ITS Monday: Edition 22, 2026

Preference instability in stated choice surveys: More evidence

A new academic paper, co-authored by Romain Crastes dit Sourd, Stephane Hess, Maria Borejesson, and David Hensher. The abstract:

Stated choice surveys are widely used to inform policy making across a broad range of domains, including transport and environmental planning, health, and marketing. It is common practice to present respondents with multiple choice tasks in order to increase the amount of information collected. A central concern in this context is whether the same underlying preferences drive choices across all tasks, as violations of this assumption may affect the reliability of the survey.

There are several reasons to expect that this may not hold: preferences may vary due to fatigue, learning effects, anchoring, or other forms of inertia. In particular, the role of the first choice task has attracted considerable attention. Some authors argue that it is the only valid task, while others view it primarily as a learning exercise. In this paper, we deliberately take no position on the validity of these competing viewpoints. Instead, we question the robustness of the commonly reported finding of stable VTT estimates across choice tasks, noting that much of the existing evidence relies on models that do not incorporate random preference heterogeneity.

We therefore propose and test a range of more advanced model specifications to assess whether VTT estimates are stable across individual choice tasks and groups of tasks. Using three different datasets, we identify key modelling features that influence whether preference instability is detected. While estimates are stable for some attributes and choice tasks, they can vary by about 30% for others, and by up to 60% when using latent class models. These differences have important implications for data collection and model estimation in stated choice research, which we discuss in the concluding section.

Heterogeneous impacts of protected bike lanes on bikeshare behavior across demographic groups in New York

Another new academic paper, this one about transport in New York, and co-authred by Marcel Moran, Malik Salman, and Takahiro Yabe. The abstract:

Decisions regarding the installation of bicycle infrastructure require evidence of whether and to what extent different bicycle-lane types increase ridership. However, associations between bicycle infrastructure and ridership have primarily been studied in the context of individual lanes and corridors, or when analyzed at the scale of entire cities, generalized across different bike-lane types.

Drawing upon 72 million bikeshare trips from Citi Bike in New York, we demonstrate that there is an approximately 18% increase in bikeshare trips at adjacent stations in the 12 months following the installation of protected bike lanes and a 14% increase associated with painted bike lanes and ‘sharrows.’

However, using propensity score matching and difference-in-differences analysis to compare bike stations with similar surrounding social and built-environment characteristics, we find a causal effect on bikeshare ridership only after the installation of protected bike lanes, with an average monthly increase of 379 rides per station (p < 0.001).

Related iMOVE articles:

• Active Transport: Info, Projects & Resources

Related iMOVE projects:

• Bikeability scenario planning tool: Stage 2
• Active transport and travel demand in Brisbane
• Safer cycling infrastructure: Design and policy

(NSW) EV public charging master plan

“NSW will be the easiest place to buy and use an electric vehicle (EV) in Australia, with a $209 million investment to develop a world-class fast charging network. Under the NSW Electric Vehicle Strategy, this investment will deliver charging solutions across the state.

The master plan map supports industry and planners by showing:

• where future EV chargers would bring the most benefit
• ideal zones for public EV charging stations
• current and indicative future networks of public EV chargers in NSW. This includes fast chargers (above 50kW) and destination chargers (below 50kW).”

Related iMOVE articles:

• Electric Vehicles: Info, Projects & Resources
• The Conductor Series: The electrification of transport

Related iMOVE projects:

• Leading the charge in bi-directional charging
• Utrecht to Australia: Unlocking scalable, low-cost V2G
• Being a V2G trailblazer: Lessons for mass market adoption

A simulation-based policy evaluation of healthcare access using heterogeneous emergency medical services vehicles and incidents

A new academic paper, co-authored by  Changle Song, David Levinson, and Emily Moylan. The abstract:

Efficient dispatch policies are critical for ensuring equitable and effective emergency medical services (EMS). While vehicle specialisation offers tangible clinical benefits, integrating vehicle types into dispatch policy presents significant challenges. This study employs an agent-based simulation framework to evaluate the effects of alternative dispatch policies under varying proportions of specialised ambulances.

Results indicate that allowing specialised vehicles to respond to a broader range of high-priority incidents enhances overall survival rates. However, the benefits of specialisation depend on how these vehicles are deployed within the system. When the supply of specialised vehicles exceeds demand, restrictive policies lead to longer response times and worsened outcomes for non-prioritised cases. In particular, restricting specialised vehicles to a narrow set of incidents can reduce overall system efficiency by limiting dispatch flexibility and increasing waiting times for other patients.

Moderately flexible dispatch policies provide balance between outcome efficiency and response equity. These findings suggest that both the proportion of specialised vehicles and their dispatch eligibility should reflect the underlying mix of incidents in order to avoid over-constraining the system. Spatial analysis shows that survival and response disparities are more pronounced in peripheral areas. These findings underscore the need to align dispatch policy and fleet composition with incident typology and spatial demand, offering actionable insights for EMS policy and resource planning.

Related iMOVE projects:

• Trialling drones for medical use in NT remote communities
• Optimising ambulance logistics for time-critical emergencies

‘Taking the mickey’: Inner-city council tears up e-bike deal

Yet more trouble in e-mobility land! “An inner-city council has torn up a deal with Melbourne’s biggest e-bike operator, resolving to rip them from the streets as the company “takes the mickey” out of ratepayers.”

Report: Congestion pricing had no impact on parking availability

“It didn’t get any easier or harder to find parking after New York implemented congestion pricing tolls on trips into Manhattan below 60th Street — including in areas just outside the toll zone where some residents and elected officials worried that drivers would flood their neighborhoods to avoid paying the new toll, according to a new study.”

Related iMOVE articles:

• Traffic Congestion: Info, Projects & Resources

Don’t park in the bike lane! Santa Monica started issuing automated bike lane tickets today

“Since May 1, the city of Santa Monica has been using AI camera technology to ticket drivers parked in bike lanes. Starting today, the program shifted from issuing warnings to issuing actual $93 tickets. Santa Monica is the first California city to use this new technology; cameras are mounted on city vehicles.”