01626856

Component

Crowding in transport stations affects egress rates, which in turn affects operational costs, efficiency and satisfaction with the service as a whole. One possible method to reduce crowd congestion is the redirection of passengers to less crowded exits. Passengers tend to not change exit choice unless there is an incentive to do so. This paper explored passengers’ opinions on congestion, and whether providing an incentive would change egress choice within a hypothetical context. Surveying was carried out on passengers who frequent a large local train station in Melbourne, Australia. Incentives proposed to change egress choice were a combination of a reduced transport fare and discounted coffee. The key findings were that both monetary incentives of fare reduction and coffee discounts are statistically significant variables in changing egress choice. These data can be used to help create alternate congestion management policies that incorporate monetary incentives to change egress choice, and provide insight into the relationship between how the public perceives congestion and how relevant organizations may mitigate it. This will help in the implementation of congestion reduction projects in large, real-world stations.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP045 Standing Committee on Intermodal Transfer Facilities.

01618707

17-02316

English

11p

2017

Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Building exits; Crowds; Incentives; Passengers; Pedestrian flow; Rail transit stations

Congestion; Egress

Melbourne (Australia)

Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Terminals and Facilities

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2017 Paper #17-02316

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 8 2016 10:52AM