Comfort is most important for passengers in public transport
Secure access to a seat is rated highest when researchers from VTI asked passengers in Stockholm, Skåne and Värmland what they prioritize when choosing between different public transport journeys.
Jessica Göransson and Henrik Andersson, both researchers at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) have studied what passengers consider most important when choosing to travel by public transport and whether there are any differences between passengers in urban areas, semi-urban areas and rural areas.
“Passengers on public transport seem to have roughly the same preferences regardless of whether they live in a more urban environment or in rural areas; they all prioritized comfort above all else. In our study, comfort means access to a seat, which for example can mean that passengers choose to travel at a time when they think there will be less congestion on the bus so that they don’t have to stand up”, says Jessica Göransson.
“Since the differences between passengers in different environments are so small, our study indicates that public transport authorities can rely on the Swedish Transport Administration’s recommendations for valuation parameters for cost–benefit analysis when planning regional public transport. These recommendations are based on national average values”, Jessica continues.
Public transport on-demand
Jessica and Henrik also asked questions about demand-responsive transport and found that the majority of those included in the study were positive to traveling with public transport on-demand. Respondents did not consider it to be a high priority to be able to book a trip at short notice; comfort and reliability were significantly more important.
“A majority of the respondents in our study answered that pre-booking of public transport on-demand well in advance was OK for them, provided that they knew when the trip would take place and how long it would take. This makes it easier to plan demand-responsive transport”, says Jessica.
Researchers at VTI have continued to collect data on public transport passengers’ preferences.
“We now have more data to study how public transport passengers rate travel time, distance to the stop, transfers and access to services at the transfer point,” concludes Jessica Göransson.
The results are presented in the article below: