01479128

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2351-17

http://scholar.google.com...lker&publication_year=2013

Reliability is regularly cited by users of public transportation as one of the most important qualities of service. However, it is not yet well understood how transit riders are affected by unreliability, particularly in the long term. To gain a better understanding of the importance of reliability, a survey focusing on users of San Francisco’s public transportation system in California was developed to investigate the link between people’s past experiences of unreliability and the adaptation strategies that they used. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of a number of reliability aspects; the aspects found to be most important were the absence of a gap at a transfer stop and the ability to walk up to a stop and leave within 10 min. Users also reported that they considered reliability when planning trips. Common strategies for handling unreliability were using services and routes deemed more reliable and using real-time information. In addition, an ordinal logit model linking past experiences of unreliability to a reduction in transit use was estimated. The most significant negative experiences that drove a reduction in transit use were delays perceived to be the fault of the transit agency, long waits at transfer points, and being prevented from boarding because of crowding. These results have implications in transit planning: passengers may prefer more frequent service with occasional crowding over less frequent buses that are larger and less crowded. In addition, the growing use of real-time information services will continue to affect how people view transit service and perhaps even intensify the unattractiveness of infrequent service.

01517273

13-5289

English

pp 153–162

2013

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309286992

Print

Figures (2) ; References (37) ; Tables (3)

Attitudes; Customer satisfaction; On time performance; Passenger transportation; Psychological adaptation; Quality of service; Surveys; Transit riders; Travel time; Waiting time

San Francisco (California)

Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 1:00PM

• Benchmarking Disaggregate Customer Satisfaction Scores of Bus Operators in Different Cities and Countries
• Benefits of Real-Time Transit Information and Impacts of Data Accuracy on Rider Experience
• Calibration of a Public Transport Performance Measurement System for Switzerland
• Doing Business Around Transit Corridors: Survey Research on Business Perceptions of Fixed-Guideway Transit Projects
• Dynamic System Optimal Routing in Multimodal Transit Network
• Effect of Parking Charges at Transit Stations on Park-and-Ride Mode Choice: Lessons Learned from Stated Preference Survey in Greater Vancouver, Canada
• Effects of Fare Payment Types and Crowding on Dwell Time: Fine-Grained Analysis
• High-Load Transit Line Passenger Transmission and Productiveness Efficiencies
• How Close Is Close Enough? Statistical Equivalence of Onboard Versus Online Surveys of Transit Customers
• Intraurban Rail Access: Policy Implications of Five Revealed Perspectives from a Q-Sorting Exercise in Three Australian Cities
• Large-Scale Transit Schedule Coordination Based on Journey Planner Requests
• Multiobjective Optimization Model for Transit Fleet Resource Allocation
• Passenger-Focused Management Approach to Measurement of Train Delay Impacts
• Pedestrian Route Choice of Vertical Facilities in Subway Stations
• Perspectives of the Operational Performance of Public Transportation Agencies with Data Envelopment Analysis Technique
• Potential of Low-Frequency Automated Vehicle Location Data for Monitoring and Control of Bus Performance
• Unbanked Transit Riders and Open Payment Fare Collection