Mobility hubs: review and future research direction

Globally, cities face a range of transport related environmental, social, and economic challenges, not least congestion, air pollution and promotion of public transport and sustainable modes. Mobility Hubs (MHs) have been identified as a mechanism to aid the move towards a sustainable transport network and are at various stages of implementation in cities throughout the world.

The growing prevalence of MH schemes highlights the requirement for a holistic overview of MH networks to ascertain their characteristics and inform policy direction. Consequently, this study presents a review of MH deployment and literature as exists, with the aim of examining this global phenomenon and identifying a future research agenda. This study combines a comprehensive review of web-searches with grey literature and limited articles from academic journals. Twenty locations, at different stages of development and implementation, were identified as examples to be reviewed and analysed providing a context for the review. Subsequently four themes have emerged namely Objectives of MHs, Format, Location and Operational Factors. Key findings include the importance of stakeholder engagement in design and location choices, the significance of branding, and connection with existing travel infrastructure including public transport and active travel. Additionally, the provision of amenities is a MH scheme commonality promoting usage and integration into the local landscape. From this detailed review of the state of MHs a future research agenda has been identified including further defining MHs, understanding origin and applicability of MH objectives, day to day operations, policy transfer implications and further MH individual and network evaluations.