Assessing operation and customer perception characteristics of high frequency local and limited-stop bus service in Vanc
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Assessing operation and customer perception characteristics of high frequency local and limited‑stop bus service in Vancouver, Canada Emily Grisé1 · Ahmed El‑Geneidy2 Accepted: 28 May 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Public transport agencies implement different strategies aimed at improving the operation of transit service and to increase satisfaction among its riders. One service strategy employed by transit agencies is a limited-stop bus service that runs in parallel to a heavily used route to decrease travel times for existing riders and to reduce pressure on the local route. Using bus operations data obtained from automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger counter (APC) systems and customer satisfaction data collected in Vancouver, Canada, the present study evaluates levels of satisfaction among users of a local and limited-stop bus service while controlling for the service characteristics these users have experienced in the past seven days. Our results reveal that after controlling for characteristics related to the conditions of the service experienced by users, namely passenger activity levels, patrons of the express route service were more likely to be satisfied with the transit service compared to users of the local service. This finding indicates that the operational characteristics of a limited-stop service, including in-vehicle time savings and higher route frequency, are highly valued by its users. Results of this study demonstrate how operations data can provide a greater context for customer satisfaction analyses. Finally, this study provides transit planners and policy makers with a better understanding of how customers perceive local and limited-stop service. Keywords Bus service · Limited-stop bus service · AVL/APC data · Customer satisfaction
* Emily Grisé [email protected] Ahmed El‑Geneidy [email protected] 1
School of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Alberta, 1‑26 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3, Canada
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School of Urban Planning, McGill University, Suite 400, 815 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, QC H3A 0C2, Canada
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E. Grisé, A. El-Geneidy
1 Introduction The success of a public transport agency largely depends on the number of satisfied passengers using the system and who will continue to use it in the future. Operational improvements, namely reductions in travel time and advances in service reliability, increase the operational efficiency for a public transport provider (Diab et al. 2015). However, these improvements may also increase riders’ satisfaction (Hensher et al. 2003; Mouwen 2015) and result in the growth of patronage (Bates et al. 2001; Noland and Polak 2002), which is an important measure of success for a public transport provider. One of the most effective strategies to reduce the running time of a bus route is the implementation of a limited-stop bus service along public transit corridors with high passenger demand. Limited-stop bus or express service is a spec
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