Building CapaCITY/É for sustainable transportation: protocol for an implementation science research program in healthy cities.

INTRODUCTION: Improving sustainable transportation options will help cities tackle growing challenges related to population health, congestion, climate change and inequity. Interventions supporting active transportation face many practical and political hurdles. Implementation science aims to understand how interventions or policies arise, how they can be translated to new contexts or scales and who benefits. Sustainable transportation interventions are complex, and existing implementation science frameworks may not be suitable. To apply and adapt implementation science for healthy cities, we have launched our mixed-methods research programme, CapaCITY/É. We aim to understand how, why and for whom sustainable transportation interventions are successful and when they are not. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Across nine Canadian municipalities and the State of Victoria (Australia), our research will focus on two types of sustainable transportation interventions: all ages and abilities bicycle networks and motor vehicle speed management interventions. We will (1) document the implementation process and outcomes of both types of sustainable transportation interventions; (2) examine equity, health and mobility impacts of these interventions; (3) advance implementation science by developing a novel sustainable transportation implementation science framework and (4) develop tools for scaling up and scaling out sustainable transportation interventions. Training activities will develop interdisciplinary scholars and practitioners able to work at the nexus of academia and sustainable cities. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study received approval from the Simon Fraser University Office of Ethics Research (H22-03469). A Knowledge Mobilization Hub will coordinate dissemination of findings via a website; presentations to academic, community organisations and practitioner audiences; and through peer-reviewed articles.

Canadian transit agencies response to COVID-19: Understanding strategies, information accessibility and the use of social media.

Over the past few months, transit agencies across Canada have been rushed to implement a range of strategies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with no standardized guidelines to direct their efforts. This study explores the initial response of transit agencies serving the 25 most populous Canadian cities by understanding the distinct types of response measures implemented between March 1st and June 1st, 2020. It also explores to what extent information related to these measures was accessible and usable, and how transit agencies used social media to communicate their efforts to the public. To achieve these goals, a detailed review of Canadian transit agencies websites and social media accounts was performed. The findings suggest that larger transit agencies across Canada implemented the most measures to respond to COVID-19, but not necessarily provided the most accessible information regarding the measures. Overall, while all transit agencies reduced the offered service's frequency and capacity and enhanced vehicle cleaning, the implementation of other physical and communication measures varied considerably between agencies. Information related to the number of COVID-19 cases within the workforce was least accessible across agencies. Transit agencies' Twitter platforms were used more by larger agencies. While most of transit agencies tend to employ tweets that include some type of graphics, very few agencies employed videos and animations to communicate important information to the public. This paper provides transit planners and policymakers with comprehensive information regarding the initial response of Canadian transit agencies to maintain operations in such critical times.