Electric vehicles (EVs) have the potential to lead the transition in road transportation from traditional petroleum mobility to electric mobility. Despite many environmental benefits, the market penetration rate of EVs is still low in most developing countries. Recently, Pakistan formulated its first EV policy for 2020–2025 to accelerate EV adoption. This study aims to explore the factors, including environmental concerns, perceived ease of use, effort expectancy, social influence, and perceived facilitating conditions, affecting individuals’ behavioral intentions to purchase EVs in Pakistan. The hypotheses were developed based on the literature, and an online questionnaire survey was conducted in Lahore, Pakistan, to collect the relevant data. The partial least square path modeling approach of structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis. The results confirmed that the environmental concerns, perceived ease of use, and effort expectancy positively affect the public’s intentions to use EVs in the future. However, social influence and facilitating conditions did not significantly contribute to EV adoption in the present study. The findings suggest that the EV manufacturers aiming to accelerate EV adoption should develop marketing strategies to disseminate information regarding the environmental benefits of EVs and enhance clarity about EVs’ performance and usage.

The lockdown and social distancing policies to reduce COVID-19 spread and perceived safety threats of COVID-19 significantly affected people’s travel behavior. Greece has been suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and people’s mobility behavior has been greatly affected. This study aims at: (1) exploring the variations in individuals’ trip frequencies by mode and purpose before and after the COVID-19 outbreak; (2) understanding the effects of individual differences (i.e., sociodemographic details) and perceptions towards COVID-19 (i.e., the perceived threats of COVID-19) on people’s mobility behavior changes after the outbreak; (3) underlining the individuals’ perceptions of the COVID-19 threat on the willingness of public transportation usage. Overall, 403 responses were collected in late 2020. A series of random parameter Probit modeling results reveal multiple individual and perception factors affecting the changes in mobility behavior in Greece. The results from structural equation modeling indicate that perceived COVID-19 threats affect the attitudes and subjective norms towards people’s intentions to use public transportation. The results from this study provide valuable insights for transportation authorities to develop effective strategies to manage traffic during the spread of disease for a possible future epidemic.

Electric motorcycles (EMs) are gaining popularity in densely populated Asian countries, offering environmentally friendly solutions to combat traffic-related pollution. Governments and authorities are eager to promote EMs to reduce reliance on traditional fuel-based motorcycles. While prior research has explored the potential impacts of EMs, limited attention has been given to the adoption intentions of the Pakistani public. This study investigates the factors influencing the behavioral intentions of adopting EMs in Pakistan, employing an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) framework. The extended model incorporates perceived values and environmental concerns, along with perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, to assess their impact on EM adoption intentions. Based on data collected from 228 respondents in Karachi, Pakistan, structural equation models were estimated to identify significant factors affecting EM adoption. Findings highlight the substantial influence of perceived value and environmental concern on behavioral intentions, with perceived ease of use playing a mediated role through perceived usefulness. Results suggest that effective marketing and user-friendly EM designs, coupled with well-crafted policies and education, can substantially boost EM adoption by the public, facilitating a shift toward sustainable transportation alternatives.

Livability is an important and crucial aspect of urbanity which depicts quality of life. The emerging cities have a variety of urban challenges, including poor quality of life that has focused urban planners towards livability measures. Pakistani cities are facing similar challenges, like provision of adequate infrastructural facilities and amenities, due to which cities are losing their livability standards. Hyderabad, the second biggest city of Sindh Province, is an emerging metropolitan facing the same dilemma. The objective of this paper is to measure the livability as perceived by the residents. Six urban settlements were selected through stratified sampling to represent three income groups present in the study area, i.e. upper, middle and lower. Through systematic sampling, a sample size of 290 was procured for the household-based questionnaire survey, and descriptive statistics and multiple regression techniques were used. Results showed a significant relationship between perceived livability and livability attributes. The environmental attribute was found most significant in affecting livability perception of residents. The study also highlights eight livability variables which need to be considered for improving the quality of life in future urban development projects, not just in Pakistan, but also other developing countries.