An important issue in public transport is punctuality. Because delays are often caused by external factors, an efficient way to mitigate passengers' negative reactions is to point out these factors in an excuse. The current study investigated whether excuses following train delay can be optimized by making minor changes to their content. Specifically, we compared the effectiveness of specific and non-specific excuses. Furthermore, we investigated whether adding different types of an apology influenced the effectiveness of the excuse. The results indicated that specific excuses resulted in more forgiveness and a reduced intention to avoid public transport in the future. Further analyses showed that specific excuses were more acceptable and were therefore more successful at reducing perceived responsibility. The presence or absence of an apology did not influence excuse effectiveness. These findings suggest that minor adjustments to the communication strategy of public transport organizations can reduce passenger loss due to delays.

中文翻译：

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火车延误后特质和道歉在借口信息中的作用

公共交通中的一个重要问题是守时。由于延误通常是由外部因素引起的，因此减轻乘客负面反应的有效方法是以借口指出这些因素。当前的研究调查了火车延迟后的借口是否可以通过对其内容进行细微更改来优化。具体来说，我们比较了特定和非特定借口的有效性。此外，我们调查了添加不同类型的道歉是否会影响借口的有效性。结果表明，特定的借口导致了更多的宽恕，并减少了将来避免公共交通的意图。进一步的分析表明，特定的借口更容易被接受，因此在减少责任感方面更成功。道歉的有无不影响借口的有效性。这些发现表明，对公共交通组织的沟通策略进行较小的调整可以减少因延误而造成的乘客损失。