Socrates Basbas

Social media platforms, online reviews, app store feedback, and complaint records are important sources of user-generated textual data for understanding passenger experience in public transport and related mobility contexts. This paper reviews how social media data mining and natural language processing have been used to transform such data into evidence on service quality and satisfaction. The review focuses on public transport while selectively drawing on adjacent mobility domains, including aviation, ride-hailing, micromobility, and app-based mobility, which offer transferable methodological insights. Public transport studies are treated as the core empirical evidence base, whereas adjacent mobility- and methods-oriented studies support conceptual and methodological interpretation rather than direct claims about public transport. The review examines how textual sources are converted into analytical outputs, including sentiment, topics, aspects, emotions, and composite indicators. It shows that sentiment should not be treated as a direct measure of satisfaction but as an intermediate signal of passengers’ expressed perceptions. Key risks include sampling bias, negativity bias, linguistic ambiguity, class imbalance, weak spatial and temporal attribution, platform effects, and limited validation. The paper proposes a validation-oriented framework that maps text-derived signals to service aspects, anchors them in spatial–temporal context, triangulates them with survey, complaint, and operational evidence, and translates them into service-quality-relevant decision-support outputs.

This study evaluates Limassol’s readiness to adopt the 15-minute city model through a spatial accessibility and urban-form analysis. Using openly available geo-referenced Points of Interest (POIs), road network data, land-use records, and census information, we generated 15-minute walking and cycling isochrones for eight essential urban functions: Education, Food, Green Areas, Health, Services, Shopping, Tourism, and Transport. Residential coverage within each isochrone was calculated to assess accessibility equity across the city. Urban sprawl was quantified using size, density, and fragmentation metrics derived from historical planning zones. Results show that while cycling accessibility is high for most categories (85–95% of residential areas), walking accessibility is considerably lower and unevenly distributed, with several critical functions, particularly Green Areas, Education, and Transport, serving less than half of the residential zones. The analysis also reveals increasing spatial fragmentation and outward population shifts consistent with low-density sprawl, driven by planning policies and development pressures. These findings indicate that Limassol is only partially aligned with the principles of the 15-minute city, with significant gaps in walkable access and decentralized service provision. The study concludes that targeted planning reforms, improved active-mobility infrastructure, and polycentric redistribution of amenities are necessary for enhancing accessibility equity and advancing the city’s transition toward a more sustainable and human-scaled urban model.

This paper presents a comparative analysis of pedestrian behavior and perceived safety among university students at two signalized intersections near the campus premises of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Although both intersections include pedestrian crosswalks and traffic lights, one permits vehicle left turns during pedestrian phases via flashing yellow arrows, while the other restricts all vehicle movement. Two questionnaire-based surveys (n₁ = 304 and n₂ = 303) recorded demographic information, crossing behavior, perceived risk, and preferred safety interventions. Results indicate that the intersection permitting vehicle conflict is associated with significantly lower levels of perceived safety and higher instances of risk-taking, such as crossing “at any time”. Conversely, the vehicle-restricted intersection fosters greater compliance with pedestrian signals and a stronger sense of security. Key factors influencing crossing decisions included vehicle speed, signal duration, pedestrian group presence, and urgency. Respondents prioritized safety improvements such as pedestrian countdown timers, enhanced signage, and enforcement cameras. These findings underscore the critical role of signal phasing in shaping pedestrian behavior and safety perceptions. Evidence-based recommendations are offered to urban planners and policymakers to enhance pedestrian safety through targeted infrastructure upgrades and enforcement strategies.

This study investigates the applicability of the 15-minute city concept in Limassol, Cy-prus, through a spatial analysis of accessibility to essential urban functions. Limassol has experienced significant urban sprawl over the last two decades, driven by unregu-lated economic growth, real estate speculation, and planning policies that favored ex-pansion over densification. Using georeferenced Points-of-Interest (POIs), road net-works, and land use data, the study generates 15-minute walking and cycling iso-chrones for various social functions, such as education, health, shopping, and green spaces, to evaluate the percentage of residential area coverage. Findings indicate that while cycling offers relatively high accessibility to many amenities, walking accessibil-ity is significantly lower, especially in peripheral areas. The spatial distribution of POIs remains centralized for critical services, underscoring challenges for achieving equita-ble access across the city. The fragmented micromobility infrastructure and limited pedestrian-friendly planning hinder the transition toward a more inclusive and sustainable urban model. The results highlight the need for decentralization of services, better infrastructure for active travel, and planning reforms to support mixed-use, compact development. Limassol’s transformation into a 15-minute city requires integrated strategies, participatory planning, and the adoption of digital tools like Digital Twins to simulate outcomes and support long-term sustainability.