Comparing social media sentiment with cycling infrastructure reports: a comprehensive analysis of micromobility perceptions in multiple Spanish Urban Areas

Abstract

Citizens' opinions and perceptions are important for developing measures that promote micromobility. This study uses geolocated Twitter data to analyze the perceptions of residents in 14 Spanish urban areas. The proposed workflow involves downloading and storing tweets related to these mobility services, conducting spatiotemporal analysis by transport mode, validating results with data from Spain’s Ministry of Transport, exploring the spatial influence of demographic, socioeconomic, and mobility variables, performing sentiment analysis to score each city, and comparing the results with ratings from the Spanish Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU). The findings show a very high spatial correlation between the distribution of Twitter users and official data sources, as well as a direct relationship with the working-age population and commute times. The overall score of the urban areas is a low pass and is related to whether they are located on the coast or inland, with only two cities achieving scores above 7 out of 10. This suggests that the physical aspects of geography or urban layout influence perceptions of micromobility.