Transportation Systems in Three Colombian Intermediate Cities: Identifying the Gap with the Smart, Sustainable, and Responsive Cities Paradigm

This study examines how the transportation systems of three Colombian intermediate cities—Tunja, Barrancabermeja, and Neiva—diverge from the smart, sustainable, and responsive mobility paradigm. The analysis addresses a broader question: why global expectations for cyber-physical integration, low-carbon mobility, and adaptive governance remain difficult to achieve in resource-constrained urban contexts. Using a comparative, multi-dimensional assessment of modal structures, infrastructure continuity, digital readiness, environmental performance, and equity outcomes, the study evaluates each city through five analytical dimensions. The results show consistent systemic gaps: limited digital and analytical capacity, persistent fossil-fuel dependence, weak multimodal integration, fragmented governance, and uneven accessibility across socioeconomic groups. These gaps indicate that the challenge is not a lack of mobility but the absence of coordinated systems capable of transforming diverse practices into integrated, data-driven, and environmentally aligned networks. The findings demonstrate that territorial and socioeconomic contexts shape distinct expressions of shared structural constraints, underscoring that smart and sustainable mobility depends on aligning technological innovation with governance maturity, institutional interoperability, and lived mobility realities. The study provides an empirical baseline and a conceptual lens for rethinking mobility transitions in intermediate cities.