The Effect of Incentives on the Actions Transit Riders Make in Response to Crowding

Abstract

Public transit crowding influences riders’ satisfaction and needs to be tackled using both demand and supply management approaches. In this study, we focus on the policy response to public transit crowding using customer incentive schemes. We used statistical tests and an an Integrated Choice and Latent Variable model to analyze data collected in Metro Vancouver, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that people who favor incentives tend to be more likely to change their travel behavior in response to crowding and that incentives that reduce the cost of travel have more potential to shift riders’ travel time, while other incentives have a more pronounced effect on the decision to travel via a less crowded route. These findings are aimed at public transit agencies interested in employing policy instruments to manage transit crowding and researchers seeking to advance the knowledge about the influence of personal attitudes on travel behavior.