Dealing with the challenge of urban sustainability, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, requires a holistic approach to urban mobility planning. While numerous mobility assessment frameworks exist for developed regions, there remains a significant gap in methodologies adapted to Global South contexts because they do not incorporate governance dimensions and citizen perspectives. This research addresses this gap by developing and validating a comprehensive assessment framework that extends beyond the traditional sustainability triad to include governance aspects. Our research question explores how a hybrid evaluation approach combining objective measurements with subjective citizen perceptions can enhance mobility assessments in resource-constrained environments. The proposed model comprises four dimensions (environmental, social, economic, and governance), eight sub-dimensions, and thirty-six indicators, with weights assigned through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) by diverse mobility experts. The methodology was validated in two intermediate Colombian cities, demonstrating its applicability in contexts with limited availability of data. The results highlight gaps in mobility policies due to discrepancies between official measurements and citizen perceptions. This assessment framework offers a practical instrument for urban mobility decision-makers in Global South cities, enabling evidence-based prioritization while ensuring that citizen needs remain central to sustainable transportation planning.

This study examines how the transportation systems of three Colombian intermediate cities—Tunja, Barrancabermeja, and Neiva—diverge from the smart, sustainable, and responsive mobility paradigm. The analysis addresses a broader question: why global expectations for cyber-physical integration, low-carbon mobility, and adaptive governance remain difficult to achieve in resource-constrained urban contexts. Using a comparative, multi-dimensional assessment of modal structures, infrastructure continuity, digital readiness, environmental performance, and equity outcomes, the study evaluates each city through five analytical dimensions. The results show consistent systemic gaps: limited digital and analytical capacity, persistent fossil-fuel dependence, weak multimodal integration, fragmented governance, and uneven accessibility across socioeconomic groups. These gaps indicate that the challenge is not a lack of mobility but the absence of coordinated systems capable of transforming diverse practices into integrated, data-driven, and environmentally aligned networks. The findings demonstrate that territorial and socioeconomic contexts shape distinct expressions of shared structural constraints, underscoring that smart and sustainable mobility depends on aligning technological innovation with governance maturity, institutional interoperability, and lived mobility realities. The study provides an empirical baseline and a conceptual lens for rethinking mobility transitions in intermediate cities.