Mobility Services and Accessibility to Public and Local Services in Swedish Rural Areas

Abstract: This report aims to study the difficulties when approaching accessibility and mobility challenges in rural areas and explore how rural areas might have been approached with urban methods. Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is a renowned concept when addressing accessibility and mobility development in both rural and urban areas. Car ownership and habitual car use are topics that are relevant in the research fields of sustainable transportation and urban development and has shaped the development of MaaS methods. One question is if rural MaaS methods can be developed to fit an unique rural context more specifically.  To add knowledge about this a theoretical thematic analysis was made, based on four semi-structured interviews about how the interviewees perceive their accessibility, and reflections about their current situation in their settlement regarding accessibility. The results show that the settlements have both differences and resemblances regarding accessibility by bicycling, walking, car travel, and feeling of belongingness to their local community. One unexpected discovery is that the sense of belongingness and identity is correlated with the perceived accessibility to public and local services.  Finally, a suggestion for how to adapt MaaS to a rural area by using the data collected from the interviewees is presented with an example. The suggested method could be a tool to identify objectives and services that can be applied for every rural area by using Local Accessibility Index in combination with a categorization of the studied municipality.