Interchange and travel choice - volumes 1 and 2. Report for the Scottish Executive by the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds and the Transport Research Institute at Napier University.

In order to improve understanding of the role and effect of interchange on the individual behaviour of bus, train and car users, the Scottish Executive, UK commissioned new research. Only one in five bus users rated interchanging as convenient. The interchange penalty is valued as equivalent to 4.5 minutes for bus travellers, 8.0 minutes for train travellers and 8.6 minutes for car commuters. A guaranteed connection could reduce the bus penalty to 0.9 minutes. Bus users quoted reliability and punctuality as the most worthwhile improvements. For bus users the amount of emotional effort required to cope with uncertainty was deemed excessive by 46% of respondents. Of the car commuters, 87% said they would commute more by public transport if they did not have to interchange. Incentives such as increased frequency, reliability and speed of travel would induce them to use public transport but increased parking costs were deemed less effective. It is suggested that changes to the design and operation of interchanges may influence attitudes.