Passenger Decision-Making in Mass Transit Systems: Insights From Dual-Process Theories

This experimental study explores how dual-process theories of decision-making may enrich our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms supporting Mass Transit (MT) users' route choices. We examined whether Type 1 (i.e., autonomous and heuristic-based) and Type 2 (i.e., deliberative and criteria-based) processing may explain how on-board crowding information in smartphone route planning apps influences willingness to wait for less crowded routes. The data of 377 participants who completed an online experiment simulating route planning for 35 trips in central Paris were analysed. The willingness to wait phenomenon was found to be driven by two distinct information-processing mechanisms: (1) deliberative evaluation of explicit crowding, waiting, and in-vehicle time information, and (2) autonomous heuristics activated by implicit colour cues associated with green-orange-red crowding levels. The findings of this study highlight passenger crowding as a key route selection criterion and illustrate the relevance of dual-process theories in passengers' decision-making in MT.