Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Using Fuzzy Clustering Of User Perception To Determine The Number Of Level-Of-Service Categories For Bus Rapid Transit, Yueying Huo, Jinhua Zhao, Xiaojuan Li, Chen Guo

Journal of Public Transportation

The concept of level of service (LOS) is meant to reflect user perception of the quality of service provided by a transportation facility or service. Although the LOS of bus rapid transit (BRT) has received considerable attention, the number of levels of service of BRT that a user can perceive still remains unclear. Therefore, in this paper, we address this issue using fuzzy clustering of user perception. User perception is defined as a six-dimension vector of the perceived arrival time, perceived waiting time, bus speed perception, passenger load perception, perceived departure time, and overall perception. A smartphone-based transit travel survey …

Understanding Transantiago Users’ Motivations For Paying Or Evading Payment Of Bus Fares, Carolina Busco, Felipe González, Yamil Jaqueih, Felipe Jiménez, Borja Alonso

Journal of Public Transportation

Transantiago, the public transport system implemented in Santiago, Chile, remains a controversial subject of public debate due to constantly increasing fare evasion rates throughout its decade-long existence. The

Transantiago, the public transport system implemented in Santiago, Chile, remains a controversial subject of public debate due to constantly increasing fare evasion rates throughout its decade-long existence. The research question under consideration in this paper is as follows: What motivates individuals to evade or pay bus fares? To answer this question, we developed a multidisciplinary study that combined relevant engineering expertise with a sociological perspective and combined quantitative analyses with qualitative methodologies …

People-Focused And Near-Term Public Transit Performance Analysis, Alex Karner

Journal of Public Transportation

Public transit ridership forecasts have long played a role in understanding the potential success of a policy or investment, but their limitations have led researchers and practitioners to identify other performance analysis approaches. Accessibility, or the ease of reaching opportunities, has become very popular and widely used for this purpose. But commonly used accessibility measures also embody weaknesses that are seldom acknowledged; these limit their utility for truly understanding the benefits of transit investments. In this paper, we identify the pros and cons of these competing approaches and offer a third strategy. Specifically, we describe how revealed travel behavior data, …

Increasing Boarding Lost Time At Regular Bus Stops During Rainy Conditions: A Case Study, Margarita Novales, Alfonso Orro, José-Benito Pérez-López, Jorge Feal, Miguel R. Bugarín

Journal of Public Transportation

Inclement weather conditions affect the behavior of travelers and transportation system operations. Understanding this influence can help improve operational planning schemes for any mode of transport, especially for buses. One of the factors that can be affected by rainfall is the time expended by a passenger from the moment a bus opens its doors until he/she boards the bus. This time is known as the boarding lost time (BLT); it was first introduced in the last edition of the Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (TCQSM). TCQSM only considers the BLT for bus rapid transit (BRT) stations with more …

Valuing Public Transport Customer Amenities: International Transit Agency Practice, Chris De Gruyter, Graham Currie

Journal of Public Transportation

Public transport customer amenities cover a range of measures that can enhance the quality of the passenger experience, such as information provision and station quality. While much research has determined the value that users place on amenities, there is little understanding of current practice in the use of customer amenity valuations in project appraisal. A survey of transit agencies in 11 cities (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Auckland, London, Paris, Toronto, Vienna, Oslo and Singapore) was undertaken showing that Australasian cities, albeit Melbourne, generally have widespread inclusion of customer amenities as part of advanced appraisals for all relevant types of public …

Exploring Low-Carbon Bus Options For Urban Brt Systems: The Case Of Amman, Rana Imam, Seong-Cheol Kang, Diana Quezada

Journal of Public Transportation

Being able to provide high-quality, metro-like transit service at a fraction of the cost of other options, bus rapid transit (BRT) has been viewed as one of the most cost-effective public mass transport systems suitable for urban areas. Considering significant amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollutant emissions are attributed to the transport sector, deploying low carbon buses for BRT systems should be of high priority. With a view to promoting low carbon buses instead of diesel buses for a BRT system currently being planned in Amman, Jordan, this paper evaluates several low carbon bus options – hybrid, plug-in …

Toward Car Free Key West, Mary Bishop

Journal of Transportation Demand Management Research

This paper explores the transportation problems created by the large volume of tourist arrivals to the island of Key West, Florida. A survey of visitors to the island was conducted to uncover their perspectives related to the barriers and benefits of various transportation modes in hopes to inform City staff on the development of transportation options that will meet the needs and desires of tourists. The results from 398 respondents revealed a variety of trends, including varying travel choices depending on the number of visits, where visitors were from, and arrival types. From these trends, priority groups for behavior change …

A New Market Segmentation Approach: Evidence From Two Canadian Cities, Dea Van Lierop, Ahmed El-Geneidy

Journal of Public Transportation

Traditionally, transit market research has categorized passengers into two distinct groups: captive riders and choice riders. Market analyses that depend on such broad categories are likely to overlook important details about the needs and desires of their customer base. This study attempts to better understand the complexities of the different groups who take transit by using information from five years of customer satisfaction questionnaires collected by two Canadian transit providers. Employing a series of clustering techniques, the analysis reveals that nine market segments are present across different modes in both transit agencies. Three different overarching groups of transit users are …

Passenger Satisfaction And Mental Adaptation Under Adverse Conditions: Case Study In Manila, Andra Charis Mijares, Mio Suzuki, Tetsuo Yai

Journal of Public Transportation

Public transportation systems in several developing cities face congestion, air pollution, and safety problems, yet many passengers use them regularly. This study examines the structure of passenger satisfaction and the role of mental adaptation under such conditions. Metro Manila MRT-3 was analyzed as a case study.

The actual and perceived conditions at the MRT-3 were assessed using surveys. Results of the waiting time and PM_2.5 monitoring surveys revealed that passengers queue for 30 minutes, on average, while being exposed to unsafe levels of PM_2.5. The questionnaire survey results show some discrepancies between actual and perceived values, suggesting …

Regularity Of Public Transport Usage: A Case Study Of Bus Rides In Lisbon, Portugal, Stefan Foell, Santi Phithakkitnukoon, Marco Veloso, Gerd Kortuem, Carlos Bento

Journal of Public Transportation

This paper presents an analysis of regularity in public transport usage based on a large-scale bus transportation data of Lisbon, Portugal. By exploring the combined information from the bus boarding history of riders and bus arrivals at each bus stop, an analysis of individual bus usage was performed. Daily and weekly patterns were extracted, from which it was observed that a rider takes, on average, 2 trips, visits 1.93 distinct stops, and uses 1.55 distinct bus lines daily. Inter-trip time analysis revealed a daily cycle, and a study of the interaction between riders and bus infrastructure explored how usage was …

Cross-Elasticities In Frequencies And Ridership For Urban Local Routes, Joseph Totten, David Levinson

Journal of Public Transportation

Observational data from the Minneapolis-Saint Paul region’s Metro Transit were analyzed to determine the effects of service levels on ridership levels at different intervals. The research compares changes in service levels and ridership in several service intervals and includes elasticities and cross elasticities, or the influence that these service levels have on different service intervals’ ridership. These cross-elasticities were found to have little effect during the week; however, weekend ridership was found to be influenced by rush-hour and overnight frequencies.

Influence Of Socio-Demography And Operating Streetscape On Last-Mile Mode Choice, M. Meng, P. P. Koh, Y. D. Wong

Journal of Public Transportation

This study investigated how personal and operational factors (travel distance and streetscape) influence traveler mode choice decisions for the last-mile home-bound trip stage from rail transit stations. Personal factors include the socio-demography of travelers, and attributes of the streetscape include the built environment (degree of areal development), prevalence of cycling, availability of short-range transport modes, and walking/cycling infrastructure. Interviewers randomly intercepted pedestrians to administer a mode choice survey at five rail transit station exits and engaged all available cyclists at bicycle parking areas in the vicinity of stations in Singapore. A multimodal logit regression model revealed a significant relationship between …

The Effects Of Access And Accessibility On Public Transport Users’ Attitudes, Subeh Chowdhury, Kasey Zhai, Asif Khan

Journal of Public Transportation

This study investigates existing users’ attitudes towards public transport from two perspectives. First, the effects of accessibility to various destinations and ease of access to terminals on public transport users’ attitudes are determined. Second, the contribution of social norm, as an information source, in the formation of users’ attitudes is assessed. A user-preference survey was undertaken in Auckland, New Zealand, at two terminals. Data were analyzed using ordinal and logistic regression models. Findings showed that residential density and quality of the built environment, particularly safety, have an effect on the number of pedestrians who access a terminal. Accessibility to various …