason & Rye, Tom (2020). The principal-agent problem in contracting public transport provision to private operators : a case study of the UK Quality Contract Scheme. Utilities Policy. ISSN 0957-1787. 67(December), p. 1–11. doi: 10.1016/j.jup.2020.101131. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study explores the principal-agent problem as part of a broader discussion of the challenges of privatising and outsourcing of public utilities. The research asks: how can a public transport authority (the principal) motivate bus operators (agents) to achieve the authority's goals (more and better public transport) when their respective interests may not align? The case study is based on the UK “Quality Contract Scheme”, an option that has never been used before, thus providing an opportunity to understand the challenges in such cooperative schemes, and explore how public authorities struggle to achieve their goals via private service providers. Our findings reveal that the actors could not align their incentives due to transaction costs and information asymmetry, which ultimately damaged the quality of the financial projections and thwarted approval of the scheme. Keywords: privatisation, deregulation, public transport policy

• Rye, Tom & Hrelja, Robert (2020). Policies for reducing car traffic and their problematisation : lessons from the mobility strategies of British, Dutch, German and Swedish cities. Sustainability. 12(19), p. 1–26. doi: 10.3390/su12198170. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The objective of the paper is to explore whether particular problematisations of cars and car use lead to sets of solutions that may not deal with all problems associated with car use, and whether this leads to any internal conflicts within the chosen policies. The paper is based on a review of local transport policy documents from 13 cities in four countries using the lens of policy problematisation as an analytical framework. Some critiques of policy problematisation are discussed in the paper but it is nonetheless shown to be helpful for this analysis. The paper finds that the problems most typically highlighted in the strategies reviewed are poor accessibility (as a “bad” in itself, but also because it is seen to compromise economic growth); the negative impacts of traffic on liveability of the central part of the city and therefore its ability to attract inhabitants, especially those needed to support a knowledge economy; local air and noise pollution; and road safety. The resulting visions are for urban areas less dominated by private cars, with more green and public space, in order to maximise accessibility and liveability to attract economic development; and most cities also seek to reduce car travel as a proportion of trips. However, in many cities this vision covers mainly the central city, with car use set to remain dominant in outer cities and for regional trips. In almost all cities, only one measure, parking management, is proposed as a means of cutting car use. The differing sets of measures envisaged for outer areas of cities threatens to undermine those envisaged for more central cities. Keywords: policy, problematisation, local transport, mobility plan, Sweden, Great Britain, Netherlands, Germany

• Mohamed, Mohamed Jama; Rye, Tom & Fonzone, Achille (2020). The utilisation and user characteristics of Uber services in London. Transportation planning and technology (Print). ISSN 0308-1060. 43(4), p. 424–441. doi: 10.1080/03081060.2020.1747205. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Ridesourcing services such as Uber are nowadays a common feature within available transport options of many cities around the world (E.g. London & San Francisco). There has been much publicity about the potential impacts of ridesourcing services and how (or if) they should be managed or regulated without an objective understanding of who uses these services and why, as well as its current and future implications for public transport (PT). Ridesourcing is part of a broader tech-driven, mobile app-based sharing phenomenon – the ‘sharing economy’ – which has disrupted traditional market models and industries, for example, the transport industry, where new players such as Uber have emerged and have quickly become part of the urban transport landscape. Uber has been at the forefront in disrupting the transport sector since its first launch in 2010 (San Francisco, USA). Since its launch, Uber has generated extensive media coverage and debate among policymakers, transport planners and transport authorities on how these services are affecting traditional transport modes such as buses and taxis. However, without objective empirical data – in terms of impacts on trip making characteristics, PT ridership and congestion – policymakers and transport regulators are yet to fully understand the real impacts ridesourcing services are having on the transport network. This paper is part of broader research that aims to provide insights and empirical-based evidence on how Uber services are used (UberX and Uberpool) in London. A comprehensive survey was undertaken using a detailed questionnaire, issued to UberX and Uberpool users in London to gather detailed data on who uses the Uber services, why they use it and what are the trip purposes, in order to understand Uber user demographics and what effects (if any) Uber services are having on PT usage and trip making characteristics in London. The final findings provide important insights on Uber user demographics, trip purposes, types of trips replaced, impact on car ownership and why travellers use Uber services. Keywords: ridesourcing, ride-sharing, ride-hailing, Uber, Uberpool, Disruptive mobility and transportation network company (TNC)

• McTigue, Clare; Rye, Tom & Monios, Jason (2020). Identifying barriers to implementation of local transport policy : lessons learned from case studies on bus policy implementation in Great Britain. Transport Policy. ISSN 0967-070X. 91(June), p. 16–25. doi: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.03.002. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Previous work by the authors has addressed the issue of local bus policy implementation in Britain outside London by studies of local transport documents, survey and interviews of local transport officers working in local authorities. The findings from these studies highlight that some of the key elements to successful implementation could be understood in more depth by taking a case study approach. This paper analyses four case studies of the implementation of specific bus policy measures in four different cities in Great Britain: the Quality Contract Scheme (QCS) in Tyne and Wear, the Fastlink Scheme in Glasgow, a Bus Priority Scheme in Solihull and a Smart Ticketing Scheme in Dundee. The findings in this paper show that policy champions, collaboration and interaction help to build a relationship between the parties involved, ensure limited changes due to bureaucratic power and changes to the policy, and help to overcome opposition, conflict and ambiguities. It is important that those involved in the policy process are provided with relevant training, supervision and support to help overcome the staffing difficulties and to deal with barriers external to the implementing organisation such as economic, social and political conditions. Keywords: Transport policy, implementation, BusCase study, Great britain, UK

• Fountas, Grigorios; Fonzone, Achille; Gharavi, Niaz & Rye, Tom (2020). The joint effect of weather and lighting conditions on injury severities of single-vehicle accidents. Analytic Methods in Accident Research. ISSN 2213-6657. 27(September), p. 1–19. doi: 10.1016/j.amar.2020.100124. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study seeks to identify and analyze variations in the effect of contributing factors on injury severities of single-vehicle accidents across various lighting and weather conditions. To that end, injury-severity data from single-vehicle, injury accidents occurred in Scotland, United Kingdom in 2016 and 2017 are statistically modeled. Upon the conduct of likelihood ratio tests, separate models of accident injury severities are estimated for various combinations of weather and lighting conditions taking also into account the presence and operation of roadside lighting infrastructure. To account for the possibility of unobserved regimes underpinning the injury-severity mechanism, the zero-inflated hierarchical ordered probit approach with correlated disturbances is employed. The approach also relaxes the fixed threshold restriction of the traditional ordered probability models and captures systematic unobserved variations between the underlying regimes. The model estimation results show that a wide range of accident, vehicle, driver, trip and location characteristics have varying impacts on injury severities when different weather and lighting conditions are jointly considered. Even though several factors are identified to have overall consistent effects on injury severities, the simultaneous impact of unfavorable weather and lighting conditions is found to introduce significant variations, especially in the effect of vehicle- and driver-specific characteristics. The findings of this study can be leveraged in vehicle-to-infrastructure or in-vehicle communication technologies that can assist drivers in their responses against hazardous environmental conditions. Keywords: Injury severity, Zero-inflated ordered probit, Weather, Lighting conditions, Single vehicle accidents, Scotland.

• Rye, Tom (2020). Paradigm shift. In Curtis, Carey (Eds.), Handbook of Sustainable Transport. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781789900477. p. 5–13. Full text in Research Archive
• Mohamed, Mohamed Jama; Rye, Tom & Fonzone, Achille (2020). UberPOOL services : approaches from transport operators and policymakers in London. Transportation Research Procedia. 48, p. 2597–2607. doi: 10.1016/j.trpro.2020.08.251. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Ridesourcing services such as Uber provide a segment of the total daily trips in Urban cities, for instance, its reported that Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) mode share were 1.3% of total daily trips in London in 2014 (GLA, 2016) - which includes Ridesourcing - however the adoption of Ridesourcing services is growing rapidly – with Uber reporting 3.5 million users of its services in London – thereby disrupting traditional travel habits in urban areas. The number of PHVs in London has increased by 58% since 2008/09 to over 77,000 in 2016, meanwhile, the number of licensed PHV drivers has increased by 81% over the same period, (TFL, 2017) - these include Uber drivers. However, it is not well known, how much of recent changes in people’s travel habits, is attributed to Ridesourcing or other tech-driven habits. Conventional transport systems have a limited capacity and are becoming increasingly overloaded in urban areas, creating increasing disruption, congestion and emissions in cities around the world. However, new technology-driven, on-demand Ridesourcing business models that provide low-cost alternative transport to car ownership and public transport - such as those provided by Uber and Lyft – are causing unprecedented disruption to the way urban mobility services are provided and used in urban cities around the world. Ridesourcing is part of the wider phenomenon of the ‘sharing economy’ that is making people re-think, how they avail services from different sectors such as the Transport (i.e. Uber) and Hotel (i.e. Airbnb) industries. As a result, new types of on-demand shared mobility services (i.e. UberPOOL), which use advanced mobile technologies and Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming popular in cities such as London, UK. Shared Ridesourcing services have the potential to increase positive transport behaviours, including reduced single car occupancy and decreased car ownership. This has triggered debate among policymakers, transport planners and transport authorities; however, the impacts for and consequences of these services on conventional public transport are not well understood. This research provides insights about shared ridesourcing services (i.e. UberPOOL) and potential implications on traditional transport services in an urban context, using Uber operations in London (U.K) as the case study. This paper discusses the current literature on this topic and the key findings from the first phase of multi-phased research that investigates the impacts of shared ridesourcing services on transport policy and operations. Extensive qualitative interview data were collected from policymakers and operators and key findings from the analysed data are discussed in this paper. The results help to answer key research questions and provide a broad appreciation of these new disruptive mobility services. Keywords: shared Ridesourcing, ride sharing, ride hailing, uber, UberPOOL, shared mobility, disruptive mobility, travel behaviour

• Tischer, Vinicius; Fountas, Grigorios; Polette, Marcus & Rye, Tom (2019). Environmental and economic assessment of traffic-related air pollution using aggregate spatial information : a case study of Balneário Camboriú, Brazil. Journal of Transport and Health. ISSN 2214-1405. 14(September), p. 1–21. doi: 10.1016/j.jth.2019.100592. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Introduction: Transportation is one of the main determinants of atmospheric pollutant emissions in urban areas. This externality has direct environmental, economic and public health consequences. This paper aims at investigating the space-time patterns of traffic air pollution in Balneário Camboriú (Brazil) over projected temporal scenarios and at estimating the damage costs of traffic air pollution to support transport policy-making. Methods: To estimate the emission rates of pollutants, emission factors and traffic data were jointly used, whereas the pollutant concentrations were estimated using the Gaussian plume dispersion model. To identify the affected areas as well as possible spatial heterogeneity patterns of air pollution within clustered areas, an exploratory spatial analysis was also conducted. To assess the economic impact of air pollution, damage costs were calculated for various pollutants. Results: The modeling results show that oxides of nitrogen (NO2) and oxides of sulphur (SO2) pollutants exceed the limits of air quality legislation, especially at a distance up to 10 m from the roads, while 60% and 71% of the intersections are found to yield pollutant concentrations above the thresholds, primarily during peak hours. The analysis also confirmed that homogeneous traffic zones with similar emission rates are spatially clustered exhibiting positive autocorrelation patterns. The results of the economic appraisal showed that the estimated costs of traffic-related emissions were $0.89, $1.38 and $1.43 million/year, respectively, for the current, short-term and long-term scenarios. Conclusions: This study serves as the first comprehensive analysis of traffic air pollution for the specific study region, providing implications and modeling tools that can be leveraged in public policies focusing on the elimination of the transportation-generated health burden. The developed analysis framework can also serve as a supporting tool for Public Agencies focusing on the high-level evaluation of traffic-related air pollution using limited and aggregate spatial and traffic data. Keywords: air pollution, emission factors, exploratory spatial data analysis, damage costs, traffic, Brazil

• Mohamed, Mohamed Jama; Rye, Tom & Fonzone, Achille (2019). Operational and policy implications of ridesourcing services : a case of Uber in London, UK. Case Studies on Transport Policy. ISSN 2213-624X. 7(4), p. 823–836. doi: 10.1016/j.cstp.2019.07.013. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  New technologically driven, on-demand ridesourcing business models that provide low-cost alternative transport to car ownership and public transport – such as those provided by Uber and Lyft – are causing unprecedented disruption to the way urban mobility services are provided and used in cities around the world. Ridesourcing is part of the wider phenomenon of the ‘sharing economy’ that is making people re-think how they obtain services from different sectors such as the Transport (i.e. Uber) and Hotel (i.e. Airbnb) industries. New types of on-demand shared mobility services based on advanced ICTs (such as UberPOOL) are becoming popular in cities like London, UK. This has triggered debates among policymakers, transport planners and transport authorities; however, the impacts and consequences of these services on conventional public transport are still not well understood. This research aims to provide insights into whether transport authorities and operators in London (UK) fully understand the impact of Uber services and more specifically UberPOOL. It presents empirical evidence on the effects, challenges and opportunities resulting from UberPOOL operations. We draw a picture of the situation from a comprehensive set of interviews with 31 different policymakers, experts, researchers and operators, complemented by feedback from 3 focus group sessions involving 28 different Uber drivers from across London. The findings show that UberPOOL is popular with students, those making social trips and long-distance journeys. It further highlights the need to develop specific transport policy measures and regulations for ridesourcing services which take into account input from all relevant stakeholders (for example, service providers, transport operators, users and drivers), as transport authorities are still poorly equipped (for various reasons) to manage and regulate such disruptive services. These findings help to answer some key research questions and provide a broad understanding of ridesourcing (and more specifically UberPOOL) operations in London. Keywords: shared ridesourcing, ride-sharing, ride-hailing, Uber, UberPOOL, shared mobility, disruptive mobility, transportation network company (TNC)

• Akgün, Emine Zehra; Monios, Jason; Rye, Tom & Fonzone, Achille (2019). Influences on urban freight transport policy choice by local authorities. Transport Policy. ISSN 0967-070X. 75(March), p. 88–98. doi: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2019.01.009. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Individual freight transport policies have been investigated in the literature extensively in the last 10–15 years, yet there has surprisingly been very little attention to the process of selecting urban freight transport (UFT) policy measures. This study focuses on UFT policy choice by local authorities, investigating how policy context, resource availability and the need for legitimacy influence how local authorities seek and select UFT specific policies. The methodology is a cross-case analysis of eleven cities across three countries (Sweden, England and Scotland), based on interview and documentary data. Findings reveal that all cities have the same high-level goals, such as reducing emissions and congestion, supporting the economy and improving quality of life. However, in most cases these rather general goals are not broken down into clear objectives with targets that can be measured. Therefore, selected UFT policy measures are chosen from a pool of common measures (primarily access restrictions such as time windows and weight restrictions), but without monitored targets that determine whether or not they are achieving objectives. This does not necessarily mean that the measures chosen are inappropriate, but that there is a lack of a strategic approach to setting and reviewing measures according to achieving specific policy goals. This is primarily a result of a lack of resources and dedicated UFT personnel, as well as challenges related to public acceptability of restrictive policies. Keywords: urban freight transport, UFT, policy, city logistics, planning, governance

• Rye, Tom & Wretstrand, Anders (2019). Swedish and Scottish national transport policy and spend : a social equity analysis. Sustainability. 11(7), p. 1–16. doi: 10.3390/su11071894. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The topic of social equity in transport planning has been dealt with, in particular, by authors such as Martens (2012) and Martens and Golob (2012) using a social justice based-approach. However, such an approach, whilst valuable and analytically rigorous (based as it is on accessibility modelling), does not consider a wide range of possible other social impacts of transport, as set out in a framework first put forward by Geurs et al. (2009). This paper uses Geurs’ analytical framework to consider two empirical case studies: The National Transport Strategy for Scotland, adopted in January 2016, together with associated national level spending plans; and Sweden’s 2014–2025 National Transport Plan. The paper will first summarise the contents of each document before analysing them in relation to the categories of social impact that Geurs (2009) identifies, and assess how, in relation to each category of impact, various social groups will benefit or disbenefit. A range of projects (planned) to be delivered by the two national strategies is then analysed in relation to the criteria. This analysis shows that the two national strategies/plans are in their distribution of spending, and the projects funded are generally working away from greater social equity in their distributional impacts. Keywords: social, equity, national, transport policy, funding

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• Hansson, Lisa; Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard & Rye, Tom (2023). Public participation in transport in times of change. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781804550380. 216 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Plevnik, Aljaž & Rye, Tom (2021). Cross-border transport and mobility in the EU : issues and state of the art. Edizioni Ca’ Foscari. ISBN 9788869695469. 360 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The path towards a barrier-free single European market requires that particular attention is paid to cross-border transport. In spite of the intense commitment and actions taken by the European Union as well as by national governments and regions, much remains to be done in order to dissolve all the barriers to cross-border mobility of people. Issues are not only infrastructural but also related to administrative and planning coordination. Cross-border mobility planning and management is therefore a central issue in European cohesion and single market development policies. This theme has therefore been the subject of an international workshop organised in late 2020 as part of the CROSSMOBY project, funded by the Interreg Italy-Slovenia V-A Programme 2014-2020. This book brings together some of the contributions from that conference. The aim of this book is to provide a systematic analysis of what has already been done and what are the next priorities. This book aims to take a first step in this direction, providing a series of contributions from both academic and practitioner on cross-border passenger transport and mobility. Such topic is here examined according to several different perspectives: from the framework of EU regulations and policies to the projects funded and implemented in the last EU programming period on cross-border transport and mobility topic (2014-2020); from the application of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) to the recognition of the territorial context and the state of the art of strategic mobility planning in the municipalities of the Italy-Slovenia cross-border area. Keywords Cross-border transport. Sustainable regional & urban mobility. SUMP. Data-driven mobility management. Cross-border infrastructures. Accessibility. EU Funded Programmes & projects.

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• Rye, Tom (2024). Slik kan Molde bli en mer levende og attraktiv by. p. 27–27. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Tom (2024). Recommendations for improvements and changes to public participation processes in sustainable transport – what can the TRANSPOL project (and others) tell us? Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Tom (2024). Politicians, citizen participation and the implementation of contentious measures for sustainable transport (TRANSPOL) Cases of protest – what, why, and how to manage better in future? Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Tom & Hansson, Lisa (2022). Kunskapslunch - Hållbar mobilitet i mindre städer. Full text in Research Archive
• Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard; Hansson, Lisa & Rye, Tom (2021). Medborgarnas roll i transportpolitiken och i omställningen mot ett hållbart transportsystem, På väg mot hållbar omställning? : kunskap, makt och mening i nationell transportplanering. Linnefors förlag. ISSN 9789188651129. p. 114–122. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansson, Lisa; Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard & Rye, Tom (2021). The role of citizen participation in decision-making in transport and mobility. Full text in Research Archive
• Hudoklin, Andraž; Mladenovič, Luka; Balant, Mojca & Rye, Tom (2021). Effective measures in Sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs): Analysis of 10 (successful) European cities. Put i saobraćaj. ISSN 2406-1557. 67(4), p. 21–24. doi: 10.31075/PIS.67.04.04. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The paper presents results of an analysis of measures implemented in various European cities that have been effective in reducing the share of trips by car and increasing the shares of active mobility and public transportation. Ten cities with a significant modal shift from cars to public transportation and/or active mobility in a period of several years were analysed. For each city, an interview was conducted with a local expert. The questions focused on the reasons for successful changes in travel habits and the existence and relevance of the SUMP in bringing about these changes. The results show that all cities analysed have some form of SUMP, and many have additional, more specific documents. Most cities have been developing these documents and implementing the measures in them for many years. Furthermore, the modal shift was always the result of a combination of several push and pull measures. Cities implemented restrictive measures for cars as well as improved conditions for alternative modes of mobility and often focused on road space transformation.

• Lanzini, Pietro; Rye, Tom & Stocchetti, Andrea (2021). A SUMP perspective for cross-border mobility planning. In Plevnik, Aljaž & Rye, Tom (Ed.), Cross-border transport and mobility in the EU : issues and state of the art. Edizioni Ca’ Foscari. ISSN 9788869695469. p. 53–63. doi: 10.30687/978-88-6969-546-9/005. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The path towards a barrier-free single European market requires that particular attention is paid to cross-border transport. In spite of the intense commitment and actions taken by the European Union as well as by national governments and regions, much remains to be done in order to dissolve all the barriers to cross-border mobility of people. Issues are not only infrastructural but also related to administrative and planning coordination. Cross-border mobility planning and management is therefore a central issue in European cohesion and single market development policies. This theme has therefore been the subject of an international workshop organised in late 2020 as part of the CROSSMOBY project, funded by the Interreg Italy-Slovenia V-A Programme 2014-2020. This book brings together some of the contributions from that conference. The aim of this book is to provide a systematic analysis of what has already been done and what are the next priorities. This book aims to take a first step in this direction, providing a series of contributions from both academic and practitioner on cross-border passenger transport and mobility. Such topic is here examined according to several different perspectives: from the framework of EU regulations and policies to the projects funded and implemented in the last EU programming period on cross-border transport and mobility topic (2014-2020); from the application of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) to the recognition of the territorial context and the state of the art of strategic mobility planning in the municipalities of the Italy-Slovenia cross-border area. Keywords Cross-border transport. Sustainable regional & urban mobility. SUMP. Data-driven mobility management. Cross-border infrastructures. Accessibility. EU Funded Programmes & projects.

• Pomponi, Francesco; D’Amico, Bernardino & Rye, Tom (2019). Who is (likely) peer-reviewing your papers? : a partial insight into the world’s top reviewers. Publications. 7(1), p. 1–7. doi: 10.3390/publications7010015. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Scientific publishing is experiencing unprecedented growth in terms of outputs across all fields. Inevitably this creates pressure throughout the system on a number of entities. One key element is represented by peer-reviewers, whose demand increases at an even higher pace than that of publications, since more than one reviewer per paper is needed and not all papers that get reviewed get published. The relatively recent Publons platform allows for unprecedented insight into the usual ‘blindness’ of the peer-review system. At a time where the world’s top peer-reviewers are announced and celebrated, we have taken a step back in order to attempt a partial mapping of their profiles to identify trends and key dimensions of this community of ‘super-reviewers’. This commentary focuses necessarily on a limited sample due to manual processing of data, which needs to be done within a single day for the type of information we seek. In investigating the numbers of performed reviews vs. academic citations, our analysis suggests that most reviews are carried out by relatively inexperienced academics. For some of these early career academics, peer-reviewing seems to be the only activity they engage with, given the high number of reviews performed (e.g., three manuscripts per day) and the lack of outputs (zero academic papers and citations in some cases). Additionally, the world’s top researchers (i.e., highly-cited researchers) are understandably busy with research activities and therefore far less active in peer-reviewing. Lastly, there seems to be an uneven distribution at a national level between scientific outputs (e.g., publications) and reviews performed. Our analysis contributes to the ongoing global discourse on the health of scientific peer-review, and it raises some important questions for further discussion. Keywords: peer-reviewers, peer-review, Publons

• Nunes, Diogo Ferreira & Rye, Tom (2025). Is fare-free public transport enough to reduce the number of cars? Høgskolen i Molde - Vitenskapelig høgskole i logistikk. Full text in Research Archive
• Antoniewicz, Jakub & Rye, Tom (2025). Travel behaviour on long-distances among students in Poland and Norway. Høgskolen i Molde - Vitenskapelig høgskole i logistikk. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Tom & Hansson, Lisa (2022). Mobilitet i mindre städer: så kan bilberoendet minska. Nationellt kunskapscentrum för kollektivtrafik, K2. Full text in Research Archive

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