António Couto

Equitable public transport (PT) provision requires balancing often competing principles: horizontal equity, serving population demand, and vertical equity, prioritizing social needs. This paper introduces diagonal equity, a novel metric integrating both dimensions into a unified framework. Using the Metropolitan Area of Porto as a case study, walking access to PT stations was evaluated alongside population demand and social needs at the census-block level using principal component analysis of demographic and socioeconomic variables. Horizontal and vertical equity were assessed through accessibility gaps relative to demand and needs, while diagonal equity was evaluated using the potential captive demand, accounting for both. Results show that potential demand is concentrated in central municipalities, whereas social needs are dispersed across suburban and rural areas. Diagonal equity identifies disadvantaged areas where access fails to serve demand-needs, providing a more nuanced view than individual equity assessments and a practical decision-support tool for inclusive PT planning and design.

The safe and efficient operation of highways minimizes the environmental impact, reduces accidents, and promotes the reliability of the transportation infrastructure, all in support of sustainable transportation. The horizontal alignment of highways holds particular importance as it directly impacts driver behavior, vehicle stability, and overall road safety. In many cases, highway inventory data held by infrastructure operators may contain inaccurate or outdated information. The accuracy of the variables used in crash prediction models eliminates possible bias in the variable estimators. This research proposes a methodology to obtain accurate horizontal geometric features from digital imagery based on the analysis of the planimetry, feature geolocation and centerline azimuth sequence. The reliability of the method is verified by means of numerical and statistical procedures. This methodology is applied to 150 km of motorway segments in Portugal. Although it is found that the geometric characteristics of most of the inventory segments closely matched the extracted alignments, very significant differences are found in some sections. The results of the proposed procedure are illustrated with several examples. Finally, the propagation of error in the determination of the geometric design independent variables in the fitting of the statistical models is discussed based on the results.

Promoting sustainable and equitable public transportation services is essential for addressing disparities and preventing social exclusion among diverse population groups for daily activities. This paper proposes a comprehensive approach to assess transport disadvantages and identify areas with limited access to public transport and services. By combining statistical and geographic techniques, we analyze demographic, socioeconomic, and travel data to spatially contextualize areas based on the social structure and understand the characteristics of population groups facing transportation challenges in the Porto Metropolitan Area. Cluster analysis results revealed four distinct clusters with homogeneous characteristics. In contrast, service area analysis assessed the public transport coverage to identify served zones, the population within these zones, and activities reached in the region. Our findings indicate that suburban and rural areas often lack access to public transport stops, aggravated by lower service frequencies, leading to high reliance on private cars for essential activities, such as work and education. Despite the good geographical coverage of rail and bus stops, urban and central–urban areas also suffer from inadequate service frequencies, impacting public transport usage. Improving service quality in high-demand areas could encourage greater public transport utilization and enhance accessibility. Identifying areas facing inequities facilitates targeted policy interventions and prioritized investments to improve accessibility and address mobility needs to access services effectively.

Automated vehicles (AVs) promise to make a revolution in the mobility paradigm and to bring benefits for traffic management and environmental quality, improving, in general, the quality of life in society