Accessibility Measures to Evaluate Public Transport Competitiveness: The Case of Rome and Turin

Highlights: What are the main findings? Results show that private car indexes for mobility, competitiveness and accessibility are higherthan those of public transport. Significant variability in performance indicators among city areas are identified, indicatinginequalities in social and environmental sustainability in urban systems. What are the implications of the main findings? Policy actions need to be tailored to the specific area of the city based on quantitative evidence. Strategies need to consider multiple dimensions to effectively support the use of public transport. The transport sector worldwide relies heavily on oil products, and private cars account for the largest share of passenger mobility in several countries. Public transport could represent an interesting alternative under many perspectives, including a decrease in traffic, pollutants, and climate emissions. However, for public transport to succeed, it should be attractive for final users, representing a viable alternative to private mobility. In this work, we analyse the spatial distribution of public transport service provision within two metropolitan cities, considering the three key dimensions of mobility, competitiveness, and accessibility of public transport. The results show that private car performs better than public transport in all scopes considered, and that performance indicators are highly variable among city areas, indicating inequalities in social and environmental sustainability in urban systems. The outcomes of the analysis provide interesting insights for policy makers and researchers that deal with similar topics, and can also be extended to other cities and countries.