An Neven

Documenting outdoor activity and travel behaviour in persons with neurological conditions using travel diaries and GPS tracking technology: a pilot study in multiple sclerosis

Abstract Objective: Persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) experience several physical and cognitive problems which can influence their travel behaviour. This study aimed to document the number of activities, the activity type and the transport mode of the related trips that are daily made by PwMS. Their outdoor activity and travel behaviour was studied in relation to disease-related disability. Methods: Thirty six PwMS (Expanded Disability Status Scale, EDSS, 1.5–8.0, age 27–63) and 24 healthy controls (age 25–62) were studied, using activity-related travel diaries and GPS tracking devices. Information about overall disability characteristics was gained by standard clinical tests and questionnaires. PwMS were further divided in three subgroups based on EDSS cut-off scores 4.5 and 6.5. Results: Persons with mild ambulatory dysfunction (EDSS 1.5–4.0, n = 17) showed similar travel characteristics to healthy controls, with few restrictions during travelling. Statistically significant changes in activity and travel behaviour were detected in the moderate (EDSS 4.5–6.5, n = 8) and severe MS subgroups (EDSS > 6.5–8.0, n = 11) compared with healthy controls: driving independently became less frequent, significant more trips were made with company and the duration of performed activities had increased. Conclusion: The combination of self-reported travel diaries and objective GPS loggers offered detailed information about the actual outdoor travel behaviour of PwMS, which was significantly changed in PwMS with EDSS greater than 4. Implications for Rehabilitation Activity and travel behaviour changes significantly in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) with moderate to severe disability (EDSS greater than 4). Behavioural therapy could help to develop better coping and problem-solving skills to overcome anxiety in the making of trips by persons with MS with a mild severity. Enhancing community environments could serve as a promising approach to increase the outdoor participation of persons with (more severe) impairments.

Towards an Agent-based Model for Demand-Responsive Transport Serving Thin Flows

Abstract Low volume traveler flows cause problems for public transportation (PT) providers. The Smart-PT project aims to find out how such flows can be combined to increase the service provider viability. The capability to conceive multi-modal trips is fundamental in that context and is modeled by the Trip Sequence Composer (TSC) concept. A TSC is an essential component of the travelers brain, of the customer support operated by collective transport providers, of trip advisers in websites etc. We present a simulation model design to evaluate the effect of cooperating TSCs on the viability of demand responsive collective transport providers. While obeying specific regulations, specialized services targeting mobility impaired people can also serve regular requests in order to save fleet and personnel costs. All stakeholders are assumed to optimize their private objectives and none of them has global perfect knowledge.

Data Quality of Travel Behavior Studies: Factors Influencing the Reporting Rate of Self-Reported and GPS-Recorded Trips in Persons with Disabilities

In persons with disabilities, the accuracy of self-report data collection methods in travel behavior studies may be influenced by disease-related dysfunctions. The present study determines in detail whether disease-related physical, cognitive or psychosocial impairments contribute to the reporting rate of subjective self-report travel diaries and objective GPS tracking devices, besides socio-demographic and trip-related characteristics. The reporting rate of both data collection methods was analyzed in 108 persons with Multiple Sclerosis with various disability severities during a seven-day data collection period. The results demonstrated that there was only limited influence of disease-related dysfunctions on the reporting rate of both data collection methods, as well as only limited significant differences between subgroups with various disability severity. Overall, the data quality of the diary was higher than the quality of the GPS data: 66% of the trips were reported in both data collection methods, while overall more than one fifth of all trips were forgotten and not registered by GPS, and 11% were forgotten and not reported in the diary. Self-report travel diaries seemed to be more suitable for persons with a higher disability severity, as these persons more often forgot to take their GPS device with them when making a trip because of several organizational issues related to their mobility limitations.

Viamigo: Monitoring Tool to Support Independent Travel by Persons with Intellectual Disabilities

Persons with intellectual disabilities (PwIDs) often aspire to more social inclusion by engaging in more community activities but encounter social barriers when traveling independently. Therefore, ...Persons with intellectual disabilities (PwIDs) often aspire to more social inclusion by engaging in more community activities but encounter social barriers when traveling independently. Therefore, PwIDs are often accompanied by family members, friends, or volunteers. In order to both support the independent outdoor mobility of PwIDs themselves and reduce the caregivers’ burden, the geographic information system–based application “Viamigo” was developed (www.viamigo.be), which allows a personal coach to monitor an individual in real time from a distance. The goal is to teach PwIDs a known individual route that they can accomplish independently while being monitored by a personal coach, caregiver, family member, or friend who is taking care of the individual making the trip. Viamigo determines the location of the user and compares this in time and space within a predetermined range and automatically sends notifications to the coach in case the user deviates from the route, travels at an incorrect speed, or enters or leaves a safe or dangerous zone, among other factors. Besides this on-route functionality, Viamigo also allows the creation of geofences around destinations (to monitor whether the user stays within a predefined zone) and emergency tracking. The initial results are promising: PwIDs successfully used Viamigo for a heterogeneous set of trips performed by several travel modes (bus, cycling, and walking) for several activity purposes (both daily recurrent trips to the day center and trips for shopping, social, and recreational purposes) and for different distances.

CTASS: a framework for contextualized travel behavior advice to cardiac patients

Abstract Current cardiac rehabilitation programs intending to increase physical activity of patients suffer from a lack of knowledge about effective patient’s activity profiles and their associated behavior. This leads to the fact that therapies are not completely tailored to the patient causing non-adherence to the proposed treatment schedule. An important potential for increasing the physical activity level of patients is available in their daily travel behavior that can be made more active. To validate this potential, we propose a Cardiac Travel Advice Support System (CTASS) digital framework for contextualized travel behavior advice to cardiac patients. The patient’s travel behaviour is monitored by a smartphone application which objectify their daily activity schedules. The data from the schedules is analysed semi-automatically by the CTASS. Based on this analysis the doctor can provide a treatment that is personalized to the specific contexts of the patient. In this way, we try to optimize their travel-related physical activity and detect non-adherence to the therapy.