IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v111y2021icp63-73.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding gender difference in perceptions toward transit services across space and time: A social media mining approach

Author

Listed:
  • Luo, Shuli
  • He, Sylvia Y.

Abstract

Location-based social media data can offer useful insights on the spatial and temporal dynamics of public attitudes. In this study, we aim to investigate the gendered attitudes toward transit services in China, utilizing the case of Shenzhen. We collected 44,257 Weibo microblogs, a major source of social media data in China, and applied a series of text mining and visualization techniques to examine the gender differences among our focused themes. The microblogs reveal a distinct gender gap in terms of quantity, as nearly 74% are posted by women. While women tend to be more concerned about the comfort of transit environment (e.g., temperature, crowdedness, and safety, especially at night), men tend to be more interested in transit systems’ e-payment services and reporting traffic incidents. Overall, this study presents a methodological framework and empirical case study about how we can utilize certain social media mining techniques to investigate gendered, subjective travel experiences, providing researchers and practitioners with an innovative way to gather customer service feedback and build more inclusive service systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Luo, Shuli & He, Sylvia Y., 2021. "Understanding gender difference in perceptions toward transit services across space and time: A social media mining approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 63-73.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:111:y:2021:i:c:p:63-73
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.07.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X21002195
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.07.018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fan, Yingling & Guthrie, Andrew & Levinson, David, 2016. "Waiting time perceptions at transit stops and stations: Effects of basic amenities, gender, and security," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 251-264.
    2. dell'Olio, Luigi & Ibeas, Angel & Cecín, Patricia, 2010. "Modelling user perception of bus transit quality," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 388-397, November.
    3. Meng, Meng & Rau, Andreas & Mahardhika, Hita, 2018. "Public transport travel time perception: Effects of socioeconomic characteristics, trip characteristics and facility usage," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 114(PA), pages 24-37.
    4. Shuli Luo & Sylvia Y He, 2021. "Using data mining to explore the spatial and temporal dynamics of perceptions of metro services in China: The case of Shenzhen," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 48(3), pages 449-466, March.
    5. He, Sylvia Y. & Thøgersen, John, 2017. "The impact of attitudes and perceptions on travel mode choice and car ownership in a Chinese megacity: The case of Guangzhou," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 57-67.
    6. Sylvia Y. He & Genevieve Giuliano, 2017. "Factors affecting children’s journeys to school: a joint escort-mode choice model," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 199-224, January.
    7. Grün, Bettina & Hornik, Kurt, 2011. "topicmodels: An R Package for Fitting Topic Models," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 40(i13).
    8. Soza-Parra, Jaime & Raveau, Sebastián & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Cats, Oded, 2019. "The underlying effect of public transport reliability on users’ satisfaction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 83-93.
    9. Yu Liu & Xi Liu & Song Gao & Li Gong & Chaogui Kang & Ye Zhi & Guanghua Chi & Li Shi, 2015. "Social Sensing: A New Approach to Understanding Our Socioeconomic Environments," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 105(3), pages 512-530, May.
    10. Klingen, Joris, 2019. "Do metro interruptions increase the demand for public rental bicycles? Evidence from Paris," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 216-228.
    11. Shirgaokar, Manish, 2019. "Operationalizing gendered transportation preferences: A psychological framework incorporating time constraints and risk aversion," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 10-18.
    12. Sarker, Rumana Islam & Kaplan, Sigal & Mailer, Markus & Timmermans, Harry J.P., 2019. "Applying affective event theory to explain transit users’ reactions to service disruptions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 593-605.
    13. Shreya Das & Debapratim Pandit, 2013. "Importance of user perception in evaluating level of service for bus transit for a developing country like India: a review," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 402-420, July.
    14. Tyrinopoulos, Yannis & Antoniou, Constantinos, 2008. "Public transit user satisfaction: Variability and policy implications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 260-272, July.
    15. Gal-Tzur, Ayelet & Grant-Muller, Susan M. & Kuflik, Tsvi & Minkov, Einat & Nocera, Silvio & Shoor, Itay, 2014. "The potential of social media in delivering transport policy goals," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 115-123.
    16. Dea van Lierop & Madhav G. Badami & Ahmed M. El-Geneidy, 2018. "What influences satisfaction and loyalty in public transport? A review of the literature," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 52-72, January.
    17. Nihan Akyelken, 2020. "Transport for women: who decides what women need?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(6), pages 687-688, November.
    18. Grisé, Emily & El-Geneidy, Ahmed, 2017. "Evaluating the relationship between socially (dis)advantaged neighbourhoods and customer satisfaction of bus service in London, U.K," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 166-175.
    19. Wenjie Wu & Jianghao Wang & Tianshi Dai, 2016. "The Geography of Cultural Ties and Human Mobility: Big Data in Urban Contexts," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 106(3), pages 612-630, May.
    20. Gatta, Valerio & Marcucci, Edoardo, 2007. "Quality and public transport service contracts," European Transport \ Trasporti Europei, ISTIEE, Institute for the Study of Transport within the European Economic Integration, issue 36, pages 92-106.
    21. Lisa Schweitzer, 2014. "Planning and Social Media: A Case Study of Public Transit and Stigma on Twitter," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 80(3), pages 218-238, July.
    22. H Andrew Schwartz & Johannes C Eichstaedt & Margaret L Kern & Lukasz Dziurzynski & Stephanie M Ramones & Megha Agrawal & Achal Shah & Michal Kosinski & David Stillwell & Martin E P Seligman & Lyle H U, 2013. "Personality, Gender, and Age in the Language of Social Media: The Open-Vocabulary Approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-16, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dejiang Luo & Su He & Hao Wu & Long Cheng & Junbo Li, 2023. "An Integrated Approach to Green Mines Based on Hesitant Fuzzy TOPSIS: Green Degree Analysis and Policy Implications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Chen, Long & Huang, Jiahui & Jing, Peng & Wang, Bichen & Yu, Xiaozhou & Zha, Ye & Jiang, Chengxi, 2023. "Changing or unchanging Chinese attitudes toward ride-hailing? A social media analytics perspective from 2018 to 2021," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    3. Luo, Shuli & He, Sylvia Y. & Grant-Muller, Susan & Song, Linqi, 2023. "Influential factors in customer satisfaction of transit services: Using crowdsourced data to capture the heterogeneity across individuals, space and time," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 173-183.
    4. Eldeeb, Gamal & Sears, Sean & Mohamed, Moataz, 2023. "What do users want from transit? Qualitative analysis of current and potential users' perceptions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    5. Wang, Yucheng & Gao, Yanan, 2022. "Travel satisfaction and travel well-being: Which is more related to travel choice behaviour in the post COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from public transport travellers in Xi’an, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 218-233.
    6. Oliveira, Renata Lúcia Magalhães de & Dablanc, Laetitia & Schorung, Matthieu, 2022. "Changes in warehouse spatial patterns and rental prices: Are they related? Exploring the case of US metropolitan areas," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    7. Jing, Peng & Wang, Baihui & Cai, Yunhao & Wang, Bichen & Huang, Jiahui & Yang, Chenglu & Jiang, Chengxi, 2023. "What is the public really concerned about the AV crash? Insights from a combined analysis of social media and questionnaire survey," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luo, Shuli & He, Sylvia Y. & Grant-Muller, Susan & Song, Linqi, 2023. "Influential factors in customer satisfaction of transit services: Using crowdsourced data to capture the heterogeneity across individuals, space and time," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 173-183.
    2. Shuli Luo & Sylvia Y He, 2021. "Using data mining to explore the spatial and temporal dynamics of perceptions of metro services in China: The case of Shenzhen," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 48(3), pages 449-466, March.
    3. Juan de Oña & Rocio de Oña, 2015. "Quality of Service in Public Transport Based on Customer Satisfaction Surveys: A Review and Assessment of Methodological Approaches," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(3), pages 605-622, August.
    4. Dea Lierop & Ahmed El-Geneidy, 2018. "Is having a positive image of public transit associated with travel satisfaction and continued transit usage? An exploratory study of bus transit," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 241-256, August.
    5. Nkurunziza, Alphonse & Zuidgeest, Mark & Brussel, Mark & Van den Bosch, Frans, 2012. "Spatial variation of transit service quality preferences in Dar-es-Salaam," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 12-21.
    6. Rong, Rui & Liu, Lishan & Jia, Ning & Ma, Shoufeng, 2022. "Impact analysis of actual traveling performance on bus passenger’s perception and satisfaction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 80-100.
    7. Wei Chiang Chan & Wan Hashim Wan Ibrahim & May Chiun Lo & Mohamad Kadim Suaidi & Shiaw Tong Ha, 2020. "Sustainability of Public Transportation: An Examination of User Behavior to Real-Time GPS Tracking Application," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-20, November.
    8. Zhang, Chunqin & Liu, Yong & Lu, Weite & Xiao, Guangnian, 2019. "Evaluating passenger satisfaction index based on PLS-SEM model: Evidence from Chinese public transport service," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 149-164.
    9. Rubén Cordera & Soledad Nogués & Esther González-González & Luigi dell’Olio, 2019. "Intra-Urban Spatial Disparities in User Satisfaction with Public Transport Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-22, October.
    10. Eric N. AIDOO & William AGYEMANG & Jane E. MONKAH & Francis K. AFUKAAR, 2013. "pASSENGER’S SATISFACTION WITH PUBLIC BUS TRANSPORT SERVICES IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF KUMASI–ACCRA ROUTE," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 8(2), pages 33-44, May.
    11. Hensher, David A. & Ho, Chinh & Mulley, Corinne, 2015. "Identifying resident preferences for bus-based and rail-based investments as a complementary buy in perspective to inform project planning prioritisation," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-9.
    12. Epstein, Bryan & Givoni, Moshe, 2016. "Analyzing the gap between the QOS demanded by PT users and QOS supplied by service operators," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 622-637.
    13. Pandit, Debapratim & Sharma, Deepa, 2022. "Expected service dimensions and service levels for paratransit considering future mobility needs in emerging countries," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1-13.
    14. Jomnonkwao, Sajjakaj & Ratanavaraha, Vatanavongs, 2016. "Measurement modelling of the perceived service quality of a sightseeing bus service: An application of hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 240-252.
    15. Ittamalla, Rajesh & Srinivas Kumar, Daruri Venkata, 2021. "Determinants of holistic passenger experience in public transportation: Scale development and validation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    16. Chakrabarti, Sandip, 2022. "Passively wait for gridlock, or proactively invest in service? Strategies to promote car-to-transit switches among aspirational urbanites in rapidly developing contexts," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 251-261.
    17. Hensher, David A. & Ho, Chinh & Mulley, Corinne, 2015. "Identifying preferences for public transport investments under a constrained budget," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 27-46.
    18. van Lierop, Dea & El-Geneidy, Ahmed, 2016. "Enjoying loyalty: The relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in public transit," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 50-59.
    19. Echaniz, Eneko & Ho, Chinh Q. & Rodriguez, Andres & dell'Olio, Luigi, 2019. "Comparing best-worst and ordered logit approaches for user satisfaction in transit services," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 752-769.
    20. Raky Julio & Andres Monzon & Yusak O. Susilo, 2024. "Identifying key elements for user satisfaction of bike-sharing systems: a combination of direct and indirect evaluations," Transportation, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 407-438, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:111:y:2021:i:c:p:63-73. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.