The influence of consumer experience on the assessment of perceived transport accessibility in the metropolis

Abstract

Purpose: is to assess of the degree of influence of consumer experience, expressed in terms of the frequency of use of ground public transport services, on the perception of transport accessibility in Moscow by consumers of such services.Methods: the research hypotheses were tested on the basis of the dimensions of the perception of transport accessibility for 17 attributes. An online survey of the perception of transport accessibility in terms of these attributes was conducted on a representative sample of 1,500 observations in Moscow. The significance of the results was tested using the chi-square test at a significance level of 5%.Results: the first hypothesis was confirmed about the presence of a positive relationship between the variables "frequency of use" and "perception of the availability of ground urban public transport" for seventeen attributes. As part of testing the second hypothesis for 7 out of 17 attributes, differences in the assessments of the perception of transport accessibility of different categories of passengers depending on the frequency of transport use were revealed. The focus of researchers on the negative experience of consumers with different frequency of use of transport made it possible to identify two consumer segments with a higher proportion of dissatisfied consumers relative. Due to different consumer experience and the nature of consumer dissatisfaction the authors propose differentiated management and marketing solutions to improve the experience of these consumers and change their perception of transport accessibility in Moscow.Conclusions and Relevance: it has been proven that the perception of transport accessibility depends on consumer experience and frequency of use of Ground Urban Passenger Transport (GUPT) services. The optimal level of use of public transport services at which positive consumer experience is formed has been determined. The authors believe that digitization of the economy, remote work tendencies, and urban infrastructure planning will change the transport behavior of consumers, enabling passengers to reduce the number of trips, bringing them closer to the optimal level. Understanding the interrelation between the frequency of use of GUPT services and differences in consumer perceptions of individual attributes of transport accessibility allows us to make decisions on managing the transport behavior of different consumer segments.