Importance of Traveler Attitudes in the Choice of Public Transportation to Work: Findings from the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Attitudinal Survey

The commute mode choice decision is one of the most fundamental aspects of daily travel. Although initial research in this area was limited to explaining mode choice behavior as a function of traveler socio-economics, travel times, and costs, subsequent studies have included the effect of traveler attitudes and perceptions. This paper extends the existing body of literature by examining public transit choice in the Chicago area. Data from a recent Attitudinal Survey conducted by the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) in Northeastern Illinois were used to pursue three major steps. First, a factor analysis methodology was used to condense scores on 23 attitude statements related to daily travel into six factors. Second, the factor scores on these six dimensions were used in conjunction with traveler socio-economics, travel times, and costs to estimate a binary logistic regression of public transit choice. Third, elasticities of transit choice to the six factors were computed, and the factors were ranked in decreasing order of these elasticities. The analysis provided two major findings. First, from a statistical standpoint, the attitude factors improved the intuitiveness and goodness-of-fit of the model. Second, from a policy standpoint, the analysis indicated the importance of word-of-mouth publicity in attracting new riders, as well as the need for a marketing message that emphasizes the lower stress-level and better commute time productivity due to transit use.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • The DVD lists the title of this paper as: Importance of Traveler Attitudes in Choice of Public Transportation to Work: Findings from Regional Transportation Authority Attitudinal Survey.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Popuri, Yasasvi
  • Proussaloglou, Kimon
  • Ayvalik, Cemal
  • Koppelman, Frank S
  • Lee, Aimee
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2011-1-23 to 2011-1-27
• Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 23p
• Monograph Title: TRB 90th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Goodness of fit; Mode choice; Public transit; Socioeconomic factors; Travel behavior; Travel time
• Identifier Terms: Regional Transportation Authority (RTA)
• Geographic Terms: Chicago (Illinois)
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I10: Economics and Administration; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01340177
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 11-0974
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 18 2011 11:21AM