The choice between bus and rail is important and surely easy. It is very important to make the right decision, because the amounts of money, the effect and the duration of impact are big. The elements influencing the choice are numerous: macro economic effects, national and international image, flexibility, etc. One of the most important aspects though, is the ratio of costs and benefits. The ratio of costs and benefits is very much influenced by the amount of users. An old dispute in the choice between these modes is the question whether rail attracts more users than bus. But information on this subject is scarcely available. The goal of this project consists of two parts. The first is answering the question whether rail does attract more passengers than buses do and if so, if certain user groups are more attracted by rail than others. The second part is finding out why rail attracts more passengers. The project consists of three elements: a literature survey, a theoretical explanation and a user survey on tramline 6 and bus line 25 in The Hague, The Netherlands. (A)
Abstract