Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) schemes are often characterised by high levels ofservice quality and, as such, have the potential to provide significant benefits to travellers. Any assessment of the likely impacts of new schemesmust therefore take these benefits into account. It is the aim of the research reported here to quantify traveller willingness to pay for a range of BRT service attributes including: service frequency, journey time, vehicle quality, fare collection methods and vehicle power. The research is based on a self completion questionnaire survey of people travelling between Sheffield and Rotherham in the North of England. The questionnaire incorporates a set of attitudinal questions concerning public transport, the environment and social responsibility; two interlinked stated preference experiments involving a choice between public transport modes and alternative BRT specifications; and respondent ratings on the influence of key service attributes on mode choice. A dataset of 730 questionnaire responses was assembled and analysed using a combination of factor analysis and advanced discrete choice modelling techniques. Willingness to pay estimates for BRT were subsequently derived from a choice model with a mixed GEV structure incorporating attitudinal responses and attribute ratings as well as choiceattributes themselves. The inclusion of this psychographic information provides an interesting insight into taste variation across market segments as well as enhancing the explanatory power of the model. The headline results suggest that, all else being equal, travel on-board BRT imposes 92% ofthe disutility of an equivalent journey by conventional bus, and travel by light rail 78% of the disutility. Evaluation of individual attributes ofBRT shows that electric power supply and a light, airy appearance with minimal clutter and clear lines of sight are both valued positively. Inclusion of the former is valued at a rate equivalent to a 3.5 minute reduction in travel time, with a corresponding value for the latter of 2.2 minutes. By contrast, payment to a ticket machine, as opposed to a conductor or driver, imposes a penalty equal to a travel time increase of 3.8 minutes. In conclusion, the research successfully incorporates psychographic variablesrelating to respondent attitudes and values within a choice modelling framework to aid the understanding of differences in the willingness to pay for BRT services across market segments. For the covering abstract see ITRDE145999.
Samenvatting