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Understanding the Factors that Contribute to Increasing the Use of Public Transport

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 10419

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Granada, Campus de Fuentenueva, s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
Interests: transportation engineering; road safety; traffic safety; travel behavior; quality of service

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is full agreement on considering public transport a key element to achieving sustainability of motorized mobility. For long-distance trips and in large urban and metropolitan settings, public transport is fundamental to establish a type of mobility that respects the environment. For that reason, strategies encouraging the use of public transport constitute one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Several studies have shown that improving service quality perception and satisfaction with public transport allows not only retaining existing users and increasing their loyalty, but also attracting new users, thus changing their behavioral intentions and promoting a modal shift. However, there are many other factors (e.g., attitudes towards public transport, feelings, involvement, perceived value, perceived cost, public transport image, experience of critical incidents, switching costs, etc.) or strategies (e.g., free public transport, restrictions to private vehicles, etc.) that could contribute to modifying the behavioral intentions and/or to increasing people’s loyalty towards public transport.

This Special Issue is dedicated to papers related to all transport modes that will contribute to a better understanding of the main factors or strategies that could promote a modal shift towards public transportation or that might increase the loyalty of existing users. Therefore, the journal Sustainability is inviting novel contributions on this topic proposing new theoretical approaches, methods’ development, practical insights, or applications.

Prof. Dr. Juan de Oña
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Attitudes towards public transport
  • Behavioral intentions
  • Customer service
  • Desired quality
  • Heterogeneity in perceptions
  • Involvement
  • Long distance transport
  • Loyalty
  • Metropolitan areas
  • Modal shift
  • Perceived quality
  • Potential public transport user
  • Private vehicle users
  • Public transportation
  • Quality of service
  • Satisfaction
  • Sociodemographic characteristics
  • Sustainable cities
  • Sustainable mobility

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3081 KiB  
Article
School Commuting: Barriers, Abilities and Strategies toward Sustainable Public Transport Systems in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
by Fariha Riska Yumita, Muhammad Zudhy Irawan, Siti Malkhamah and Muhammad Iqbal Habibi Kamal
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9372; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13169372 - 20 Aug 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3346
Abstract
This study aims to investigate students’ difficulties in using the bus to get to school based on Rasch analysis and examines students’ innate abilities in handling the barriers. A total of 536 high school students in Yogyakarta were randomly surveyed. This study considers [...] Read more.
This study aims to investigate students’ difficulties in using the bus to get to school based on Rasch analysis and examines students’ innate abilities in handling the barriers. A total of 536 high school students in Yogyakarta were randomly surveyed. This study considers forty barriers of bus use grouped into eight aspects: safety, bus stop reliability, accessibility, mobility, payment system, bus reliability, transfer efficiency, and information and communication technology. The results show that the students experienced 18 main barriers in using the bus. The limited time of travel, circuitous routes, and distance to the bus stops were the three most significant barriers for students in using the bus during the morning commute. Conversely, students reported no difficulty using the bus regarding safety and payment system aspects. This result additionally shows that gender, age, allowance, and drivers’ licenses also influence the extent of the barrier experienced by the students. Finally, some strategies to increase the students’ ability to overcome barriers in utilizing the bus are proposed to create a sustainable public transport system in Yogyakarta. Full article
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17 pages, 20565 KiB  
Article
How Do Subway Signs Affect Pedestrians’ Wayfinding Behavior through Visual Short-Term Memory?
by Haoru Li, Jinliang Xu, Xiaodong Zhang and Fangchen Ma
Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6866; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13126866 - 17 Jun 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2134
Abstract
Recently, subways have become an important part of public transportation and have developed rapidly in China. In the subway station setting, pedestrians mainly rely on visual short-term memory to obtain information on how to travel. This research aimed to explore the short-term memory [...] Read more.
Recently, subways have become an important part of public transportation and have developed rapidly in China. In the subway station setting, pedestrians mainly rely on visual short-term memory to obtain information on how to travel. This research aimed to explore the short-term memory capacities and the difference in short-term memory for different information for Chinese passengers regarding subway signs. Previous research has shown that people’s general short-term memory capacity is approximately four objects and that, the more complex the information, the lower people’s memory capacity. However, research on the short-term memory characteristics of pedestrians for subway signs is scarce. Hence, based on the STM theory and using 32 subway signs as stimuli, we recruited 120 subjects to conduct a cognitive test. The results showed that passengers had a different memory accuracy for different types of information in the signs. They were more accurate regarding line number and arrow, followed by location/text information, logos, and orientation. Meanwhile, information type, quantity, and complexity had significant effects on pedestrians’ short-term memory capacity. Finally, according to our results that outline the characteristics of short-term memory for subway signs, we put forward some suggestions for subway signs. The findings will be effective in helping designers and managers improve the quality of subway station services as well as promoting the development of pedestrian traffic in such a setting. Full article
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19 pages, 807 KiB  
Article
How Can Rail Use for Leisure and Tourism Be Promoted? Using Leisure and Mobility Orientations to Segment Swiss Railway Customers
by Lisa Dang and Widar von Arx
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 5813; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13115813 - 21 May 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4175
Abstract
This study aims to explore how customer segments are characterised by leisure and mobility orientations. By means of a survey, Swiss rail customers’ socioeconomic and trip profiles as well as attitudes towards taking the rail in their leisure time were collected. Respondents were [...] Read more.
This study aims to explore how customer segments are characterised by leisure and mobility orientations. By means of a survey, Swiss rail customers’ socioeconomic and trip profiles as well as attitudes towards taking the rail in their leisure time were collected. Respondents were free to take part in the survey by telephone or online, resulting in 1235 full interviews. A principal component analysis followed by segmentation through cluster analysis was conducted to derive their socio-economic and trip profiles and collect data on their attitudes towards using rail in their leisure time. Five railway customer segments were established, each demonstrating typical leisure orientations and specific attitudes towards the use of rail in leisure time and on tourist trips. This paper contributes to understanding the salient preferences of each segment and provides transport companies with clear indications for developing market-oriented offerings. Full article
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