Outdoor information panels to convey real-time travel information for transit ridership recovery

Abstract

Transit agencies in the United States have seen a drastic ridership decline since COVID-19. The research team collaborated with Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to utilize Outdoor Information Panels (OIPs) along major highways to deliver real-time travel information (RTTI) to encourage increased transit use. An online interview and a household survey were conducted in sequence to gather Great Boston Area (GBA) travelers’ travel experience, preferred RTTI contents, OIP graphic designs, and their stated mode shift in response to OIPs. The top three information items found to encourage transit use are real-time total travel time, next two train arrivals, and real-time parking availability. Additionally, travel cost is more influential for commuter rail (vs. subway) trips and major event (vs. generic) trips. 79% of transit user participants agree that OIPs would improve their travel experience. Trips with more flexible schedules and/or less requirement on carrying passengers and goods, such as social/recreational and major-event trips, are more influenced by RTTI than work, family, and shopping trips. Transit nonusers show a lower tendency to increase their transit use compared to transit users, with their potential increases varying more by trip purpose. A 2.1% emission reduction from work trips is estimated using a regional travel demand model for the GBA. Frequent transit users and nonusers (car users) contribute significantly to emission reductions. Frequent transit users contribute due to their substantial increase in transit use per person, despite being a smaller proportion of the traveling population, while nonusers contribute due to their large proportion, despite a smaller per-person increase in transit use.