Journal of Public Transportation最新文献

{"title":"How flexible transportation services work in reality?- some insights from real-world observations","authors":"Ran Du ,&nbsp;Fumitaka Kurauchi ,&nbsp;Toshiyuki Nakamura ,&nbsp;Masahiro Kuwahara","doi":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100121","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100121","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Public transportation in Japan currently faces serious challenges, including depopulation, dispersed low demand, and a shortage of drivers. To address these issues and cover wider areas with fewer drivers, flexible transport systems like demand-responsive transport (DRT) services are becoming increasingly popular, particularly in rural areas, thanks to recent advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Despite the potential for reduced operational costs through more efficient service provision, overall costs often remain high due to increased operator and system costs. Improving the efficiency of services is crucial even for flexible transport systems. Understanding detailed traveler behaviors within these systems is essential for this purpose.</div><div>Flexible transport systems often incorporate online booking and vehicle assignment systems, allowing for the automatic collection of booking data. By analyzing this data, we can gain insights into the behaviors of travelers and the patterns of bus stop utilization. This study utilizes booking data to examine the interactions between passengers and bus stops in flexible transport systems, with a particular focus on understanding and discussing patterns of regularity and variability in both traveler behavior and bus stop usage.</div><div>The study uses nine years of booking data (2015–2023) from a mid-sized city in Gifu Prefecture, encompassing 845 passengers and 142,638 records. The analysis first explores the regularity of traveler behaviors and bus stop usage patterns, followed by a discussion on the flexibility or variability of vehicle movements.</div><div>The results show that vehicle movements are primarily driven by regular high-frequency travelers, who use the service for commuting and returning home. This dominance often excludes low-frequency random travelers from accessing the service. Additionally, it is suggested that minimizing total operational costs may not adequately assign travelers onto vehicles, and the implementation of monthly passes may further reinforce the dominance of high-frequency travelers.</div><div>These insights underscore the importance of considering service designs from various dimensions, including user behavior, spatial factors, and temporal patterns, for the effective optimization of flexible transport systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47173,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Transportation","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100121"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143825643","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring antecedents of passengers’ behavioral intentions toward autonomous buses: A decomposed planning behavior approach","authors":"Kai-Chieh Hu ,&nbsp;Li-Hao Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100116","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100116","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increasing prominence of autonomous buses in metropolitan transportation has sparked considerable interest. However, the absence of a comprehensive theoretical framework hinders the systematic exploration of factors influencing passengers’ behavioral intentions regarding autonomous buses. This study addresses this gap by employing the decomposed planning behavior theory to investigate the antecedents of passengers’ behavioral intentions. Additionally, the study examines the impact of travel anxiety and perceived risk on passengers’ attitudes. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey, and structural equation modeling was utilized to rigorously test the research model. The findings reveal that purchase intention is positively influenced by novelty seeking, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, while being negatively impacted by travel anxiety. Conversely, travel anxiety is negatively influenced by novelty seeking but positively affected by perceived risk. Moreover, interpersonal influence positively affects subjective norm, and self-efficacy has a positive influence on perceived behavioral control. This study offers valuable insights for current and potential bus operators and government entities seeking to advance the promotion of autonomous buses in metropolitan areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47173,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Transportation","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100116"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143319507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Data-driven causal behaviour modelling from trajectory data: A case for fare incentives in public transport","authors":"Yuanyuan Wu ,&nbsp;Alex Markham ,&nbsp;Leizhen Wang ,&nbsp;Liam Solus ,&nbsp;Zhenliang Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2024.100114","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2024.100114","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Behaviour modelling has been widely explored using both statistical and machine learning techniques, primarily relying on analyzing correlations to understand passenger responses under different conditions and scenarios. However, correlation alone does not imply causation. This paper introduces a data-driven causal behaviour modelling approach, comprising two phases: causal discovery and causal inference. Causal discovery phase uses Peter-Clark (PC) algorithm to learn a directed acyclic graph that captures the causal relationships among variables. Causal inference phase estimates the corresponding model parameters and infers (conditional) causal effects of interventions designed to influence user behaviour. The method is validated by comparing the results with those from conventional modelling approaches (logistic regression and expert knowledge) using smart card data from a real-world use case on a pre-peak fare discount incentive program in the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway system. The results highlight that the purely data-driven causal discovery method can produce reasonable causal graph. The method can also quantify the behavioural impacts of the incentive, identify key influencing factors, and estimate the corresponding causal effects. The overall causal effect of the incentive is approximately 0.7 %, with about 3 % of the population changing behaviour from previous statistical analysis. Interestingly, passengers with the highest flexibility exhibit a negative response, while those with medium-to-high flexibility demonstrate 3 times of the general level of responsiveness. The approach initiates the data-driven, causal modelling of human behaviour dynamics to support policy developments and managerial interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47173,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Transportation","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100114"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143168444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Predicting and analyzing ferry transit delays using open data and machine learning","authors":"Malek Sarhani ,&nbsp;Abtin Nourmohammadzadeh ,&nbsp;Stefan Voß ,&nbsp;Mohammed EL Amrani","doi":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100124","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100124","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The utilization of public transport data has evolved rapidly in recent decades. Ferries, with their unique characteristics and sensitivity to weather conditions, pose significant challenges for delay prediction. Given their pivotal role in the transportation systems of numerous cities, accurately predicting ferry delays is crucial for synchronizing transit services.</div><div>This paper demonstrates the value of open data for improving ferry delay predictions through machine learning, focusing on two case studies. Our approach leverages General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data, ridership and vessel information, and hourly weather data, combined with SHAP explainable artificial intelligence analysis to assess key delay determinants. While support vector regression and deep neural networks showed high accuracy in individual case studies, gradient boosting consistently offered the best balance between prediction accuracy and computational efficiency. Moreover, SHAP analysis reveals that operational and temporal features – such as stop sequence, trip start time, headway, and vehicle label – are the dominant drivers of delays, with weather-related factors exerting only a modest influence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47173,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Transportation","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100124"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144365716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Who rides the bus in small cities in the U.S. Midwest?","authors":"Bumsoo Lee ,&nbsp;Lindsay M. Braun ,&nbsp;Jesus M. Barajas ,&nbsp;Amanda Merck ,&nbsp;Kyuhyun Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100125","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100125","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Public transit systems in smaller urban areas in the U.S. have encountered pronounced declines in ridership since the mid-2010s, compounded by distinct challenges inherent to their scale and context. Despite this trend, understanding of the unique characteristics and needs of riders within such systems remains limited, as prevailing transit research predominantly focuses on larger metropolitan areas. Addressing this gap, our study examines the characteristics and needs of bus riders across four small urban areas in the U.S. Midwest through an on-board survey and subsequent rider typology analysis. We find that bus riders in these smaller communities are markedly economically disadvantaged compared to those in larger cities; 60 % live in households earning incomes at or below the poverty threshold, and over half lack access to a private vehicle. The low socioeconomic status of small-city transit riders results in a heavy reliance on public transportation, with nearly 90 % of respondents depending exclusively on buses or a mix of buses and active modes for daily travel. Such dependency brings to light the challenges that these individuals face, with more than 40 % experiencing severe disruptions like job loss or restricted access to essential services due to inadequate transportation options. Yet, the pressing need for improved service frequency and speed to increase the efficiency of public transit underscores a critical tension in transit network planning: that between providing frequent service and ensuring extensive coverage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47173,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Transportation","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100125"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144306753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of tolerable, perceived, and actual travel time on trip satisfaction among Canadian older adults","authors":"Thiago Carvalho,&nbsp;Ahmed El-Geneidy","doi":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100138","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100138","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As older adults cease driving, public transit can support them maintain their independence and remain connected to their communities. This population is particularly sensitive to travel times. While previous research has explored the impact of ideal and perceived travel times on satisfaction, the role of tolerable travel times—representing the maximum acceptable time threshold before satisfaction declines—has been underexplored. Understanding this relationship can provide valuable insight for improving transit experiences and meeting the mobility needs of older adults. To explore this gap, we examine how subjective (perceived and tolerable) and objective (actual) measures of travel time influence trip satisfaction among older adults. To do so, we use data from the 2023 Aging in Place Survey, a Canadian bilingual online survey, focusing on respondents who used transit at least once in the past year from Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver (N = 731). We asses the impact of these measures of travel time on trip satisfaction through multi-level ordered probit models, accounting for both individual and regional factors. Our findings suggest that older adults are more likely to be satisfied with their trip when perceived travel time aligns with what they consider as tolerable, rather than the actual, objective trip duration. They also reinforce the strong role of previous transit experiences and perceptions on shaping future trip satisfaction. Given the link between satisfaction and continuous transit use, these findings are relevant for practitioners and policymakers seeking to improve public transit experiences for older adults and support their healthy aging.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47173,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Transportation","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100138"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145158036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Benefits from a new transit line: Exploring the impact of rare users and spatially heterogeneous variations in intensity of use","authors":"Durba Kundu ,&nbsp;Somwrita Sarkar ,&nbsp;Emily Moylan","doi":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100120","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100120","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>What are the city-wide benefits of introducing a new transit mode? Justification of a new transit mode is often based on claims of transformational change regarding mode share, ridership, or passenger-kilometers travelled (PKT). Detractors argue that these dramatic benefits are not experienced uniformly across populations or places. This paper quantifies the extent and intensity of the change in travel behaviour caused by the addition of a new mode and builds on measures of increased ridership and PKT to explore who is travelling on the new mode and in what ways. Recent advances in smartcard data analysis provide detailed insights into transit ridership but are often temporally limited, restricting the ability to analyse long-term behavioural trends. While research on transit ridership patterns exists, few studies compare users of the old and new modes in terms of spatial distribution and intensity of use. This study relies on a long baseline of data to estimate the home locations of travellers and their intensity of use. Our findings challenge assumptions about infrequent users and reveal that rare users significantly influence ridership patterns. Increased reach of ridership is substantiated based on the appearance of new cards 48 % higher than usual after the light rail introduction. However, only about 4 % of new card IDs make trips at a rate equivalent to a daily commute. The results show strong spatial patterns, with 50 % of frequent light rail riders having inferred home locations at the new stations and 63 % of daily riders not using the bus to access the light rail. This approach suggests that (1) rare users, though they ride less often, have a notable impact on ridership trends; (2) transit-access distances are shorter than conventional assumptions of approximately half-a-mile; and (3) ridership benefits show strong spatial patterns.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47173,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Transportation","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100120"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143799467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From the fringes to the mainstream and back? The geography of pandemic-driven evolution of fare-free public transport in the United States","authors":"Monika Maciejewska ,&nbsp;Wojciech Kębłowski ,&nbsp;Merlin Gillard","doi":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100119","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100119","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The article examines the surprising uptake of the fare-free public transport (FFPT) policy in the United States during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. While sanitary lockdowns led to a drastic reduction of mobility, safe public transport (PT) services had to be maintained to cater for “essential workers”. To achieve this, many urban transit agencies (TAs) adopted FFPT. To examine where PT became fare-free during the pandemic, we built and analysed a new dataset based on information from nearly 400 urban TAs across the US. Our findings indicate that two-thirds of the public TAs in urban areas opted to suspend fare collection amid the pandemic, with the analysis uncovering 73 cases of full FFPT on top of the 29 that had existed before the pandemic. FFPT emerged in areas with diverse demographic and economic profiles. Localities with higher Democratic Party support were more likely to abolish fares and sustain the suspensions, while larger transit agencies with substantial vehicle fleets tended to resume fare collection sooner. These findings highlight the complex factors influencing the adoption and duration of FFPT programmes in response to the pandemic, and underscore the adaptability of PT policies in the response. In sum, we observe that FFPT has shifted from the policy margins to the mainstream, having transformed from a highly controversial measure to a widely accepted strategy. Although the number of FFPT cases decreased significantly after the initial waves of the pandemic, it nonetheless remained much higher than pre-pandemic levels, with 40 TAs continuing to offer fare-free services.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47173,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Transportation","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100119"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143815904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Decency in the digital era: Exploring preferences of transit riding among females in different life stages","authors":"Bing Yan ,&nbsp;Chen Wan ,&nbsp;Yinli Chen ,&nbsp;Chengcheng Yu ,&nbsp;Lu Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2024.100112","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2024.100112","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Investigating women’s public transit usage intentions (TUIs) is essential for enhancing service quality and ensuring female passengers’ travel rights. However, for women with distinct socioeconomic backgrounds, the heterogeneity of factors impacting their TUIs is not thoroughly explored. In this research, we conducted a survey in Hangzhou, China, collected 1294 valid questionnaires from women, and employed the Latent Class Analysis method (LCA) and Ordered Logit Model (OLM) to identify the distinct determinants of TUIs among different female groups. The findings reveal that: (1) Retired elderly women, who are less able to walk, require more spatial accessibility of transit services and the availability to reduce their first/last-mile walking and waiting time; (2) Middle-aged and high-income groups prioritize comfort, punctuality, and safety, particularly favoring the provision of ladies-only seating areas; (3) Young and student groups' transit usage is predominantly influenced by fare policies. By incorporating digital technologies, customized operational strategies such as real-time transit information systems, surveillance cameras, tiered discount schemes, and digital payment services are recommended to improve the TUIs among different female groups. Our work contributes to creating a more female-friendly public transit environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47173,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Transportation","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100112"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143167472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How access distance to high-speed rail stations affects individual travel behavior in small cities: A case study of the Chengdu-Chongqing corridor","authors":"Weiwei Cao ,&nbsp;Feng Shi ,&nbsp;Qihua Zhu ,&nbsp;Qi Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100127","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpubtr.2025.100127","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rapid development of high-speed rail (HSR) has generated significant economic and social impacts and garnered extensive scholarly attention. However, there remains a lack of analysis on how access distance to HSR stations affects local residents’ travel behavior from the perspective of the individual. This study attempts to answer this question by utilizing large-scale railway travel data from residents of small cities in China. The raw dataset was provided by the Chengdu Railway Bureau, covering the period from January 1, 2014, to March 20, 2018. Taking the Chengdu-Chongqing HSR as a case study, we used the spatial distance between the residential addresses of individuals and HSR stations as a proxy for accessibility, and we selected over 340,000 residents from eight small cities along the route as observations. A negative binomial regression was employed to estimate the impact of access distance to HSR stations on individual travel behavior. The results indicate that individuals’ access distance to HSR stations has significantly negative effects on the number of HSR trips. Variables representing the individual characteristics of previous travel behavior, ticket purchasing behavior, social status, and wealth significantly affect individual travel frequency. More importantly, the study also demonstrates heterogeneity in the effects of HSR station accessibility on different groups in terms of sex, age, and place of residence. Compared with females and rural residents, the negative impact of HSR station accessibility on male and urban residents' travel behavior is less pronounced. The analysis also shows that HSR station accessibility negatively affects individual travel frequency across different groups, with middle-aged and elderly groups being more sensitive to accessibility constraints. These findings enrich existing research on travel behavior.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47173,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Transportation","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100127"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144262801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}