This report gives the results of on-board passenger interview surveys concerning minibus services in four locations, Leeds, a town in South Yorkshire, Swansea and Newbury. By comparing the pattern of weekly trip making for different journey purposes before and after conversion of the services from full sized bus to minibus, the survey estimated the net growth in ridership in each location due to minibus related reasons. The growth in each case was related to conversion characteristics such as the change in frequency, incidence of hail and ride, and estate penetration, which were different in each location. For each location the volume of net transfers between modes, and the generation factor were also estimated. Respondents were asked their likes and dislikes of the services and how these affected their frequency of trip making. Further questions were asked concerning the extent and characteristics of overcrowding, overall performance of minibus compared with full sized bus services, and other issues. For related work see IRRD 830330, 830331 and 830333.
Abstract