When before and after transport from and to railway stations better fits the travelers' needs, this will reinforce the competition position of railway travel. For this reason, it is considered to introduce a new system for rental bicycles at train stations as a fully-fledged alternative next to existing transport systems. Among other things, an automated distribution system is considered which reduces the rent costs considerably and enables travelers, having themselves identified once, to quickly obtain a bicycle. The question is to what extent travelers will make use of such a system. To answer this question, this paper reports on a stated choice experiment completed by train travelers. Respondents were requested to indicate for each of the eight hypothetical rent systems whether they would opt for the rental bicycle or the after transport they planned for that particular trip. On the basis of these choices, a model is estimated which indicates to what extent changes in the values on these attributes influence the choices. As some characteristics of the present trip and of the travelers have been measured as well, it is examined to what extent these characteristics influence the option for the rent bicycle system. The estimated choice model is then used to predict the use of the rental bicycle under different system designs. The paper concludes with discussing some recommendations with respect to the implementation of the new rent bicycle system at railway stations. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E206647.
Abstract