Attitude and accessibility on transit users’ travel satisfaction: A person-environment fit perspective

Abstract

Transit users’ travel satisfaction is important for assessing the performance of transit-oriented development. Existing studies emphasize the role of service attributes, built environment, and travel attitudes in predicting transit users’ travel satisfaction. However, few studies have jointly examined the effects of environment and attitudes based on sophisticated theoretical foundations. This paper aims to narrow this gap by examining the interaction effects of transit accessibility and attitudes towards transit on transit users' travel satisfaction from a person-environment fit perspective. The data is from a household survey conducted in Shanghai in 2018. Using polynomial regression analysis with response surface methodology , the study finds that interaction effects significantly influence the affective component of travel satisfaction, but not the cognitive component. Public transit users’ travel satisfaction increases with the congruence between attitude and accessibility. Dissonance is not necessarily a bad situation and may improve travel satisfaction when there is an increase in either factor.