Advancing Urban Accessibility: Integrating Multimodal Transport Systems

Urban transport systems are rapidly transforming as they face the dual pressures of urbanization and emerging mobility services, creating new opportunities and profound challenges. Traditional public transport methods, both formal and informal, are now intersected by innovative models like car hailing, micro-mobility options, and other novel services, leading to a dynamic and diverse multimodal transport landscape. The current discourse focuses not only on optimizing these diverse urban transport forms to enhance efficiency, connectivity, and accessibility but also on understanding their complex interplay, including competitive and complementary relationships. Despite advancements, comprehensive frameworks that seamlessly integrate these modes and address their societal implications, particularly concerning transport equity and social exclusion, remain crucial areas for exploration.

This Research Topic aims to advance frameworks and strategies that assess and enhance urban accessibility by integrating diverse transport modes. Specifically, it seeks to explore innovative approaches that capture supply and demand dynamics, ultimately improving efficiency, connectivity, and accessibility in urban transport systems. By addressing current challenges in urban mobility, this initiative also aims to propose novel strategies for sustainable urban development tailored to the contemporary circumstances of rapid urbanisation and technological advancement.

The Scope of this Research Topic encompasses a broad analysis, concentrating on the integration of innovative transport models while identifying their limitations within existing urban landscapes. To gather further insights into the challenges and dynamics of urban mobility systems, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

- Assessing the impact of multi-modal transport integration on urban accessibility, including both formal and informal transport services
- Analyzing the competitive and complementary relationships between traditional mobility services and emerging mobility services
- Investigating issues of transport equity and transport-related social exclusion arising from integrated or competing transport systems
- Policy recommendations for seamless integration of new mobility services and equitable access
- Strategies for balancing traditional mobility services and emerging modes
- Best practices for enhancing system connectivity in diverse urban environments

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Urban Accessibility. Transport Systems. Urban Transport. Urban Mobility. Sustainable Cities.

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.