Background: The COVID-19 crisis has meant a significant change in the lifestyle of millions of people worldwide. With a lockdown that lasted almost three months and an impulse to new normality, transport demand has suffered a considerable impact in the Spanish case. It is mandatory to explore the effect of the pandemic on changes in travel behaviour in post-COVID-19 times. Methodology: A nationwide survey was carried out during the lockdown in Spring 2020 to overview the recent changes. The survey collected both stated preferences (socio-demographic characteristics and mobility-related attributes), and revealed preferences (individuals’ habits, especially in the frequency of the trips according to the trip purpose, and opinions regarding the willingness and acceptability of these changes, and which actors would have to drive them, and how) of individuals. This paper aims to study and understand the willingness to adopt a set of measures to improve the safety conditions of public transport and shared mobility services against possible contagion from COVID-19 and the willingness to pay for them. Results: The results obtained show that some measures, such as the increase of supply and vehicle disinfection, result in a greater willingness to use public transport in post-COVID-19 times. Similarly, the provision of covers for handlebars and steering wheels also significantly increases individuals’ willingness to use sharing services. However, respondents expect that these measures and improvements would be implemented but maintaining the same pre-COVID-19 prices. The results of this research might help operators deploy strategies to adopt their services and retain users.

Bike-sharing systems (BSS) are gaining popularity in cities worldwide, as a part of a generalized strategy to mitigate the problems derived from motorized transportation (congestion, pollution, noise, etc.). These systems have proved to have positive effects on cities, moreover, many of them have reached a performance peak and require improvements to attract/retain users and compete against emerging soft mobility alternatives. Whilst there are broad studies evaluating BSS demand and design, less attention has been paid to user satisfaction and the complexities underlying the relationships between the system attributes importance. This study proposes a novel combination of two methodologies for satisfaction assessment that allows decision-makers to identify the most influential system attributes on user satisfaction. The combined methods are the direct, explicit, Importance Performance Analysis (IPA), and the nonlinear, implicit Three-Factor Theory (3FT), which combined generate a three-dimensional scheme that facilitates the comprehension of the results. The combination was applied to a dataset of Madrid´s BSS to identify the attributes that perform poorly, and then assess their implicit influence on satisfaction to establish improvement priorities. The results suggest that station occupancy and bicycle availability and totem functioning are key service attributes to enhance satisfaction. Also, the combination of the two methodologies makes it possible to differentiate that maintenance is a priority for subscribers and network extension for occasional users. The pedelec system is a key attribute that might help overcome Madrid´s unfavorable cycling environment. This user-centric evaluation is a valuable tool that guides precise measure implementation, service operation, future design, and planning oriented to increase ridership.

Mobility in metropolitan rings is often more car-dependent than in urban cores. Buses are emerging as an efficient option to promote sustainable mobility in metropolitan corridors, although they are perceived as being less reliable than rail or the car. The adoption of real-time information (RTI) tools for passengers can mitigate this issue. This paper aims (i) to explore the potential bus demand in metropolitan corridors, and (ii) to understand how bus passengers use RTI public transport mobile applications. Both aims are oriented to attract more passengers toward public transport. A two-step methodological framework has been established to perform this analysis in the Madrid Region. Data from the 2014 Household Mobility Survey reveal that metropolitan bus potential is three times the current bus ridership, and almost double in transport corridors linked to motorways than in transversal and other metropolitan trips. An ad-hoc survey of bus travelers was conducted in one corridor to capture the use of RTI mobile apps. The results show that multimodal commuters tend to consult several apps, since none of the main apps integrates all the multimodal RTI for their trips. Non-regular bus passengers are more likely to consult a general-purpose app such as Google Maps, while frequent bus commuters prefer to use the official public transport authority app. Improving the multimodal information passengers receive through transit apps could ease their trips and help materialize some of the potential bus demand in metropolitan areas.