WHAT DOES A ONE-MONTH FREE BUS TICKET DO TO HABITUAL DRIVERS? AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF HABIT AND ATTITUDE CHANGE

The aim of this study was to investigate whether a temporary structural change would induce a lasting increase in drivers' public transport use. An experiment targeting 43 drivers was carried out, in which a one-month free bus ticket was given to 23 drivers in an experimental group but not to 20 drivers in a control group. Attitudes toward, habits of, and frequency of using automobile and bus were measured immediately before, immediately after, and one month after the one-month long intervention. The results showed that attitudes toward bus were more positive and that the frequency of bus use increased, whereas the habits of using automobile decreased from before the intervention, even one month after the intervention period. Furthermore, the increase in habitual bus use had the largest effect on the increase in the frequency of bus use. The results suggest that a temporary structural change, such as offering auto drivers a temporary free bus ticket, may be an important travel demand management tool for converting automotive travel demand to public-transport travel demand. (A)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00494488
• Corporate Authors:

  Kluwer Academic Publishers

  P.O. Box 17
  Dordrecht,   Netherlands 
• Authors:
  • FUJII, S
  • Kitamura, R
• Publication Date: 2003-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 81-95
• Serial:
  • Transportation (Netherlands)
  • Volume: 30
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
  • ISSN: 0049-4488

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Automobiles; Buses; Costs; Demand; Free fares; Modal split; Public transit
• Uncontrolled Terms: Selection
• ITRD Terms: 2267: Attitude (psychol); 1272: Bus; 1243: Car; 224: Cost; 285: Demand (econ); 251: Free (no charge); 675: Modal split; 744: Public transport; 9072: Selection
• Subject Areas: Finance; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00962564
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Sep 3 2003 12:00AM