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Dial-a-bus: nice-to-have or essential service? Insights from trip data and a large-scale survey in Flanders | Marjolein Hantson (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Freke Caset (Ghent University & Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
In the face of a new regional mobility policy in Flanders, we explore the extent to which (different groups of) users of Belbus (dial-a-bus) are dependent on this service to participate in society. We build on and combine the insights from extensive trip and customer data to improve our understanding of the spatiotemporal and sociodemographic dimensions shaping the demand for Belbus. Additionally, we draw on a user-based survey to foreground user experiences, needs, and preferences. We aim to contribute to ongoing debates on transport poverty and how transport disadvantage and social exclusion interact.
This work is part of the CARIN-PT (Capacities for Resilient and Inclusive Urban Public Transport Infrastructure and Built Environment) JPI Urban Europe project, focusing on the social role of public transport in relation to the built environment.
Marjolein Hantson is a Ph.D. Candidate at VUB (Cosmopolis) since 2022. As a former policy advisor for mobility and an advisor for education for sustainable development, her interests lie at the intersection of regional planning, mobility and social justice. At Cosmopolis, she studies the impact of mobility policies on inhabitants of low-density areas in Flanders, focusing on the role of on-demand public transport. Her research is part of the CARIN-PT (Capacities for Resilient and Inclusive Urban Public Transport Infrastructure and Built Environment) JPI Urban Europe project, focusing on the social role of public transport in relation to the built environment.
Freke Caset holds a master's degree in Geography (Ghent University, 2015) and obtained her PhD (2019) at Ghent University and Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Her PhD focused on the development of a planning support tool to identify differentiated (spatial) development opportunities for railway station areas in Flanders and the wider Brussels metropolitan region (Belgium). As a postdoctoral researcher at Cosmopolis, Freke is involved in the ‘CARIN-PT’ JPI-project focusing on public transport on-demand in the region of Flanders. She is also affiliated with the Social and Economic Geography research unit at Ghent University, where she is involved as a researcher and teacher in the field of urban geography.