Teenagers (age 12-19) comprise 11% of the total population, are a very active segment with relatively few ingrained habits, and are mostly not able to drive cars. There is thus potential for encouraging increased public transport use, particularly at off-peak times and periods. In some areas they generate a large number of car based parent-chauffered trips; there are good environmental reasons for encouraging a switch from car passenger to public transport modes. There are potentially important short and long-term benefits of developing the teenage market. In the short term income can be increased. In the longer term, a greater familiarity with public transport in teenage years may keep those passengers on the system as was demonstrated in Sheffield in the early 1980s. London Transport has commissioned a study on teenage travel by public transport; this paper presents the findings of the study which includes: a) data on the teenage travel market, including data from the London Area Transport Survey (LATS) and London Transport's Household Survey; b) non London initiatives to encourage teenage leisure travel, includes initiatives by PTEs, e.g. Sheffield and European cities such as Paris (RATP Tarif for failure pour les jeunes), Florence and the German region of Rhein-Sieg; c) report on the attitudes of teenagers to transport; d) summary of problems and possibilities as seen by public transport staff, including revenue possibilities, fraud prevention possibilities and conflict reduction; e) the social and market benefits of a working through schools (cf. SYPTE); and f) conclusions include an outline of initiatives which might increase teenage off-peak use of public transport, and potential monetary and social short and long term benefits.
Abstract