The Role of Perceived Station Accessibility in Mode Choice

Abstract

Access to railway stations plays a crucial role in people’s decision to travel by train . In this study, we investigated the relation between perceived station accessibility and people’s likelihood to travel by train. We use stated-preference mode choice data from the Swiss Mobility Panel, which collects data from a representative sample of Swiss residents. An integrated choice latent variable model was used to estimate the influence of perceived station accessibility on the utility of taking the train. Our results show that perceived station accessibility significantly influences people’s likelihood to prefer the train over the car. Additionally, perceived station accessibility also partially moderates the effect of calculated station accessibility on mode choice, namely the effect of walking time to the station. These findings support the idea that improving station accessibility can be an alternative way to increase train ridership instead of focusing solely on improving the train network.