Tangible and Intangible Service Attributes: Quantifying the Importance of Image and Perception to Bus Rapid Transit
If public transit is to attract discretionary riders, it must offer high-quality service and convey an attractive image. Unfortunately, bus-based transit in the U.S. has an image problem. There is a general impression among many transit professionals and elected officials that only rail can convey the image of premium service. According to conventional industry wisdom, rail will attract more riders than bus, even if all quantifiable or “tangible” service attributes are equal. This perceived advantage is attributed to abstract “intangible” factors for which rail is thought to be superior. Although bus rapid transit ( BRT) is designed to emulate rail-based transit, there is little quantitative evidence of whether BRT can capture the ridership attraction benefits associated with rail. A combination of focus groups and an attitudinal survey were conducted to assess BRT’s ability to replicate the high-quality image and ridership attraction benefits associated with rail, and to quantify the tangible and intangible factors that drive perceptual differences between alternative transit modes. Research was fielded in Los Angeles, due to the city’s range of different rapid transit modes, including “BRT-Lite,” “Full-Service” BRT, light rail, and heavy rail. Overall, findings show that Full-Service BRT can replicate both the functionality standards and image qualities normally associated with rail, and that even a lower-investment BRT-Lite service performs remarkably well in terms of overall rating achieved per investment dollar. More generally, results indicate that the image of the surrounding urban area has greater influence on aggregate perceptions than whether a transit service is based on bus or rail technology.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Cain, Alasdair
- Flynn, Jennifer
- McCourt, Mark
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 89th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2010-1-10 to 2010-1-14
- Date: 2010
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: DVD
- Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 19p
- Monograph Title: TRB 89th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Bus rapid transit; Bus transit; Bus transportation; Mode choice; Public transit; Quality of service; Ridership; Transit operating agencies
- Geographic Terms: Los Angeles (California)
- Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01154336
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 10-2551
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: Apr 14 2010 7:14AM