Public transportation is a critical component of urban mobility, providing affordable and sustainable transportation options for individuals and communities. However, the accessibility and usability of first mile-last mile (FLM) connections, which refer to the distance between a person's origin or destination and the nearest transit station, greatly impact the performance of public transportation systems. This review article focuses on the integration of bike-sharing systems as a potential solution to improve FLM connectivity to public transit. The research methodology follows a literature review approach, including qualitative and quantitative studies related to FLM destinations and cycling in the context of urban planning and transportation planning. Eleven studies were identified through a search of three bibliographic databases including Web of Science, Transport Research International Documentation (TRID), and Scopus. The inclusion and exclusion criteria limit the review to English language academic literature from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The findings indicate that density, spatial proximity and connectivity to transit hubs, land-use mixture, and proximity to the city center, positively affect the integration of bike-sharing systems and public transit. While, the correlation between bike sharing and public transportation ridership is complex and subject to the context, with several elements affecting the results. The results of the review contribute to the understanding of the current literature on FLM destinations and public transportation, and the potential of bike-sharing systems as a solution to address FLM transportation challenges. Keywords: First mile-last mile, literature review, public transit, cycling, bike sharing

Along with passenger cars and heavy-duty vehicles like buses and trucks, the electrification of transport also involves lighter vehicles like mopeds, motorbikes and e-bikes. For commuting within urban environments, last-mile logistics and shared mobility, light electric vehicles (LEVs) are increasing in popularity globally. With low operating and maintenance costs, zero tailpipe emissions and the declining total costs of ownership, LEVs are very promising for commercial applications. Aside from costs, there have been other challenges associated with light electric vehicles: range, charging speeds and the availability of public charging infrastructure. The use of battery swapping stations with interoperable batteries presents a solution for these issues, but has only been used at small scales, limited to individual models or brands. A lack of standardization of batteries for LEVs has remained a barrier for the wider scaled implementation of swapping, along with the capital costs associated with swapping stations. However, in recent years, battery swapping for mopeds has proved to be very popular in Asian markets. In Taiwan, which has the world’s highest density of scooters - six in every ten people own one -battery swapping stations already outnumber gas stations. Similar developments are ramping up in India, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines. In Europe, where passenger vehicles dominate the discussion on transport electrification, standards organizations are moving quickly to formulate a battery swapping standard for mopeds. Vehicles with swappable batteries have already been released in the market, with the expectation of both an upcoming standard as well as swapping stations in densely populated urban areas. The implementation of battery swapping stations opens a door for new business models, not just related to shared mobility and logistics, but also related to energy storage and grid services This paper gives a global overview of the rapidly moving developments in battery swapping for mopeds and their ongoing entry in the European market.

The City of Amsterdam faces critical challenges concerning private car ownership and parking space utilization. With limited public space, the dominance of private cars and their associated parking spots poses a significant issue. To address these concerns and align with its policy goals, which include reducing car traffic, preserving historical infrastructure, and improving residents’ quality of life, Amsterdam aimed to optimize shared car usage. In 2023, the city planned to implement new shared mobility policies to adjust the number of shared cars. So far, the only guidance for policymakers is the different literature studies on the impact of shared cars on private car ownership. However, the range includes results between 2 and 24, which hardly gives any real decision-making support. With a lot of data available on both the public and private sides, there is an opportunity to create data-driven insights reflecting the Amsterdam-specific opportunities. Rebel, in collaboration with the City of Amsterdam, developed a sophisticated, zip-code-level data-driven behavior model. This model determines the impact of adding new shared cars to various neighborhoods within the city. To build this model, a diverse range of data sources was utilized, including data from shared car providers, surveys, demographic and socioeconomic information, a simulated population representing Amsterdam inhabitants, relevant literature, and interviews. The primary outputs of this model included: 1) Car Replacement Ratio (CRR): Calculations of how many private cars can be replaced by adding one extra shared car in each neighborhood. 2) Untapped Potential Demand: Estimations of the number of potential shared car users and their locations within the city. 3) Additional Shared Cars Required: Determination of the number of shared cars needed to meet untapped demand. 4) Saturation Limit: Identifying the point at which adding more shared cars no longer leads to a reduction in private car ownership.

The combination of Public Transport and Shared Mobility Services has the potential to reduce the door-to-door travel times of passengers and offer a competitive alternative to the use of private vehicles in urban areas. Past studies have shown that there is significant potential for a modal shift towards public transport if the first/last-mile trip parts of passenger trips are performed by well-synchronized shared mobility services. However, public transport and shared mobility service providers do not actively integrate their services because they plan their daily operations in isolation. This results in inefficiencies at several levels. At the strategic level, the designs of networks are not well-integrated as the locations of public transport stops and the locations of shared mobility stations (i.e., docking stations) are not in close proximity. At the tactical planning level, the timetables of public transport services are not well-synchronized with the shared mode services resulting in increased passenger transfer times. This particularly hinders the efficiency of the first/last-mile parts of passenger trips and increases the door-to-door passenger travel times. At the operational level, passenger demand and travel time variations during the day can lead to further inefficiencies that can hinder the synchronization of public transport and shared modes to the detriment of travelers. In addition to the above, the different fare collection processes of public transport and shared mobility operators result in a fragmented payment system that adds one more barrier to travelers. We present a framework for the network design, scheduling, real-time control and ticketing integration of public transport and shared mobility services that will be tested and deployed in 9 cities across Europe with the aim of increasing the use of New and Shared Modes by 25%. The framework includes optimization and simulation-based approaches for network design, frequency settings, timetabling, vehicle routing, shared mode rebalancing, and rescheduling with special emphasis on the reduction of the door-to-door travel times of passengers in urban areas.