USER ATTITUDES TOWARDS TRAVELCARDS AND THEIR POSSIBLE ROLE IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

The background to this paper is provided by the emergence of policies by many bus operators in the UK encouraging greater use of travelcards. Linked with these policies has been the need for survey systems, such as the Continuous On-Bus Survey (COBS) to provide management information on passenger trips and ticket sales, information which would otherwise be lost. However COBS exhibits certain deficiencies, especially in providing information on the discounts at which travelcards should be set, vis-a-vis conventional cash paid fares, in order to gain significant levels of take up. Moreover, the behaviour and attitude of passengers towards travelcards should be known as regards passenger preferences to the format and methods of payment of travelcards. The paper considers some of the key results from a user attitude survey of travelcard holders in Plymouth. The main aim of the survey was to identify the reasons why people decide to buy travelcards and how they are used. Of prime importance is the enquiry into actual saving on fares and whether off-peak trips are extra trips made at zero marginal cost. A further area of analysis is whether users know how much they save. The survey thus compares users' perceived savings with their actual savings. Holders were also asked questions as regards the format of the cards. Finally, the paper examines the role that travelcards could play in a deregulated environment, with current operators looking for loyalty among their incumbent passengers. For the covering abstract of the seminar see TRIS 456300.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Public Transport Planning and Operation. Proceedings of Seminar J held at PTRC Summer Annual Meeting, University of Sussex, England, 15-18 July 1985, V P266.
• Corporate Authors:

  PTRC Education and Research Services Limited

  110 Strand
  London WC2,   England 
• Authors:
  • HESELTINE, P
  • Pope, J
• Conference:
  • Planning & Transport Res & Comp, Sum Ann Mtg, Proc
• Publication Date: 1985

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 207

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus transit; Competition; Conferences; Costs; Data collection; Deregulation; Elasticity (Economics); Fares; Hours; Legislation; Marketing; Off peak periods; Organizations; Pricing; Private enterprise; Public opinion; Public transit; Questionnaires; Surveys; Tariffs; Tickets; Transportation modes; Urban areas
• Uncontrolled Terms: Use
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• Old TRIS Terms: Bus services; Off-peak; Passes
• ITRD Terms: 235: Competition; 8525: Conference; 224: Cost; 9147: Interview; 1556: Legislation; 611: Off peak hour; 9057: Organization (association); 9118: Private; 744: Public transport; 250: Season ticket; 241: Tariff; 1145: Transport mode; 8119: United Kingdom; 313: Urban area; 9084: Use
• Subject Areas: Economics; Finance; Highways; Law; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00456308
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Report/Paper Numbers: Monograph
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 31 1986 12:00AM