Bus Users Research Articles

Intra-Urban Spatial Disparities in User Satisfaction with Public Transport Services

Knowing public transport service’s user satisfaction is essential to maintaining and increasing its quality and demand. Several studies have analysed the factors influencing users’ satisfaction, considering their perceptions of specific attributes of the service. However, other aspects, such as the spatial distribution of users, i.e., their origin neighbourhoods, could significantly affect their satisfaction with the service, showing social inequity patterns. This paper proposes a new methodology to evaluate whether these spatial differences in satisfaction exist. Using the city of Santander (Spain) as an example, ordered probit models have been estimated, linking the bus users’ overall satisfaction with variables that include their perceptions of the service and socio-demographic characteristics, and with dummy variables which classify each trip according to its neighbourhood origin. Our results confirm the existence of variations in satisfaction depending on the area of the city under study. In addition, user characterization variables, such as age, which were not significant when considering the city as a whole, proved to be influential in some areas. The estimated model, considering spatial differences, had a higher goodness of fit than that of models not taking zoning into account, and reproduced the overall satisfaction pattern presented in the study area with less error. The consideration of spatial differences in the modelling process enabled the detection of priority areas in which to implement measures to improve service quality and equity, thus increasing the use of public transport and supporting the promotion of a more sustainable mobility.

Exploring how perceptive differences impact the current public transport usage and support for future public transport extension and usage: A case study of Melbourne's tramline extension

Although users' perceptions on public transport have been long identified by researchers as important factors in travel mode choice, limited studies exist to examine the impact of perceptions on support for future public transport extension and subsequent usage. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the effect of perceived experience of public transport use on users’ support for the future extension and usage of public transport services.An analysis of survey data on users’ perceptions of current public transport usage and support for a future tramline extension and usage in Melbourne, Australia, shows that expected tramline extension usage frequency is significantly related to whether users support the extension. The modal shift after the tramline extension will most likely come from current train and bus users. Further, it was observed that factors such as travel time to weekly activity, travel costs to weekly activity, mode of nearest public transport to home, walk time to nearest public transport, the existence of a tramline in the suburb and feelings of safety on trams need to be given due consideration when planning for extension of tramlines. The findings from our study are valuable resources for planners and decision makers involved in investment in public transport services.

Acceptability and perceived feasibility of strategies to increase public transport use for physical activity gain - A mixed methods study.

Public transport (PT) users typically accumulate more physical activity (PA) than motor vehicle users. This mixed methods study aimed to determine acceptability and perceived effectiveness of strategies to increase bus use for PA gain in a regional Australian setting. In a 2017 online survey, Tasmanian adults (n=1091) rated the likelihood of increasing their bus use according to ten hypothetical strategies (fare-, incentives-, information- or infrastructure-based). Three focus groups and five interviews (n=31) included infrequent bus users from the survey to determine reasons for strategy preferences and potential impact on PA. The top three strategies in the survey, with supporting rationale from qualitative data, were: provision of real-time bus information ("…because I can better plan…"); bus-only lanes ("…it just speeds the whole thing up…") and employee incentives/rewards for example bus fare credits ("…it really comes down to money…"). Full-time students favoured cost-saving strategies most and residents in outer suburbs favoured infrastructure-based strategies most. Qualitative data indicated that potential for enhanced certainty, efficiency or cost-savings drove strategy preferences and some strategies may lead to PA gain (eg through the location of Park and Ride facilities). Real-time information, bus-only lanes and employee incentives/rewards appear most promising for increasing bus use in this population, but tailoring strategies may be required. Discrete PT enhancement strategies may result in PA gain. SO WHAT?: Increasing PA through transport behaviour has been underexplored. The potential for PA gain through greater PT use and discrete PT use enhancement strategies is an important public health consideration.

Evaluating methods for measuring daily walking to public transport: Balancing accuracy and data availability

BackgroundQuantifying physical activity accumulated through daily commuting is challenging due to the scarcity of detailed data, especially for public transport trips. Using Montreal, Canada as a case study, this paper measures and compares an individual's daily amount of walking to and from public transport in their regular commute to work using two datasets and two methods. MethodsThe first method used urban level detailed origin-destination microdata. Distances walked to and from public transport stations were measured using trip details provided from the survey. The second method used open data including commuting flows obtained from census data. Public transport trips for each flow were modeled using a fastest route algorithm applied to General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data obtained from public transport operators. Walking distances were then extracted from these trip paths. Multilevel mixed-effect regression modeling was used to identify the determinants of total walking when using both methods. A sensitivity analysis was then used to derive an adjustment table for those who wish to use open data to estimate walking. ResultsFor commuter train users 471 m must be added to walking estimates obtained from the commuting flows data, while negative adjustments are required for subway users (122 m), city bus users (366 m), suburban bus users (516 m), and peripheral bus users (1186 m). ConclusionsThe methodology presented in this study provides researchers and professionals in other cities without access to detailed origin-destination survey data with a guide to use open data to accurately estimate total walking distances accumulated in a daily commute by public transport.

Measuring situations that stress public bus users in Mexico: a case study of Cuernavaca, Morelos

This paper purports to determine the elements involved in using public transportation that have a direct impact on the stress levels of human beings. Its main purpose is to establish which aspects in the daily use of the public transportation system stress passengers. In order to measure these elements a two phase study was implemented. It comprised the elaboration and validation of a measuring scale to evaluate these issues. The scale created thus, produced excellent numbers throughout the entire process, yielding quite significant indicators in the Confirmatory Factor Analysis, hence becoming a good tool for evaluating stress in public transportation in Mexico.

Likelihood of Motorcyclists Transferring to Safer Mode of Transport in Cairo, Egypt

Road traffic injuries and mortality are mainly caused by motorcycle crashes. Practically, 50% of people who meet their death in road traffic accidents (RTAs) are motorcyclists. The issue is increasingly articulated in progressing nations where the use of motorcycles has gained popularity in the past decades. Moreover, death and fatalities caused by accidents involving motorcyclists are also in the rise due to the increasing trend. Hence, motorcyclists are encouraged to use alternative modes of transportation that are safer in the attempt to minimise losses. As a result, a policy ought to be created to enhance urban transportation service and control motorcycle proprietorship. The current research that lays the groundwork aims to contribute a more elaborated analysis on motorcycle user mode decision conduct as well as an excellent comprehension of the conceivable efforts that can be taken to support motorcyclists to shift to a safer mode of transportation, particularly bus. In the current research work, the binary logit mode choice model was created for two elective modes in order to distinguish the separate practices of motorcyclists and bus users and assess their reactions to a situation that can minimize both time and expenses involved in bus travel. In addition, it should be noted that this paper surveyed a total of 327 travellers from Greater Cairo Region (GCR) in Egypt, the bus users were identified through revealed preference, while the motorcyclists were identified through revealed and stated preference surveys. In this case, travel time, travel cost, age, sexual orientation, income level, trip purpose, education level, and privacy significantly influence motorcycle user mode decision conduct. The likelihood of motorcyclists to utilize the use of buses was additionally analyzed dependent on a situation of minimized bus travel time and travel cost. These elements are very important in a program that attempts to draw in motorcyclists to utilize public transport, particularly bus. The outcomes can help the process of decision making on all levels in assigning the necessary assets prudently for the advancement of urban transportation services, reduced number of road traffic crashes, and increased road safety. This examination, which is the first of its sort in Egypt, assesses the model choice behaviour for motorcyclists.

Citizens’ opinion about investment in public transport projects in cities

In recent times, the increasing demand for mobility has given rise to new projects for improved public transport (PT) infrastructures. Such is the case of Andalucía (Spain) where, since 2004, the transit networks were improved and new underground and light rail systems were built. These investments were made without taking into account the opinion of the citizens. In this context, this paper expounds the results of a telephone survey conducted in 2015 to record citizens’ opinions about the investment funneled into local transport infrastructures. The responses were analyzed through decision trees, in order to identify groups of homogeneous characteristics and common opinion. The results indicate that most citizens believed investment to have been insufficient, even though nearly half the respondents affirmed the PT infrastructures in their city were adequate. The results of the two majority opinion groups showed that: when citizens believe the PT infrastructures of their city are not adequate, and they are not satisfied with key attributes of the PT, they hold investment to be insufficient; in contrast, if citizens describe the PT infrastructure as adequate, they appraise key aspects and support the use of public funding for financing the PT, then they are satisfied with the investment made. Furthermore, some decision rules, and the most influential variables in the study problem (PT infrastructures adequacy, coverage, being a suburban bus user or not, and the support to use public funding for PT) were identified.

Benefits of transport subsidisation: Comparing findings from a customer perception survey and Most Significant Change Technique interviews

Background: An evaluation of a transport subsidisation programme in the Western Cape, South Africa, was undertaken to capture the outcomes and benefits of the service from the perspective of the bus user. Objectives: The objective of this article was to compare the findings from the adopted parallel mixed-methods design that included a perception survey and the Most Significant Change (MSC) technique. The article presented the advantages of each approach and reflected on the benefits and challenges in applying the MSC technique. Method: Data on the intended outcomes of the Provincial Transport Operations Grant programme were collected from 458 commuters on four bus routes through a structured close-ended questionnaire. The MSC technique was applied to collect 69 stories of change that captured changes regarded as most significant by beneficiaries of the public transport subsidy. Results: It was found that the survey better captured the intended and predetermined objectives of the programme, while the large response group allowed for comparisons and cross-tabulations. The MSC interviews better captured the real-life experience of participants and identified the benefits most valued by commuters, including outcomes not specifically anticipated by the programme. It also served to clarify contradicting responses or ratings on the closed-ended questionnaire and informed further bivariate analysis of the structured questionnaire data. Conclusion: To maximise benefits from the MSC technique, sufficient time is needed to solicit value responses from respondents, while decision-makers should allow time for multiple iterations and discussions at different levels of the hierarchy.

The underlying effect of public transport reliability on users’ satisfaction

Service reliability has an important impact on the satisfaction stated by public transport users with the service they receive. The main source of unreliability is found in headway variance, which also affects waiting times and distributes passengers unevenly across vehicles. However, it is still unclear how headway irregularity, with its impact in waiting, crowdedness and reliability, affect travellers’ service satisfaction. Different stated preference studies have identified non-linear impacts produced by overcrowding. However, none of these studies is directly related to users’ satisfaction evaluation. In this study, we investigate the existence of this non-linearity in users’ satisfaction caused by both the crowding level and the number of denied boardings through a post-service satisfaction survey of bus and metro users. An Ordered Logit Model was estimated, accounting for sample heteroscedasticity and preference heterogeneity. Overall, there is a significant and negative perception of the bus mode, keeping all other attributes equal. For users under 35 years old, comfort experienced almost always plays an important role in service satisfaction, while for those over 35 years old women are significantly more sensitive to this attribute. Most important, crowding has a negative and non-linear impact on how passengers evaluate their travel satisfaction. Using a Likert-type scale, this curve is convex. This relationship between crowding and satisfaction might bias service planning and delivery if performance indicators associated to service are not properly weighted by the number of passengers served. Improving level of service indicators in this direction might provide public transport agencies a clearer and more accurate perception of the actual users’ experience.

Steering short-term demand for car-sharing: a mode choice and policy impact analysis by trip distance

Car-sharing could have substantial benefits. However, there is not enough evidence about if more people choosing car-sharing would reduce private car usage or public transport demand. This work aims to bring forward some insights by studying short-term car-sharing choice behavior. A mode choice analysis is conducted first followed by a simulation analysis to evaluate modal substitution pattern. Policy implications are obtained in terms of the possible measures that could effectively bring down private car usage. The case study is Taiyuan-China; stated and revealed preference data are collected. Mixed nested logit models are developed to study the pooled SP/RP data. The analysis is conducted separately for a shorter trip case (2–5 km) and a longer trip case (more than 5 km) to examine if results would differ by distance. It is found that raising the cost of private car usage (travel cost, parking cost) should be prioritized for shorter trips since car is more difficult to be substituted when trip distance increases. Shorter trips also need such direct measures to help suppress the demand for private car when promoting a car-sharing service; otherwise car-sharing would attract more bus users instead. Longer trips need a more effective solution to bring down private car usage and that is discovered as making car-sharing service more appealing so that it can serve as a practical substitute to private car. A number of informative indicators (e.g. willingness to pay for travel time savings, direct and cross point elasticity) are also derived to enrich the findings.

Investigating users' preferences for Low Emission Buses: Experiences from Europe's largest hydrogen bus fleet

• We investigate bus users' preferences for emission reduction in bus travel. • We conduct a Discrete Choice Experiment amongst Aberdeen bus users. • We make use of a natural experiment – the Aberdeen Hydrogen Bus Project – to examine the role of direct experience in preferences. • Bus users place a higher value in the reduction of local pollutants over greenhouse gas emissions. • Increasing experience using a hydrogen bus has an effect on preferences for the comfort and bus emissions attributes.

Understanding factors influencing public transport passengers\u2019 pre-travel information-seeking behaviour

This paper investigates factors influencing public transport passengers’ pre-travel information-seeking behaviours in a British urban environment. Public transport traveller surveys were conducted to better understand the journey stages at which information was sought and the information sources used. A multivariate explanatory model of pre-travel information-seeking behaviour was developed using binomial logistic regression. Explanatory factors considered include socio-demographics, trip context, frequency of public transport use, information sources used, and smartphone ownership and use. Findings suggest that travel behaviour (5 + trips weekly, and < 1 trip weekly), socio-demographics (unemployment/unknown employment), trip context (journey planning stages, mode of transport), and preferred information sources (Internet site, word-of-mouth, visits to travel shop/centre/library) were significant predictors of pre-travel information-seeking behaviours among surveyed travellers. While the final model found that bus users are significantly associated with the use of Internet sites as a source of pre-travel information, rail users rely significantly on a multiplicity of sources comprising Internet sites, word-of-mouth, and visits to a travel shop/centre/library. The final model suggests that metro (light rail) users tend not to seek pre-travel information. The odds of seeking pre-travel public transport information are 2.512 times greater for respondents who reported < 1 trip per week as opposed to those who reported 5 + trips per week. These findings are relevant for passenger information strategies deployed by operators and authorities and can be used to caution against a “one size fits all” strategy for travel information service provision. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

ATRIBUTOS QUALITATIVOS E FATORES DE SATISFAÇÃO COM O TRANSPORTE PÚBLICO URBANO POR ÔNIBUS

O crescimento das cidades tem influenciado a mobilidade urbana. Os meios de transporte coletivo representam uma maneira de amenizar os problemas de locomoção, sendo a satisfação dos usuários um dos principais indicadores da qualidade do serviço prestado. Objetivando identificar os atributos qualitativos e os fatores que impactam na satisfação com a qualidade de ônibus urbanos, realizou-se este estudo. Inicialmente, fez-se uma investigação exploratória e qualitativa com 25 usuários de ônibus, levantando os atributos qualitativos. Posteriormente, avaliou-se a satisfação com tais atributos, envolvendo uma amostra de 203 usuários. Resultou uma correlação significativa entre a satisfação geral dos usuários e a intenção de utilizar novamente o serviço de transporte público. Também se identificaram seis fatores preponderantes para a satisfação com o serviço de ônibus urbano: atendimento ao passageiro, informações ao passageiro, veículo de transporte, serviço de transporte público, estrutura das paradas de ônibus e ambiente das paradas.

Analyzing Bus Passengers’ Satisfaction in Dhaka using Discrete Choice Models

The bus transport system in Dhaka is unsafe, unreliable, inefficient and struggles to cope with the day-to-day mobility of its massive population. Consequently, measuring the performance of bus service quality (SQ) from the customers’ perspective is fundamental in planning a sustainable bus transport system for Dhaka, and in developing the associated policies and regulations. Although there are some studies addressing the performance of the public transport systems in Bangladesh, little research considers how service quality attributes affect passengers’ satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to examine a relationship between bus service quality and its influencing factors in Dhaka. Using a customer satisfaction survey with a sample size of 955, discrete choice models (e.g., multinomial logit and mixed logit) have been developed. The results indicate that the inhabitants, as expected, are dissatisfied with their bus services (less than 10% rated service quality as “excellent/good”) and service attributes such as comfort level and driver skills were found to be the most important contributors toward the “poor” and “very poor” perceptions of service quality. Other influencing factors are punctuality, safety, entry and exit processes, waiting times, and vehicle condition. One surprising finding was that the multinomial logit model provides better goodness-of-fit for the sample data relative to the mixed logit model implying that bus users in Dhaka may represent a homogeneous group as they do have access to other modes. Findings from this study can be utilized to develop policies and regulations to improve bus transport in Dhaka.

Epidemiology of Road Traffic Mortalities among bus / minibus users in East Azerbaijan, Iran

Background: The fatalities risk for passengers of cars, buses and minibuses are at least twice as large as ‎truckers. In Iran, according to the Forensic Medicine Database, over a 5-year period, 13 bus-‎related collisions lead to 919 deaths. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ‎epidemiological characteristics of mortality due to road deaths in buses and minibuses during ‎‎2006 -2017 in East Azerbaijan Province of Iran. ‎ Methods: The mortality rate of users of 245 buses / minibuses, recorded at the forensic medicine ‎databases were analyzed using STATA 13 statistical software. ‎ Results: Men (70%) were assigned the majority of victims (mean age of 18.6 ± 41.5 years), after which ‎adults (79.18%), illiterate (22.4%) and self-employed (25.3%) were victims. Passersby and ‎police have played roughly zero roles in the transportation of victims since 2014. The process of ‎reducing of trending for bus and minibus users was observed over the study period. Head-neck-‎face trauma was more prevalent among those who died before admission. Rollover and falling ‎were significantly common among bus users and users of the minibus respectively. Trucks, vans ‎and trailers as crash counterpart vehicles caused 59% of deaths, with the exception of cases ‎where no other vehicle was involved. Victims were more at risk of death in the hospital, when ‎accidents occurred on the city’s inner roads (OR: 4.17; 95% CI: 1.7-9.9). The elderly have died ‎‎2.78 times more than patients in the hospital compared with other age groups (95% CI: 1.23-‎‎6.26). ‎ Conclusion: To intervene on traffic-related knowledge need to be prioritized of attitudes and behaviors, ‎male adults, illiterate, and self-employed bus / minibuses users. The type of vehicle involved in ‎an accident should be considered as an important factor in the deaths of accidents. Further ‎research is needed in the future in this regard.‎

The Congestion Relief Benefit of Public Transit: Evidence from Rome

We estimate the effect of public transport supply on travel times of motor-vehicle and bus users in Rome, Italy. We apply a quasi-experimental methodology exploiting hourly information on public transport service reductions during strikes. We find that a 10 percent reduction in public transit supply increases the travel time of motor-vehicles by about 1.6 percent in the morning peak. The effect on bus travel time is similar. The congestion-relief benefit of public transport is thus sizeable and bus travel time gains account for an important share of it. We also examine the welfare effects of providing bus lanes. All else given, a bus lane reduces bus travel time by at least 29 percent. We find that bus lanes are undersupplied in Rome, despite the potential costs due to reducing capacity available to cars.

An innovative methodology to define the bus comfort level

Abstract On-board comfort is one of the factors influencing bus users’ perceptions. Investigating on comfort levels can support transit agencies in monitoring service performance and implementing strategies to improve the service. The specific objective of this paper is to develop an innovative methodology that provides a measure of the quality level of a bus ride in terms of comfort on board, considering instantaneous values of lateral and longitudinal vehicle acceleration. This methodology is based on the matching of subjective and objective measures of comfort. More specifically, authors identify subjective thresholds from the perception of comfort on board and objective thresholds from kinematic parameters recorded along bus routes. The proposed methodology allows to identify a comfort domain and to recognise where passengers experiment comfort/discomfort conditions associated with the driving style of bus drivers.

Using Twitter to Infer User Satisfaction With Public Transport: The Case of Santiago, Chile

User satisfaction is an important aspect to consider in any public transport system, and as such, regular and sound measurements of its levels are fundamental. However, typical evaluation schemes involve costly and time-consuming surveys. As a consequence, their frequency is not enough to properly and timely characterize the satisfaction of the users. In this paper, we propose a methodology, based on Twitter data, to capture the satisfaction of a large mass of users of public transport, allowing us to improve the characterization and location of their satisfaction level. We analyzed a massive volume of tweets referring to the public transport system in Santiago, Chile (Transantiago) using text mining techniques, such as sentiment analysis and topic modeling, in order to capture and group bus users' expressions. Results show that, although the level of detail and variety of answers obtained from surveys are higher than the ones obtained by our method, the amount of bus stops and bus services covered by the proposed scheme is larger. Moreover, the proposed methodology can be effectively used to diagnose problems in a timely manner, as it is able to identify and locate trends, and issues related to bus operating firms, whereas surveys tend to produce average answers. Based on the consistency and logic of the results, we argue that the proposed methodology can be used as a valuable complement to surveys, as both present different, but compatible characteristics.

Optimization Model for Reserve Fleet Sizes in Traditional Transit Systems considering the Risk of Vehicle Breakdowns

Traditional transit systems are susceptible to unexpected costs and delays due to unforeseen events, such as vehicle breakdowns. The randomness of these events gives the appearance of an imbalance in the number of operating vehicles and of unreliable transit services. Therefore, this paper proposes the queueing theory as a means to characterize the state of any given transit system considering the risk of vehicle breakdowns. In addition, the proposed method is used to create an optimized model for reserve fleet sizes in transit systems, in order to ensure the reliability of the transit system and minimize the total cost of any transit system exposed to the risks of vehicle breakdowns. The optimization is conducted based on the two main characteristics of all bus systems, namely, operator costs and user costs, in both normal and disruptive situations. In addition, the situations in our optimization are generated in scenarios that have a certain degree of probability of experiencing delays. This paper formulates such an optimization model, presents the formulation solution method, and proves the validity of the proposed method.

Optimization of bus stop stations in Kuwait

Recently, Kuwait road system is facing many problems in all perspectives. Public bus service was implemented by the time of constructing the road network in Kuwait without considering the future development or growth rates. This work aims to develop the public bus services in terms of time improvement, environment protection, decreasing the processing cost and mitigating traffic congestion. This was done by elimination and optimization of bus stops at certain routes as models; 18 and 507. Site investigation and a survey were conducted to indicate the problems affecting bus users on these routes. Bus routes data was collected from KPTC database and using an android application called “Mydriving”. It was then analyzed using Excel Sheets and referring to HCM latest version. Different elements were considered in this work such as spacing between bus stops, the peak times and dwell time. The survey results showed that most of the passengers are non-Kuwaiti and they ride the public bus daily to go to work. The field observation proved that as the number of passengers increases, the dwell time increases. The stations of zero passengers were eliminated and the distance between stops were optimized. The public bus services need to be highly improved to attract more passengers and reduce the explicit dependency on private cars in Kuwait. Also, there is a considerable lack of standards that control the bus stops locations in Kuwait. The research results can be beneficial for KPTC and traffic authorities in Kuwait. A standard distance of 1–1.4 km between each two stops should be adopted. The dwell time should be increased to more than 6 s per passenger. Other bus routes should be investigated to evaluate the public bus services on them.