Abstract
Buses represent the main mode for intercity passenger transportation in China. In recent years, a multichannel ticketing strategy has been widely employed in the bus passenger transportation industry. However, the mechanisms and key drivers of the channels through which bus passengers purchase tickets are underexplored. Thus, the aim of this study is to empirically apply an integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) approach to analyze ticketing channel choice behavior and the heterogeneous preferences of bus passengers. The variables incorporated in the model include the socioeconomic characteristics of passengers, trip attributes, and latent attitudes with 12 ordinal indicators. Based on the data of 1800 participants collected from the city of Beijing, China, this study develops a ticketing channel choice ICLV model merging a discrete choice model with a structural equation model. The key factors that affect the channel preference are further discussed through a comparison with a conventional multinomial logit (MNL) model. The results reveal that the three attitudinal variables have a significant influence on ticketing channel choice. Furthermore, this study indicates that perceptual differences exist due to various socioeconomic and trip characteristics. Personal privacy is a major obstacle that prevents passengers from choosing online channels, especially for older passengers and those with lower education.
Highlights
Over the last decade, the multichannel strategy has become widely employed in various fields
These methods are integrated in hybrid choice models (HCMs), which intend to fill the gap between discrete choice models and behavioral theories by illustrating explicitly unobserved elements of major cognitive processes [18, 21,22,23]
This study provides a first attempt to employ an integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) model which merges classic choice models with the structural equation model (SEM) for latent variables in order to deal with ticketing channel issues
Summary
The multichannel strategy has become widely employed in various fields It has been targeted from the perspective of the transportation industry in recent years. Taking the example of bus passenger transportation in China, there was only a single channel (counter service at the station) from which passengers purchased tickets for a long period of time. In order to overcome the disadvantages resulting from the limitation of utilizing only a single ticketing channel, together with the integration of modern information technology, bus passenger transportation agencies have developed multiple distribution channels to reserve tickets, such as service counters and ticket vending machines (tvms) at stations, ticketing agencies, websites, mobile apps, etc. It is believed that the utilization of the multichannel strategy for ticketing is conducive to the sustainable development of public transportation and to passengers’ travel behavior. To provide appropriate and quality services, transportation organizations should understand the different factors affecting passengers’ choice and preference in their utilization of distribution channels
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