Suci Megawati, Tjitjik Rahaju, Kuntala Chowdhury, Muhammad Alfarizi
Urbanisation across Indonesia’s metropolitan regions has intensified pressure on transport systems, manifesting in persistent congestion, environmental degradation, and structural dependence on private vehicles. Addressing these challenges requires coordinated alignment between transport policy frameworks and the deployment of emerging mobility technologies. This study investigates how policy–technology integration shapes sustainable public transport use within metropolitan transport systems, with particular attention to the role of Urban Density in conditioning behavioural responses. A cross-sectional dataset was collected from 500 public transport users across eleven officially designated metropolitan regions in Indonesia. Structural relationships among key constructs were examined using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The analysis demonstrates that both transport policy instruments and digital mobility adoption exert significant influences on perceived service quality and user disposition towards public transport. Among these factors, perceived service quality emerges as the most direct determinant of sustained usage behaviour. In addition, Urban Density is found to significantly moderate the linkage between user disposition and actual behaviour, indicating that high-density metropolitan contexts strengthen the translation of preferences into consistent transport choices. The findings highlight the importance of integrating regulatory measures with digital mobility infrastructures to improve system-level performance and user experience in public transport networks. From a policy perspective, the study underscores the need for metropolitan authorities to adopt coordinated governance strategies that align technological deployment with service provision and spatial planning conditions. These insights contribute to ongoing discussions on sustainable urban mobility by situating behavioural outcomes within a broader transport system and policy integration framework. © 2026 by the author(s). Licensee Acadlore Publishing Services Limited, Hong Kong. This article can be downloaded for free, and reused and quoted with a citation of the original published version, under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Social Science and Political Science, Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Surabaya, 60231, Indonesia; Department of Gender and Development Studies, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, 5404, Bangladesh; Department of Digital Business, BINUS Business School, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, 11480, Indonesia
