Thinking Outside the Bus: Understanding User Perceptions of Waiting and Transferring in Order to Increase Transit Use

This report presents the results of its research of interconnectivity among transportation modes in California and the development of a methodology to evaluate connectivity performance, which could provide a new and needed tool to improve passenger transit trips. The two key products of this research are the transfer penalties/travel behavior conceptual framework, which was based on our review of the state-of-the-practice for evaluating intermodal and intramodal connectivity, and a preliminary transit connectivity assessment tool. The framework allowed us to consider various attributes of transit stops, stations, and transfer facilities and guide us in our subsequent analysis of user perceptions of walking, waiting, and transferring experiences. Our research findings have taken substantive steps toward determining the connectivity of transit systems, its influences on travelers’ satisfaction with transit services, and ways that public transit systems can reduce the burdens of out-of-vehicle “travel” times to help make public transit more attractive resulting in ridership increases. In our research to learn more about how wait times at stations and stops are perceived, and how they can be made better, we surveyed approximately 750 passengers at stops and stations in Los Angeles County, as well as 175 transit operators nationwide. From our analysis of the passengers/users perspective, one principal finding stands out clearly: The most important determinant of user satisfaction with a transit stop or station is frequent, reliable service in an environment of personal safety, and only indirectly the physical characteristics of that stop or station. Our principal finding from our analysis of transit managers perspective precisely matches that of the transit user investigation: For operators, safety- and security-related factors far outweighed other attribute factors at transit stops, stations, and transfer facilities. This report further develops a Preliminary Assessment Tool that transit operators can use to guide their efforts at improving existing transit stops and stations, or in developing plans for new facilities. The Preliminary Assessment Tool, sketched briefly, guides the operator in: 1.Determining the priority of improvements to stops and stations 2.Devising a user perception survey for stations and stops of particular interest, and 3.Analyzing the survey results to produce a ratings matrix using Importance-Satisfaction Analysis