ITS Monday: Edition 35, 2026
ITS Monday is a small, weekly collection of curated content from the worlds of intelligent transport systems, smart mobility, and associated areas. This is the 265th edition to date, and the first for 2026.
Included this week, an updated piece on Sydney’s Faster Accessible Surface Transport, autonomous vehicles, and mode choice.
The article headlines below are:
- Sydney FAST: Faster Accessible Surface Transport
- Identification of priority areas for inclusive automated vehicle infrastructure investment
- Modelling the effects of travel time use on mode choice and the value of travel time savings: tackling self-selection and endogeneity bias
This week’s articles
Now, scroll down, and see what’s in this week’s edition. Oh, and before you do, be sure check out the quickest way to receive our new content via the subscription box just below …
Sydney FAST: Faster Accessible Surface Transport
From Professor David Levinson‘s Transportist blog.”In 2022, I wrote Sydney FAST 2030, wherein I argued that Sydney needs frequent surface transport that gets people to jobs, schools, shops and services. Trains and Metro act as the long-distance backbone. Frequent, direct buses and light rail should connect suburbs to that backbone and to one another, with priority on the street and convenient transfers.
I believe this logic holds in 2026. Since then, the bus proposal has been evaluated for accessibility and we have produced cleaner maps, renumbered the LRT proposal,1 along with other minor updates.2 I will trust readers of this Blog already understand why buses are important, and how rapid bus networks should be designed.”
Related iMOVE articles:
READ THE ARTICLE
Identification of priority areas for inclusive automated vehicle infrastructure investment
A new academic paper, co-authored by Arkar Than Win, John. Nelson, and Chinh Ho.
The abstract:
Highly automated vehicles (AVs) have the potential to improve mobility for older adults and people with disabilities. Planning for AVs requires substantial infrastructure investments, but limited resources make simultaneous upgrades impractical. Understanding how potential mobility gains differ by locations is useful for targeting investments, yet little is known about these differences.
To address this gap, this study uses propensity score matching with moderation analysis to examine how built environment characteristics moderate the potential impacts of AVs on trip frequencies of older adults and people with disabilities using two Australian datasets. Findings suggest that potential mobility gains vary by location. Potential mobility gains for people with disabilities are larger in areas with low density, public transport accessibility, diversity, and high cumulative accessibility; whereas those for older adults are greater in areas with high cumulative accessibility and road connectivity.
These findings provide guidance for prioritising AV-related infrastructure investments to promote social inclusion.
Related iMOVE articles:
- Autonomous Driving: Info, Projects & Resources
- Autonomous Driving Technology: Info, Projects & Resources
Related iMOVE projects:
- CAVs and the environment: A cleaner future?
- CAVs and Australians: Attitudes, perceptions, preferences
- Safely deploying automated vehicles on Australian roads
One new academic paper this week, this one, co-authored by Ana Luiza S. de Sá, Patrícia S. Lavieri, Jacek Pawlak, and Charisma F. Choudhury.
The abstract:
Travel time use (i.e., conducting activities while travelling) can have substantial impacts on crucial transport dimensions: mode choice and the value of travel time savings (VTTS). Preferences for travel-based activities may lead individuals to choose travel modes that best accommodate activity needs. In theory, “passengerised” modes, such as public transport and automated vehicles (AVs), could become the preferred options, as they enable a wider range of activities. This potential to use in-vehicle time could, in turn, decrease VTTS, thereby reducing resistance to longer journeys.
However, previous research has faced challenges in disentangling these effects due to self-selection and endogeneity bias. This study aims to investigate the effects of travel time use on mode choice and VTTS while addressing these challenges. To achieve this, it employs an attitude-based approach to capture mode choice self-selection and control endogeneity in VTTS estimates by considering traveller- and travel-related characteristics that influence travel time use and accounting for value of time heterogeneity. Results suggest that the construct capturing the causal effect of travel time use on mode choice increases the probability of choosing rail modes in journeys over 5 km and car driving in journeys shorter than 5 km, confirming the presence of self-selection.
Regarding VTTS, accounting for traveller and travel context characteristics yielded non-significant effects of travel-based activities on VTTS, suggesting that this approach may effectively control for endogeneity bias. These findings have implications for road safety, residential location choice, and potential AV-related behavioural changes, all of which have consequences for transport planning, policy, and appraisal
Overall, this study highlights the importance of accounting for travel time use to achieve a more realistic representation of activity-travel behaviour.
Related iMOVE projects:
- Perth tour-based mode choice model: Better planning and policy
- Sustainable University Travel Choices: A roadmap to success
We used to send out a weekly newsletter, ITS Weekly Roundup, a collection of ITS- and mobility-related news from across the world. ITS Monday is a replacement for that, a collection of links to news and opinion pieces, academic papers, and more. Additionally, you can follow us on Linkedin and Twitter, both of which have a focus on iMOVE news and projects, or subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter.
*Inclusion in ITS Monday does not equal iMOVE endorsement. It’s more aimed at discovery, thought, or discussion … or all of those and more. And while for the most part I expect content to be current, a little age doesn’t mean diminished interest.
Discover more from iMOVE Australia Cooperative Research Centre | Transport R&D
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
