Intermodal Transport Systems as a Chance to Enhance First Mile

and Last Mile Mobility of Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities

Position Paper on Action Areas for Accessible Urban and Suburban Transport

Stefan H. Ruscher

, Andrea Ch. Kofler

, Vincent Neumayer

and Johanna Renat

Multimodal Mobility, Products and Planning, Department Market / Customers,

Wiener Linien GmbH und Co KG, Erdbergstraße 202, 1031 Vienna, Austria

Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Grüental 8820 Wädenswil, Zurich, Switzerland

Keywords: Accessibility, Intermodal Mobility, Disabilities, Last Mile Transport, Independent Living.

Abstract: Accessible passenger transport and personal mobility in public transportation are essential factors of Smart

Cities. While ongoing transport research focuses on covering ‘first mile and last mile’, it lacks the

perspective of the AAL domain, enabling personal mobility for older adults and persons with disabilities.

Therefore, an investigation of the current situation of transportation systems in Vienna and Zurich,

analysing five mayor action areas was carried out. The identified issues are highlighted thus suggesting a

policy-driven approach for implementation of an accessible and intermodal transport system based on a

public transport model, which is able to tackle the first mile and last mile problem for all passengers in

general, as well as for older adults and persons with disabilities in particular.

1 INTRODUCTION

In 2015, the European Commission published the

European Accessibility Act (European Commission,

2015), aiming to harmonise the legislation of

accessible products and services. One area of

activity in the implementation of the Accessibility

Act is passenger transport services. In the context of

smart cities, and urban and suburban development,

as well as affordable and fair mobility, accessible

public transport on roads and railways are of major

interest for European cities such as Vienna and

Zurich. Furthermore, personal mobility at home as

well as in public spaces is an essential factor of

independent living.

As a matter of significant importance to transport

systems, especially public transport systems –

defined systems of bundled demands for shared

vehicles (e.g. buses, trams, metros etc.) that operate

on the basis of defined schedules and defined routes,

are open for service for the general public under

clearly noted terms of use (Cerwenka et al., 2017),

and the coverage of the so-called first and last mile

(Shaheen, Guzman and Zhang, 2010). First mile and

last mile transport (FMLM transport) combines

services, which cover the distance between the

ultimate start and ultimate destination of a journey,

by bridging the distance between the last

transportation hub, like a bus or tram stop, closest to

the ultimate start or end of a journey. In many cases,

such connections are covered by motorized vehicles

like cars, scooters or motorbikes, as well as by

bicycle or by walking. Yet, the availability and

accessibility of these transportation modes for older

adults and persons with disabilities have been of

little concern to date, for both, providers as well as

policy makers. Therefore, new policymaking, as

well as the integration of new concepts and new

technologies is needed.

FMLM transport access is a matter of offering

independence and equality, and therefore, results in

a reduction in discrimination, especially in cross-

reference with mobility for older adults and persons

with disabilities. As every single switch between

transport modes in the transportation chain causes

more friction, potential hassle and higher

complexity, accessible intermodal transport demands

higher efforts for cities and public transport

providers. Research into FMLM transportation is

rare in the AAL domains. Studies providing insights

into the topic in a Smart City context stress a

preference for cycling and car sharing to cover the

200

Ruscher, S., Koﬂer, A., Neumayer, V. and Renat, J.

Intermodal Transport Systems as a Chance to Enhance First Mile and Last Mile Mobility of Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities.

DOI: 10.5220/0006768802000208

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (ICT4AWE 2018), pages 200-208

ISBN: 978-989-758-299-8

FMLM. The AAL domain, on the other hand, has

not yet focused on FMLM mobility issues. With all

the technological advances, facilitating an

integration process is overdue. Besides, more and

more private transit companies are starting to

develop and innovate new services in this field. Yet,

customers still face many challenges, mostly

expressed by high tariffs, which make the service

overall less attractive or only of use for selected user

groups. In addition, their service delivery excludes

user groups with special requirements arising from

age or impairment. Moreover, what is valued most,

is flexibility and individuality, and is hard to obtain

for low fares (King 2016). FMLM is a challenge

itself, and without doubt, it is even more so, when

we take into consideration the different user group

needs.

As outlined in previous research (Teles et al.,

2017), older adults as well as people with

disabilities, cognitive impairment and long-term

diseases are to be considered as equals in ongoing

AAL research. The big diversity of abilities and

limitations as well as assistive technology in usage

make FMLM transport services an even more

challenging task. In contrast, especially for these

groups, new opportunities for enhancing personal

mobility are arising. These people are increasingly

becoming used to AAL technologies and services,

which should be easy to integrate into intelligent

FMLM service logics (Giampapa et al., 2017).

In order to highlight the challenges and

potentials of affordable and accessible public

transport systems for older adults and persons with

disabilities, we will first analyse currently available

transportation services in the cities of Vienna and

Zurich. Then we will postulate and deepen five

action areas for improvement of intermodal transport

accessibility in urban and suburban areas, reflecting

on international best practice. We will conclude our

work with a proposal for implementation of

accessible intermodal transport systems as a

necessity for modern smart cities.

When working in the cross-section of AAL and

transport domains, an issue with the meaning of

“multimodal” arises. The scientific community in

the fields of AAL have investigated into multimodal

ICT products and services, which accept different

input and output modes, namely touch and speech,

and visual and audio, in order to enable efficient

system usage to a wider range of customers (Oviatt,

2003; Richter and Hellenschmidt, 2004). In contrast,

transport-oriented research refers to multimodality

as the concept of employing multiple transport

modes, such as public transport, cars, bikes and

walking, to cover daily journeys (Bertolini and le

Clercq, 2003; Litman, 2014). In order to avoid

misinterpretations, the term “intermodal mobility”,

is used henceforth, as found, for example, in Kemp,

Avelino and Bressers (2011), who describe the

interchange between transport modes during a single

journey.

2 ANALYSIS

Although the consciousness for barrier-free services

as well as the need for inclusive transport systems

has risen within recent years, barriers still exsist

when accessing the wide range of mobility services

provided in Vienna and Zurich. This section

identifies current measures and offers in both cities,

in order to define new action areas to improve

accessible FMLM mobility in future.

2.1 Vienna and Austria

Vienna public transport, the Wiener Linien has put a

high emphasis on the implementation of accessible

public transport stations and vessels. On one hand,

an easy tariff system was created, enabling all

Wiener Linien tickets to be valid for all public

transport opportunities within the city of Vienna,

without any ‘zone’ borders within. Furthermore,

Wiener Linien are a member of the transport

association VOR, which covers the region of

Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland has a unified

tariff system, applying to trains, subway, trams,

buses and selected private shuttle services

(ISTmobil, 2017) alike.

On the other hand, Wiener Linien have

implemented a list of criteria for development of

barrier-free stations and vessels, covering

requirements of persons with impaired sight, hearing

and/or immobility. This catalogue covers the

construction of stations, elevators and vessels, as

well as communication and the display of

information, assigning one of five quality levels.

These levels indicate the need for assistance, aiming

to maximize independent mobility on Wiener

Linien. Additionally, special training courses are

offered for persons with various disabilities on how

to use assistive services and navigate through the

stations safely.

Two types of car and bike sharing can be

distinguished in Vienna: the flexible one-way car

sharing, which is often referred to as “free-floating”,

and the traditional two-way “station-based” system

(Boyaci, Zografos, and Geroliminis, 2015; Shaheen,

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201

Guzman and Zhang, 2010). With the traditional two-

way system, the vehicle needs to be returned to a

designated station, vehicles of the one-way sharing

system, can be picked-up or dropped-off anywhere

within a defined service area. Long-term

reservations are not possible with free-floating

systems, as they are intended for short-term

bookings and real-time availability (Boyaci et al.,

2015).

Car sharing providers offering vehicles, which

are accessible by wheelchairs, are available in two

Austrian cities, namely Graz and Marchtrenk. While

the service in Marchtrenk enables wheelchair

transport (Mobiles Marchtrenk e.V., 2017), car-

sharing in Graz even allows for persons with

disability to drive, as the throttle and brakes are

operational by hand. Reservations with both two-

way systems are possible, and vehicles must be

returned to designated pick-up locations. In contrast,

while current car sharing offers in Vienna are

available as free-floating systems as well, they do

not provide the space for wheelchair transport nor

hands-free operation.

Therefore, transport of older adults and people

with disabilities often depends on motorized

vehicles, which offer an individual scheduled

service. Specialized shuttle services within a

framework of (shared) pick-up and delivery services

play an important role in the Viennese transport

system. Taxis or transport operators provide on

demand door-to-door services, fitted to the needs of

older adults and persons with disabilities. There are

different journey providers, either supported by

health insurance providers (i.e. for medical transport

needs like a doctor’s appointment) or subsidised by

the City of Vienna (for leisure activities).

Additionally some operators like Uber offer iOS

VoiceOver, Android TalkBack and wireless braille

display compatibility within their Apps, which opens

the service to blind customers (Uber, 2017).

Moreover, all major cities, including Vienna display

barrier-free parking bays on their digital city maps,

easing the need for journey planning for tourists and

inhabitants alike. In contrast, bicycle or scooter

sharing services are not accessible in Vienna for

persons with disability to date.

The mobility mode of walking is particularly

used by young and old generations. In 2014, a

Viennese study analysed their needs, which can be

summarized in the categories safety, comfort,

cleanliness and punctuality (Ausserer et al., 2014).

The City of Vienna supports walking as a mode of

mobility with its own agency focused on pedestrian

traffic agendas. Additionally, accessible

infrastructure measures such as acoustic traffic

signals and tactile guidance systems in highly

frequented public areas are fostered (Frey, 2015),

and provided on digital city maps.

In general, the accessible intermodal mobility is

very limited in Vienna, due to accessible service

offers for older adults or persons with disability

currently being provided by public transport

operators only. Additionally, most other service

offers are not available in suburban areas, which

have a lower density of public transport.

2.2 Zurich and Switzerland

Beside the fact that in Zurich, as in most parts of

Switzerland, public transportation is very well

developed, a variety of mobility services can be

reported for the city and its neighbouring

communities. Most of these mobility services

support older adults and/or people with disabilities,

constituting on-demand services. These services are

organized either by interest groups or private

stakeholders, requiring a membership to benefit

from reduced prices, or by private taxi companies,

which have integrated such special services in their

regular portfolio.

The main weaknesses of this system are the price

of the services, and the lack of spontaneity, as

reservations have to be made well in advance. Some

of these organizations do not focus exclusively on

mobility, but also support people in doctor’s

appointments or in their shopping activities.

Therefore, the ‘wheelchair taxi’ has become a well-

recognized mode of transportation in the city. Public

transportation companies have adapted their

infrastructures or are in the process of doing so to

meet with ongoing demand. Similar to Wiener

Linien in Vienna, they offer courses on how to use

their infrastructure.

ZVV (Zurich City Lines) stresses that its slogan

“Steig ein. Komm weiter.” (“Board and Go

Further”) addresses many different user groups.

They are aware of different user needs and offer

various support services for older adults as well as

for people with visual or walking impairments.

MobilPlus, established in 2002, aims to define

measures of how to guarantee people with

impairments access to information and mobility

services (Zürcher Verkehrsverbund, 2002).

Thereafter, in 2014, the ZVV stated that by 2024 all

built infrastructure needs to be adapted in general

(Zürcher Verkehrsverbund, 2014). One key

statement is that accessible mobility only makes

sense if people can independently get on and off

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transport vessels indepenantly. With the exception of

the local train service, they should be able to achieve

this goal in Zurich. With the promise by 2014, i.e.

74% of all streetcar stations have been made

accessible, but only 65% of the local train service

stations.

Safe walking for older adults has become an

issue of concern in Zurich too. ‘Fussverkehr’ in

particularly is engaged in training older adults not

only in how to use ticket machines, but also how to

cover walking distances, i.e. walking from home to

the grocery store safely. Moreover, both, older

adults as well as car drivers are advised on how to

act accordingly in mutually used public space, in

order to keep pedestrians safe. The organization

attempts to promote safe walking for older adults

and seeks to strengthen its awareness for the needs

of pedestrians in general (Fussverkehr, 2017).

In the ‘Stadtverkehr 2025’ report, the city of

Zurich stresses the need to reduce individual

motorized traffic and to support projects and

initiatives that foster safer cycling and pedestrian

mobility. Yet, there is still a lack of adequate city

bicycle routes, which is considered one of their

biggest challenges (Stadt Zürich, 2017).

For motorized individual mobility, 220 barrier-

free parking bays are available in Zurich alone, with

over 9000 in Switzerland. An interactive platform

informs users on their availability. People living and

working in the city can make suggestions about

where there is a need for more bays.

Besides, car-pooling and car sharing have both

become very popular Switzerland. At present, three

very strong and well-known car-sharing companies

and more than ten car-pooling services are offered in

Switzerland. With adequate promotion and vehicle

accessibility, this would be the perfect offer for

people with reduced mobility.

3 ACTION AREAS

Based on the findings in Vienna and Zurich, a gap

analysis was conducted, comparing the current

situation with the optimum of an affordable,

available, accessible and fair transport system for

both customers and operators alike. During this

process, five action areas enabling accessible FMLM

transport in this optimal transport system were

identified: expansion of service areas for mobility

services, establishment of on-demand services,

improvement of service accessibility, integration of

medical shuttle services into the public transport

system, and policy making for a suitable framework.

3.1 Service Area

The first major action area is the expansion of

service areas towards suburban districts, where the

public transport service density is lower. In Vienna

for example, more than 20% of the population in the

13th, 19th and 23rd district are 64 years or older,

with the majority of inhabitants being 40 years and

older (Stadt Wien, 2016). Yet, leading bike and car

sharing services are primarily available around the

city center, where the subway is also operated. In the

outer districts, where only a few bus lines are

available, hardly any sharing opportunity can be

found. Especially these suburban areas with high a

percentage of older adults would benefit most from

the expansion of the service area for accessible

mobility services, whilst also tackling issues of

marginalisation and social isolation within this

population group, which was highlighted in previous

research (Ruscher et al., 2018).

The issue of sharing, however, requires a

suitable level of management. For free-floating

fleets to be utilised, journeys are required to be made

available within close distance of the customer

through demand prediction (car2go, 2017). Yet,

demand prediction becomes harder, as fewer

customers are using cars more infrequently, as it is

likely for older adults and persons with disabilities

in suburban areas. Even worse, station-based sharing

would suffer from low station density similar to

public transport, and the need for redistribution of

journeys between stations. Therefore, newer

innovative business models are required.

In Switzerland, the situation is slightly different.

It is less a problem of availability of service, rather

than of non-transparency of their field of activities

and tariff models. Services are rather regionalized

and bound to canton logics, instead of a unified tariff

system as in the region around Vienna. People living

in the outskirts of Zurich City might be better off

searching for a transport service in the neighbouring

community or even the canton itself than with the

cities mobility services. However, those would ask

for higher transport fares, as they need to operate

beyond their usual service area. Furthermore, there

is a challenge of integrating the various service

providers into the transportation system. Currently, a

FMLM journey might cost ten times the price of a

journey by public transport, which in comparison is

far longer. Therefore, an integration of private

operators into the regional tariff model as

demonstrated in Austria is required.

As observed in Vienna, mobility services in

Zurich usually only offer a limited service area

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203

inside the city, where they operate their fleet. To

make mobility services more flexible and cheaper,

they would be required to further expand their fleet

within and beyond the city’s central boundaries.

3.2 On-demand Services

An alternative to sharing systems for the provision

of accessible and economically justifiable mobility

services would be pooling services, similar to those

offered by Uber. Setting up accessible on-demand

services in urban and suburban regions would

primarily target the needs of persons who require

assistive devices. The option to cover FMLM with

specialised pooling shuttles enhances personal

mobility, while keeping mobility itself affordable.

With the introduction of autonomous vehicles in

road traffic, further steps towards accessible

mobility will be achieved. While on the one hand,

self-driving cars enhance individual mobility of

persons who cannot drive or operate a car (Litman,

2017), space currently occupied by steering wheel,

pedals and gear stick can be freed for assistive

technology in autonomous shuttles, on the other

hand.

Yet, while car-sharing operators are already

considering conditions and preparation measures for

successful implementation of shared autonomous

cars (car2go, 2017), no evidence on the planned

provision of accessible autonomous vehicles can be

found.

3.3 Improvement of Service

Accessibility

While the ongoing activities for barrier-free public

spaces and public transport vessels are fostered in

Vienna and Zurich, other areas relevant to personal

mobility need to be improved. As already pointed

out, currently available ride sharing opportunities in

Vienna, as well as in Zurich do not use the full

potential of being accessible to older adults or

persons with disabilities.

One promising approach for improved

accessibility is currently being tested in Switzerland:

A specific car-sharing model was launched by

Europcar Switzerland and Stiftung Cerebral. In four

Swiss cities, a VW Caddy can be rented, enabling

wheelchair transportation. Currently, three stations

for renting these cars are available in Zurich. The

price is very attractive when compared to other

similar offers, and the renting service is rather

flexible. While car-sharers have already recognized

the need of automatic gear and manual control

vehicles on an international level, similar services

still need to be fostered in Austria and Switzerland.

Another option for improved flexibility can be found

in a car sharing service in Austria, offering drop-off

and pick-up of rented cars at the customer’s home

under certain conditions (Dr. Hartl Autoverleih,

2017).

Best practice from the US show that bike-sharing

systems also bare potential of enabling and

enhancing mobility for riders with disabilities. Since

2017, the City of Portland has provided an adaptive

bicycling pilot based on customer wishes, providing

a staffed-service with support for wheelchair storage

and assistance including fitting. The piloted adaptive

bike-sharing system fulfils customer wishes and

promotes cycling accessibility for everyone (Maus,

2017).

Besides physical constraints, the digital

accessibility of a transport system is another

important factor (Giampapa et al., 2017). Schreder et

al. (2012) point out that even ticket vending machine

interfaces can drastically reduce accessibility to

public transport. Though high interaction

complexity, customers are prevented from buying

tickets and therefore from using public transport.

With ongoing digitization, public transport

operators, as well as sharing services offer mobile

applications to inform customers and enable access

to service offers (Giampapa et al., 2017). Nowadays,

a wide spectrum of Apps, providing different pieces

of information and service in varying digital

accessibility levels, are available. Nevertheless,

some of these services have not taken into

consideration that people with impairments might be

potential customers.

In Vienna, Wiener Linien currently offers three

different Apps, one for public transport scheduling

information, one for ticketing, and one for

intermodal mobility. While the clear goal of

unifying these three services into one overall digital

solution called WienMobil is promising, a thorough

integration of trip planning, routing and booking for

other mobility services like car sharing is subject to

provider policies. In Zurich, ZVV also offers digital

solutions. Mobility Apps provide information on

travel routes and potential barriers at stations while

guiding the boarding process. A screen-reader

facilitates the reading of its website. The ticket

machines offer enlarged viewings, audio responses

or redirection to customer service, for assistance

with travel arrangements.

Centralising and enriching this digital

information, ticketing and booking services of all

mobility modes into a single accessible digital

solution, built on Universal Design principles

ICT4AWE 2018 - 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health

204

(National Disability Authority, 2014) and the

WCAG 2.0 Guidelines (Caldwell et al., 2008) would

foster personal mobility for older adults and persons

with disabilities.

3.4 Integration of Medical Shuttle

Services

Several operators in Vienna as well as in Zurich

offer services, which are classified as medical

transport services, providing shuttle services for

various purposes in order to facilitate transport for

persons with mental and/or physical impairments.

These shuttle services operate a door-to-door service

for persons who need medical treatment while being

prevented from public transport usage, but not

necessarily dictating transport by emergency

services, e.g. due to the necessity of recumbent

transport. They offer a transport service which

enables participation in rehabilitation programmes,

or a school-and-work shuttle especially for children

and persons with mental or physical disabilities.

Different service areas of such shuttle services

are subject to different financing models, depending

on the actual need of their passengers. For medical

purposes, public health insurance companies provide

a basic service offer, which is accompanied by a so-

called prescription charge paid by the user. For

shuttle services for school pupils and employed

people “Fonds Soziales Wien”, the administration of

social services in Vienna, financially covers

operations on a local level. In Zurich too, all kinds

of interest groups offer distinct services to user

groups for which they receive reimbursements by

insurance companies or other social stakeholders.

Their service model relies on a huge portion of

shuttle services covered by in- advance planning and

scheduled transport. Only in the context of school

shuttle services, a current pooling of transport can be

observed.

On a daily basis, medical shuttle services operate

as car-pooling services, simultaneously collecting

clients, taking one-direction journeys. Especially for

school and job shuttle purposes, the efficiency of the

transport, as well as car occupancy rate, is

acceptable. Nevertheless, all these shuttle services

show no integration into the public transport

systems, neither in Vienna nor in Zurich, in order to

fulfil, if feasible and practical, coverage of the

FMLM within a multimodal transport network. All

these shuttle services present themselves as being

aimed at one specific user group, for one specific

purpose. Currently, booking and information

exchange processes are only conducted via phone or

an online application portal by private persons or by

partner entities (hospitals, schools, etc.). An

integrating control center for coordinating and

bundling such services has been decided upon, and

will be established in Vienna shortly.

Despite enabling mobility to persons with

disabilities, there is no further integration of medical

shuttle services into any other public transport

related network or intermodal transport chain.

Comparable systems though show opportunities to

improve the overall accessibility of the transport

system. As mentioned above, VOR transport

association appoints a tariff system, to which every

public transport operator is required to adapt. An

integration of medical shuttle services into this

system, accompanied by comfort surcharges, as

demonstrated by the private shuttle service ISTmobil

(ISTmobil, 2017) may guarantee transparency in

pricing and tariff policies, while raising

opportunities for technological upgrades for

customer to company communication.

Without a doubt, medical shuttle services offer

quality transport including personal assistance,

which therefore minimizes the discrimination of

passengers with impairments. Nonetheless, they bear

no parallel operational structures in door-to-door

transport, which shows considerable potential for

further efficiency gains. Through targeted staff

training, they also offer the possibility to cover

specialized transport needs, which are rarely offered

by other transport companies, and a good

understanding of their passenger’s needs.

3.5 Policy Framework

While the action areas above describe measures

affecting the transport system and operators directly,

the fifth action area, policymaking is in need of a

suitable framework for successful implementation of

an accessible transport system.

The city of Vienna defined the mission statement

“new mobility for Vienna” in 2013 and declared

availability, affordability and accessibility for

everyone as their main goals of mobility planning.

The majority of projects implemented bearing this

mission statement were related to E-Mobility,

renewable energy, as well as intermodal routing

services – accessibility was only partly covered in

terms of digital integration of mobility providers

(Wiener Modellregion, 2013). As no more projects

are planned with the support of “new mobility for

Vienna” with the funding period ending in 2016,

there is currently no framework in Vienna

addressing accessibility as a main goal for mobility

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205

planning. Besides, the mission statement of the

municipality’s ministry of transport regarding

innovation and technology states usability and

accessibility for sustainable forms of transport as

key drivers of future mobility (BMVIT, 2017).

As stated earlier, Zurich also has to meet certain

legal standards within the next decade. By 2024,

both the city and the trans-regional transport requires

adaptation to meet the requirements of the national

equality act. The above-described measures do

express the attempts of the city of Zurich. Besides,

more and more discussions are observed - with

respect to artificial intelligent developments - also

on the governmental side. In a most recent

governmental statement, the Swiss government

stressed that self-driving transport means a

combination of other effects of digitalization to

guarantee a more efficient and reliable FMLM

service. If this possibilities were integrated into

other service models e.g. the car-sharing model, it

would be an asset for all parties involved. In its

evaluation, the government also assumes that the

boundaries between individual and public

transportation might cease to exist. However, this

would also ask for new concepts in the public

transportation sector (Auto-Mobilität, 2016).

4 CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, it can be argued that two different

actions need to be fostered by both policies, as well

as utilizing research activities. First, existing logics,

services and initiatives need to be examined more

closely from the AAL and independent living

perspective. Second, new technologies, with that

new service logics (or even transport ecosystems)

would improve the FMLM mobility of older adults

and people with disabilities.

Let us first focus on the five action areas

discussed earlier. These five action areas for

accessible intermodal transport are key to personal

mobility, a solution for the FMLM problem, and

independent living for older adults and persons with

disabilities, who have been postulated to be of

utmost importance. When harmonizing these areas, a

clear goal for future smart cities can be described:

governments will be required to produce policies,

which foster accessible intermodal transport, based

on public transport, and enhanced by on-demand

services. With sufficient policies and incentives,

accessible service offers can be established and

integrated into public transport systems and tariff

models, in order to maximize personal mobility of

older adults and persons with disabilities. By

additionally offering procurement for specific

service areas, and enabling a unified open platform

for booking, cities will enable on-demand shuttles,

which are specialised for the needs of older adults

and persons with disabilities. This would improve

the FMLM mobility especially for those living in

suburban parts of the city, but also for those living in

the city centre.

The proposed approach fits well with smart city

goals, like those of the City of Vienna, enabling

available, affordable and accessible mobility for all

citizens. In order to implement a sufficient

intermodal transport system, public transportation is

accepted as being the essential backbone of urban

mobility as well as the perfect operator of digital and

intermodal mobility solutions (Jonuschat, Stephan

and Schelewsky, 2015). Therefore, public transport

operators would also be the most relevant

stakeholder in the implementation of an accessible

transport system, acting as a paragon and a lever at

the same time. By integrating scheduled and on-

demand, station-based and free-floating service

offers into their existing transport network.

This consequently leads to the second

observation stressed above. With their mission to

provide mobility instead of maximising profit,

public transport operators can foster a unified and

impartial integration of services into an

interoperable and open digital platform, to be

accessed by customers through a single user

interface, i.e. a mobile App or a responsive website.

In contrast, private, for-profit companies often tend

to ignore digital accessibility, and lack open data

(Giampapa et al., 2017). A public transport provider

offering a user interface built with respect to

Universal Design and WCAG Guidelines, would

enable all its customers, but especially older adults

and persons with disabilities to achieve independent

mobility in urban and suburban areas.

Therefore, an open and interoperable digital

system for integration of technologically ready

partners should be fostered by public authorities,

while creating incentives to enable and offer

accessible transport services. Funding opportunities

and facilitation by digitalization in the passenger

transport system will then support further

amalgamation of public transportation and on

demand services as mainly privately organized

forms of transport, solving the FMLM problem for

older adults and persons with disabilities as well.

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