VALIDATION OF STATED PREFERENCE METHOD AS A METHOD OF MEASURING PASSENGERS' VALUATION OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION STANDARD

VALIDERING AV STATED PREFERENCE METODER FOER MAETNING AV RESENAERERS VAERDERING AV KOLLEKTIVTRAFIKENS STANDARD

The reported research aimed at investigating the validity and usefulness of stated preference (sp) methods in studies of how travelers evaluated public transport systems. In recent years such methods have for this particular purpose appeared superior to conventional revealed preference approaches (travel surveys). In sp methods subjects may be asked in interviews to state their preferences for a number of fictitious trip alternatives with attributes which are varied systematically. Of decisive importance for the usefulness of sp methods in applications is whether the results are generalizable to the future conditions which one aims to forecast. About thirty studies in the research literature, a little less than half in transport, seem to have provided support for the conclusion that sp methods are valid. The empirical studies described in the report contributes further evidence in favour of this conclusion. In five laboratory experiments with sp methods, travel costs, in-vehicle time and waiting time at exchange points are systematically varied for trips with buses (umeaa) and with trams (goeteborg). Different methods subjects used for evaluating the options and the composition of these options are varied. Factors assumed to affect how negative delays are perceived were also varied. The results revealed huge but largely unsystematic differences across the different conditions. Hypothesized systematic effects of factors affecting how delays are evaluated were furthermore observed. Agreement with the results of several available Swedish travel proportional underestimation of how negative in-vehicle and waiting times are evaluated. Further analyses of the results of a major study featuring interviews with 311 bus and 282 subway passengers concerning their preferences for public transport in the Stockholm region showed that there were few inconsistent responses and that the frequency of such responses tended not to vary systematically with sex, age, education, and income. The general conclusion drawn is that sp methods may be valid and useful. Nevertheless, it is recommended that any study using sp methods includes some kind of validation. It would be most useful if such studies could focus on how validity varies with different conditions rather than on the question of whether sp methods are valid or not. (a)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/02801900
• Authors:
  • GAERLING, T
  • Uhlin, S
  • WIDLERT, S
• Publication Date: 1989

Language

• Swedish

Media Info

• Pagination: 52 p.
• Serial:
  • Umeaa Univ Trafik- och Transportforskningsenheten
  • ISSN: 0280-1900

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Buses; Comfort; Costs; Evaluation and assessment; Interviewing; Methodology; Public transit; Traffic surveys; Travel; Trolley cars; Urban areas; Vehicle occupants; Waiting time
• Geographic Terms: Sweden
• Subject Areas: Finance; Passenger Transportation; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00498248
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Report/Paper Numbers: 1989:2
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 30 1990 12:00AM