Each type of passenger transport tends to be used predominantly by a limited number of identifiable groups of people, each for their own specific purposes. This paper reviews some of the existing data on the patronage of conventional stage bus services to identify the groups that comprise the market for bus travel. It is shown that about one sixth of bus passengers are children, one third men and one half women. The purposes for which bus trips are made is shown to vary between different types of area, but nationally to include about 35 per cent for work, 10 per cent for education, 21 per cent for shopping and 16 per cent for social purposes. It is shown that a major reason for not using a bus is having a car available. A similar analysis is made of the patronage of five experimental dial-a-bus services. It is shown that these have attracted considerable numbers of passengers to public transport, though only slightly from private cars. A higher than normal proportion of dial-a-bus passengers are women. There is little evidence of dial-a-bus services being used in ways that are different to the use of frequent conventional bus services, or of them satisfying a market that could not be satisfied by conventional buses. However, dial-a-bus is attracting passengers who more nearly represent a cross-section of the community served, than do passengers on conventional buses. (Author/publisher)
Abstract