Risk Reduction by Urban Evacuation: A Review of Mobility Solutions for Users with Special Needs

Recent events (e.g., pandemic situation produced by COVID-19) underline the necessity to adopt flexible form of urban transport planning. It is necessary to increase the knowledge about transport systems in emergency conditions, for supporting the identification of tailored solutions aimed at risk reduction, for events with delayed effects in the times (e.g., explosion of a tank for dangerous good transport). By focusing on the exposure risk component, the main action is the planning of the evacuation procedures for reducing the number of people present in a dangerous area. This implies a segmentation of people according to their specific needs in evacuation conditions. This paper reviews the existing literature by identifying mobility solutions for people without personal transportation potential affected by effects higher than autonomous travelers. Transit options could be a feasible solution for supporting evacuation of special needs users (e.g., senior citizens, people with disabilities and other medical conditions, children). However, this implies a great effort to adapt the fixed characteristics of collective transport services (stops, routes, capacity) to flexible spatiotemporal users’ needs. Despite the scientific and practical efforts, the urban evacuation requires more insights regarding this issue. It is necessary to evaluate the contribution of mobility solutions for transit-dependent populations on different issues (e.g., transport emergency personnel and equipment to an incident site; during recovery phases, after the emergency has passed). The proposed review provides an overview of transit solutions adapted for evacuation conditions with a specific reference to special needs users. The proposed work helps support risk managers and public decision-makers involved in the emergency planning process.