In the Netherlands, the substitutional function of public transport is getting more and more important. On long distances, public transport is the only alternative for the car. Travelling by public transport is almost always a chain of movements, because transport to and from the stations is necessary. To be able to shift the modal split from car to public transport, it is necessary that the different transport systems are well connected to make the passenger transport chain a movement from door to door, like a car movement. The public transport companies should in particular target their policy to passengers who can choose between the car and public transport. For these passengers, the travel time is the most important factor of their choice. The chance that they will choose public transport for a movement gets substantially higher, when the public transport travel time gets shorter compared to the car travel time. The public transport travel time will not only become shorter by making public transport faster, but also by limiting the transport time to and from the transfer points, and by making the transfer time between the transport modes as short as possible. The stations should be well accessible to limit the time lost by transport to and from the transfer points. It is necessary to improve the connections between the different transport modes to reduce the transfer time.
Abstract