Social Determinants, Motivation, and Communication: How People Perceive and Choose Sustainable Mobility at a Local Level in Portugal
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is an interesting article related to sustainable mobility and the behavior of city dwellers. The problem is current and worthy of publication.
Substantive remarks:
1. In Chart No. 2, negative values don't make sense. Please remove -10 from the axis and double-check that the graph line does not go below the axis around 9/11/21. Please describe the axes correctly.
2. Can you show in Figures 3 - 10 in some way whether a given correlation is statistically significant? If so, I suggest making such a representation (e.g., using a symbol).
3. Can similar phenomena described in the article occur in other countries? I come from Eastern Europe, where climatic conditions do not allow bicycle use all year round. I propose to refer to the issue in the literature analysis and the summary.
Detailed/Editorial Notes:
1. Inappropriate citation style, inconsistent with MDPI guidelines.
2. In the entire article and the bibliography, the chemical formula of carbon dioxide is incorrectly given as CO2. It should be CO2 (number in subscript).
3. Line 173 - redundant underscore.
4. Line 199 - section title at the bottom of the page.
5. Line 231 - The name of the COVID-19 disease should be written in capital letters.
6. Line 246 - extra space.
7. Figure 11 - The description in the upper right corner is not in English.
Author Response
Substantive remarks:
1. In Chart No. 2, negative values don't make sense. Please remove -10 from the axis and double-check that the graph line does not go below the axis around 9/11/21. Please describe the axes correctly.
Chart nº 2: the values are corrected and the axes description is clearer.
- Can you show in Figures 3 - 10 in some way whether a given correlation is statistically significant? If so, I suggest making such a representation (e.g., using a symbol).
A new note is added in Figure 3 caption to explain the correlation shown between variables through the symbols used (lines, bubbles, colors, size and thickness).
A new note is added in Figure 10 to explain the correlation path shown in this figure.
A new note is added in Figure 11 to explain the correlation shown through the symbols used (squares, colors, and size) for this figure.
- Can similar phenomena described in the article occur in other countries? I come from Eastern Europe, where climatic conditions do not allow bicycle use all year round. I propose to refer to the issue in the literature analysis and the summary.
New lines 166-171 are added in literature analysis to refer to research efforts focusing on specific case studies from a limited set of regions and countries.
New lines 642-646 are added to propose further research to demonstrate differences in policies and choices between countries from the same region but with different climatic conditions when adopting sustainable urban mobility.
Detailed/Editorial Notes:
1. Inappropriate citation style, inconsistent with MDPI guidelines.
Citation style corrected
- In the entire article and the bibliography, the chemical formula of carbon dioxide is incorrectly given as CO2. It should be CO2(number in subscript).
Formula of carbon dioxide corrected to CO2
- Line 173 - redundant underscore.
Eliminated
- Line 199 - section title at the bottom of the page.
Corrected
- Line 231 - The name of the COVID-19 disease should be written in capital letters.
Corrected
- Line 246 - extra space.
Eliminated
- Figure 11 - The description in the upper right corner is not in English.
Corrected
Reviewer 2 Report
Title: The title of the paperwork clearly defines the main subject.
Abstract: The abstract clearly indicates the goal, method and key results of the research defined in the paper.
Introduction: The authors pointed out the impact of sustainable mobility on cities from an ecological aspect, as well as the goal and structure of the work. However, my proposal is to expand the introduction by defining the global importance of the mentioned social determinants and motivation and communication to the choice of sustainable mobility.
Existing research on behaviours and choices in transport, technology, sustainability, and behavioural change: The authors have provided a comprehensive review of the existing literature in this area, pointing out the importance of the use of e-bikes from an ecological aspect and significant impacts for their use. Also, the importance of PEB behavior is clearly presented, including communication and motivation when choosing sustainable mobility.
Analytical Framework: The authors presented the analytical framework of the study in a clear and comprehensive manner, with an adequate description of the applied models.
Methodology: In addition to the detailed description of data collection and analysis within the Bike4Me research, the proposal is to complete the Methodology with a questionnaire structure so that it is clearer to the readers how the research results were obtained. Also, it is suggested that the authors describe in more detail what the transport sector is like in Matosinhos and show the research areas.
Findings and discussion: The authors presented the results of the research in a comprehensive manner, however, a suggestion for improvement refers to Figure 2, where the axes on the graph need to be added. Also, it is not clear in the other pictures why different colors and their thicknesses are among the social determinants, so it would be good to clarify that.
Conclusions: In the conclusion of the paper, the authors gave a brief overview of the goal of the subject research and out the key results obtained in the research. The conclusion is comprehensive and contains all the necessary elements presented in the paper.
Author Response
Introduction: The authors pointed out the impact of sustainable mobility on cities from an ecological aspect, as well as the goal and structure of the work. However, my proposal is to expand the introduction by defining the global importance of the mentioned social determinants and motivation and communication to the choice of sustainable mobility.
New lines 58-66 are added in introduction to explain the importance of social determinants and motivation and communication to the choice of sustainable mobility at local level.
Methodology: In addition to the detailed description of data collection and analysis within the Bike4Me research, the proposal is to complete the Methodology with a questionnaire structure so that it is clearer to the readers how the research results were obtained. Also, it is suggested that the authors describe in more detail what the transport sector is like in Matosinhos and show the research areas.
The new summary structure of the questionnaires & interviews is added in line 265.
The share of transportation in Matosinhos is added in lines 285-286.
Findings and discussion: The authors presented the results of the research in a comprehensive manner, however, a suggestion for improvement refers to Figure 2, where the axes on the graph need to be added. Also, it is not clear in the other pictures why different colors and their thicknesses are among the social determinants, so it would be good to clarify that.
Figure 2 is corrected.
A new note is added in Figure 3 caption to explain the correlation shown between variables through the symbols used (lines, bubbles, colors, size and thickness).
A new note is added in Figure 10 to explain the correlation path shown in this figure.
A new note is added in Figure 11 to explain the correlation shown through the symbols used (squares, colors, and size) for this figure.
Reviewer 3 Report
The authors may include more quantitative findings in the abstract.
The findings need to be discussed adequately in light of past research from other developing and developed countries.
A literature summary table will be beneficial for the readers in understanding the current state of art and will be useful in clearly highlighting the contributions of this work.
Author Response
The authors may include more quantitative findings in the abstract.
Our analysis relevant to the research objective is primarily based in qualitative analysis correlation. We do have quantitative findings but they are not central to the objectives of this research, therefore, we would like to keep the quantitative details in the main text.
The findings need to be discussed adequately in light of past research from other developing and developed countries.
New lines 642-646 are added on further research to build a comparative base for developed and developing country contexts when adopting sustainable urban mobility.
A literature summary table will be beneficial for the readers in understanding the current state of art and will be useful in clearly highlighting the contributions of this work.
New lines 166-171 are added in literature analysis to focus that the specific case studies reviewed come from a limited set of regions and countries, as this work is not a systematic literature review.
