The use of participatory techniques in the field of transport is coming to the forefront recently. In this frame, eight co-creation workshops and five online crowdsourcing campaigns took place in Thessaloniki, Southern Tuscany, Rotterdam/The Hague, and Frankfurt, from which many innovative ideas to enhance Public Transport were generated by citizens. A simple list of innovations would not be very useful for Public Transport Operators, as they cannot implement all of them at once. There was an obvious need for their ranking and this is the purpose of this paper. The ranking was realized with the most used Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis method in transportation research, i.e. the Analytic Hierarchy Process, using three criteria: Feasibility, Utility, and Innovativeness. An online questionnaire was distributed to experts, using a modified snowball sampling technique, which yielded 97 completed questionnaires. Utility (42.90%) was found to be the most important criterion, followed by Feasibility (40.10%), and Innovativeness (17.00%). Four lists of innovations were derived, ranked with respect to a) all three examined criteria, b) Feasibility, c) Utility, and d) Innovativeness. The highest ranked innovation for a) and c) was found to be Mobility as a Service and platform with real-time travel, comfort, and multi-modal information; for b) City marketing from a Public Transport perspective; and for d) Advanced e-ticketing system. The results revealed which of the innovations are the most promising and provide valuable insight into how to integrate innovation with Public Transport to make it more attractive. Public Transport Operators may use the results according to the peculiarities of their city and the importance they give to Feasibility, Utility, and Innovativeness.

Public Transport users have diverse mobility needs and preferences on how to meet those needs. While this is consistent with typical standards for both academic scholars and practitioners, less is known about the structure of these preferences, how different they are, especially with regard to innovations in Public Transport. Previous research works have been successful in bringing together and developing a comprehensive set of state-of-the-art innovations that could be potentially valuable for Public Transport Authorities and Operators in covering mobility needs. Going a step further, this study collected empirical evidence on the preferences’ pattern of European citizens when considering these innovations. The present study’s objectives were (a) to measure European citizens’ preferences regarding Public Transport innovations, (b) to examine potential differences at individual level between innovations and demographic and behavioral measures, and (c) to profile respondents based on a multidimensional set of parameters including individual preference scores. Correspondingly, the study employed complementary methodological designs like the Maximum Difference Scaling method, which is an effective tool for encompassing large numbers of attributes, Analysis of Variance, and Latent Class Analysis. Findings prioritized significant differences in user preferences along the tested innovations and innovations were linked to specific motivational schemes (viz. “information provision”, “efficient design concerns”, “provision of effectiveness”, “pricing concerns”, and “assistance provision”). Motivational schemes and their properties encompassing users’ diverse patterns of ranked preferences regarding Public Transport innovations were then employed as the basis for profiling. Further to methodological contributions reflecting the design of the present study, implications for practitioners regarding the use of differentiated mix of motives are also provided.

Introduction: Ex-ante evaluation of rural road projects is important for proper utilisation of scarce financial resources. In recent years, several multiple criteria analysis methods have been applied for the evaluation of transportation projects.Methods: Here we compare three multi-criteria methods (i.e. TOPSIS, MOORA, and PROMETHEE) in ranking rural roads. The criteria and weightage were identified with an expert questionnaire survey and the decision matrix was obtained from a field survey of four rural roads of Nepal. These data demonstrate the successful application of various multi-criteria analysis methods for the evaluation of rural road projects with sustainable indicators.Results: The results of multi-criteria methods depend upon the value of performance measures, weightage, normalization, and aggregation procedures.Conclusion: We also concluded that the multi-criteria methods used (i.e. TOPSIS, MOORA, and PROMETHEE), in which weightage is derived using robust methods (e.g. AHP) and precise measurement of criteria of rural roads, in general return similar rankings.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop accessible tourism in two areas of Greece and Turkey. The areas of Drama in Greece and Mersin in Turkey have cooperated in the frame of MEDRA project to assess their potential and set up a plan for developing accessible tourism. Design/methodology/approach: The choice of the two areas was not random. Mersin currently enjoys continuous development, as one of Turkey’s biggest ports and a free trade zone. Drama is a developing area in agricultural manufacturing and high-tech sectors with a rich physical environment which aspires to develop a healthy alternative tourism industry. Findings: The findings include, amongst others, the identification of needs of tourists with disabilities, and the relevant historical evolution, legislative framework, international good practices, policy-improvement proposals, accessibility assessment in Mersin and Drama, and suggestions for developing accessible infrastructure together with the training of stakeholders. Practical/implications: Greece although made a lot of progress regarding the issues of disability and accessibility still is not on the same level as many European countries, while Turkey has a lot to learn in order to deal with accessibility from a holistic point of view. Social/implications: Both countries owe a large percentage of their national income, to the tourist industry and seek ways to gain advantages in this highly competitive sector. Originality/value: The successful implementation of the MEDRA project constitutes an example worthy of a wider application in the development of accessible tourism, not only in the two countries but also to countries with similar characteristics.