Abstract

Mobility in metropolitan rings is often more car-dependent than in urban cores. Buses are emerging as an efficient option to promote sustainable mobility in metropolitan corridors, although they are perceived as being less reliable than rail or the car. The adoption of real-time information (RTI) tools for passengers can mitigate this issue. This paper aims (i) to explore the potential bus demand in metropolitan corridors, and (ii) to understand how bus passengers use RTI public transport mobile applications. Both aims are oriented to attract more passengers toward public transport. A two-step methodological framework has been established to perform this analysis in the Madrid Region. Data from the 2014 Household Mobility Survey reveal that metropolitan bus potential is three times the current bus ridership, and almost double in transport corridors linked to motorways than in transversal and other metropolitan trips. An ad-hoc survey of bus travelers was conducted in one corridor to capture the use of RTI mobile apps. The results show that multimodal commuters tend to consult several apps, since none of the main apps integrates all the multimodal RTI for their trips. Non-regular bus passengers are more likely to consult a general-purpose app such as Google Maps, while frequent bus commuters prefer to use the official public transport authority app. Improving the multimodal information passengers receive through transit apps could ease their trips and help materialize some of the potential bus demand in metropolitan areas.

摘要

与城市核心地区相比，大都市圈的出行通常更依赖汽车。公交车正在成为促进城市走廊可持续交通的有效选择，尽管人们认为公交车不如铁路或汽车可靠。为乘客采用实时信息（RTI）工具可以缓解此问题。本文旨在（i）探索都市走廊中潜在的公交需求，以及（ii）了解公交乘客如何使用RTI公共交通移动应用程序。这两个目标都是为了吸引更多的乘客乘坐公共交通工具。已经建立了两步方法框架来在马德里地区进行分析。2014年家庭流动性调查的数据显示，大都会公交的潜力是当前公交乘车人数的三倍，与高速公路相连的运输通道的交通走廊几乎比横向旅行和其他都市旅行的两倍。一个在一个走廊中对公共汽车旅行者进行了专项调查，以了解RTI移动应用的使用情况。结果表明，多模式通勤者倾向于咨询多个应用程序，因为没有一个主要应用程序集成了所有多模式RTI的旅行信息。非常规的公共汽车乘客更有可能使用通用应用程序，例如Google Maps，而频繁的通勤者更喜欢使用官方的公共交通管理局应用程序。改善乘客通过公交应用程序接收的多式联运信息，可以缓解他们的出行并帮助实现大都市地区一些潜在的公交需求。