CHARACTERISTICS, ATTITUDES, AND PERCEPTIONS OF TRANSIT NONUSERS IN THE ATLANTA REGION

Immediately after transit fares in Atlanta were reduced, transit ridership increased dramatically, exceeding the previous estimates by 50 percent. Total ridership for the 6-month period following the March 1, 1972, fare reduction was almost 15 percent greater than that for the equivalent period in 1971. The fare reduction program of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) generated considerable local and national interest, and research was designed to measure the effect of the fare reduction and subsequent transit service improvements on ridership. The study effort consisted of two surveys: (a) an on-board interview of transit riders and (b) an in-home survey of households in the two-county transit service district. This paper deals exclusively with the in-home survey. The MARTA in-home survey dealt with two principal areas of inquiry to complement the on-board survey findings. The first area consisted of the characteristics of transit nonusers as well as their attitudes toward and perceptions of transit. In addition, the in-home survey was designed to determine whether the characteristics, attitudes, and perceptions of nonusers were significantly different from those of transit users. The second area dealt with why the increase in ridership was not even higher and what actions would be necessary to attract additional riders.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1976/563/563-004.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=CHARACTERISTICS%2C+ATTITUDES%2C+AND+PERCEPTIONS+OF+TRANSIT+NONUSERS+IN+THE+ATLANTA+REGION&author=J.+Byrd&publication_year=1976
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Public Transportation Planning and Development. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Byrd IV, Joseph P
• Conference:
  • 54th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia
  • Date: 1975-1-13 to 1975-1-17
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Tables;
• Pagination: pp 29-37
• Monograph Title: Public Transportation Planning
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 563
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Data collection; Fares; Households; Improvements; Level of service; Metropolitan areas; Nonuser benefits; Ridership; Socioeconomic factors; Surveys; Transportation planning; Urban transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Fare reduction
• Geographic Terms: Atlanta (Georgia)
• Old TRIS Terms: User characteristics
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Economics; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Railroads; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00138148
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309024730
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 4 1981 12:00AM