Omer Dilian presents in the European Public Health Conference
Lab member Omer Dilian presented his research in the 17th European Public Health (EPH) conference in Lisbon, Portugal. The EPH conference is one of the most important venues for public health research; Omer presented a recent systematic review about the links between public transport use and older adults’ health outcomes.
Lab trip to Mount Carmel
On December 11, 2024, the entire Fair Transport Lab went on a hiking trip on Mount Carmel. Starting along the Alon stream and then Israel National Trail, the team had a break at the resting spot of “trail angel” Fuad, before taking a detour via the summit of Mount Shokef and subsequently ascending via the Hik Stream to Isfiya.
New Article: Workplace responsibility for employee mobility?
Corporations and other employers are increasingly expected to contribute to societal goals, going beyond merely profit-making. In this paper, Yaara Tsairi and Karel Martens review whether sustainability reporting frameworks also expect employers to address the social and environmental impacts of employee mobility. Their findings show a strong focus in reporting frameworks on greenhouse gas emissions, while largely ignoring other forms of environmental pollution and social inclusion issues. They advocate for expanded reporting requirements, so that employers are encouraged to address the far-reaching negative impacts related to employee mobility.
Omer Dilian leads successful bid for Rambam-Technion cooperation
The Fair Transport Lab has received a grant for a joint project with the Rambam Health Care Campus! The project, in cooperation with Dr. Avi Magid from the Rambam Health Care Campus and Prof. Nadav Davidovitch from Ben Gurion University, will investigate the transport related causes for no-shows to healthcare appointments, among vulnerable populations in northern Israel.
8 Lab members at the Nectar Conference
Last July, a large delegation of the Fair Transport Lab participated in the Nectar Conference, the bi-annual meeting of the Network on European Communications and Transport Activities Research. Eight (!) of the lab’s members were accepted to present their research at the conference, one of the most significant academic venues for transport research. The projects presented covered diverse topics, including transport justice in Sub Saharan Africa, measurement of travel problems, and the mobility of disadvantaged groups.
“Transport justice versus modelling, optimization and AI: two worlds apart?” karel martens lecture at the Eindhoven university of technology
The Mechanical Engineering Department of Eindhoven University of Technology, in cooperation with Eindhoven Artificial Intelligence Systems Institute, invited Karel Martens to give a talk about the relevance of AI and mathematical models for promoting justice in transportation. Building on his philosophical perspective on transport, Karel called on the audience to develop novel analytical and mathematical tools to identify transport network improvements that can deliver sufficient accessibility to as many people as possible within a given budget.
New article: public transport use linked to older adults’ health?
Mobility is one of the most important aspects of healthy ageing, known to be related to various health benefits. In a scientific paper recently published in the Journal of Transport and Health, Omer Dilian, Karel Martens and partners from BGU and Ghent University review the existing evidence for links between public transport use and older adults’ health.
While there is some evidence that public transport use is associated with reduced obesity and depression among older adults, public transport use links to health outcomes were quite seldomly investigated, and the health outcomes examined were very limited. This suggests that to assess the potential of public transport in healthy ageing, further, high-quality and causal research is needed, with various health-outcomes examined.
Photo: Sofia Sabel/imagebank.sweden.se
New paper: implementing a sufficient level of accessibility
In this paper, Karel Martens and Jean Ryan explore what is preventing transport authorities from adopting standards for basic accessibility in their strategic and operational plans. Drawing on interviews with professionals from Sweden, Belgium and UK, they identify both technical and political barriers. They conclude that standards for minimum accessibility could gain political support if their reach is clearly circumscribed.
Second grant from the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology
The Fair Transport Lab has received a second grant from the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology ! The project, in cooperation with dr. Yodan Rofe of Ben Gurion University of Negev and Nachman Shelef of Transportation Insights, seeks to develop a new housing and transportation cost index that will explicitly ccount for transport justice, drawing on the Transit Score developed by Shelef.
New article: Measuring travel problems: Testing a novel survey tool in a natural experiment
In this paper, former lab member Matan Singer and Karel Martens introduce and validate a survey tool to assess people’s travel problems. Leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment, they show that the survey provides robust insights into the extent to which people experience difficulties to reach destinations. The conclusion outlines a research agenda for developing versatile measurement tool.
The dashboard tracks the state of Transport Justice in 49 large metropolitan areas. Employing an explicit sufficiency standard for accessibility, it identifies where transit does and where it does not provide sufficient access to key destinations. The dashboard also provides detailed maps of accessibility insufficiency hotspots and an equity ranking of the analyzed cities.
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