Will bus travellers walk further for a more frequent service? An international study using a stated preference approach

Abstract

Network planning of bus services requires addressing the trade-off between frequency and coverage. Traditional network planning has focused on coverage using the rule of thumb that people will walk four hundred meters to access bus based public transport services. More modern approaches have recognised that encouraging mode shift means improving quality and thus in the presence of budget constraint, a shift of resources is needed to provide frequency on core corridors. Using a Stated Choice experiment approach, this paper elicits the trade-off between access distance and service frequency and how this might vary in a number of cities around the world. The key results show travellers in all cities forming part of the sample are willing to walk further for a more frequent service: in Australian capital cities between 226 m and 302 m further for a ten-minute reduction in bus headways, while in UK and US this is between 370 m and 475 m further for the same improvement in service frequency. The policy implications are that moving towards creating high frequency corridors are likely to welcome more passengers, even if they have to walk further noting that it is higher frequency that is more likely to achieve mode shift from car to public transport.