Public transport systems in rapidly urbanizing Gulf cities confront the simultaneous challenge of decreasing emissions while guaranteeing equal access for riders, many of whom rely on transit for economic reasons. Sustainable smart city development necessitates bus services that are both efficient and sensitive to rider needs in adverse weather conditions. This study develops and evaluates a wellbeing-focused planning framework for Dubai’s bus network, filling gaps in prior research that primarily focuses on temperate, choice-based transport environments. The study uses Generalized Structured Component Analysis (GSCA) to analyze how Service Efficiency and Accessibility (SEA), Physical Environment and Passenger Comfort (PEPC), and Service Operations and Assurance (SOA) impact overall journey wellbeing, based on a cross-sectional survey of 491 riders collected from July–August 2024. Data were collected during peak summer conditions, and the analysis followed a structured workflow that operationalized the proposed constructs into measurable indicators and estimated both the measurement and structural components of the GSCA model to find planning relevant wellbeing drivers. The model shows a strong fit (FIT = 0.684; GFI = 0.991; SRMR = 0.056), with SEA (β = 0.504) having the greatest influence on wellbeing, followed by SOA (β = 0.344) and PEPC (β = 0.070). Affordability and information quality are key SEA metrics, highlighting the necessity of economic access and multilingual, real-time communication. Overall, the findings indicate that wellbeing is most strongly shaped by accessibility-oriented service experience attributes particularly affordability and information quality followed by operational assurance, while comfort-related conditions remain significant under high heat exposure during waiting and transfers. On the other hand, the research indicates that operational reliability helps mitigate environmental discomfort in hyper-arid areas. The report suggests focusing on equal prices, digital information accessibility, dependable operations, and climate-adaptive infrastructure to promote sustainable mobility and long-term public transport use.
Rahman et al. (Wed,) studied this question.