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What affects use of pretrip public transport information?: Empirical results of a qualitative study

Farag, Sendy; Lyons, Glenn

Authors

Sendy Farag



Abstract

With the rise of the Internet and mobile phone, various forms of public transport information services have emerged that enable people to make better informed travel choices. Nevertheless, many people are unaware of these information services, and only a minority of the public uses them. Lack of awareness is only one of several barriers to travel information use. A study was done on factors influencing the pretrip use of public transport information services (via different media-the Internet, telephone, paper timetables, asking staff). A social-psychological perspective has been adopted that takes habit, attitudes, anticipated emotions, and perceived behavioral control into account. Twelve face-to-face in-depth interviews and six focus groups were conducted across the United Kingdom among car drivers and public transport users. Results show that social-psychological factors seem to be important determinants of travel information use. External factors such as trip context could affect these determinants. People do not tend to travel by public transport without consulting any public transport information, unless there are no time constraints, the service runs frequently, or the journey is local. Individuals also seem to have a default source of travel information that they use for most trips. Except for most people older than 60, the Internet dominates as the common default travel information source. Phoning an inquiries line is unpopular across all age groups, but for different reasons: older people prefer face-to-face contact by visiting their local station, whereas younger people prefer to look up the information for themselves online.

Citation

Farag, S., & Lyons, G. (2008). What affects use of pretrip public transport information?: Empirical results of a qualitative study. Transportation Research Record, 2069(2069), 85-92. https://doi.org/10.3141/2069-11

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Dec 1, 2008
Deposit Date Jul 15, 2010
Journal Transportation Research Record
Print ISSN 0361-1981
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 2069
Issue 2069
Pages 85-92
DOI https://doi.org/10.3141/2069-11
Keywords pretrip, public transport information
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1015728
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/2069-11