Toward understanding waiting time in an intercity station: A hazard-based approach

Waiting time (WT) is a major onerous component of travel time that substantially influences mode choice and station design of public transportation. While WT in urban stations has been in the spotlight, WT in intercity stations has rarely been addressed in the literature. There are clear distinctions between passengers' behavior in urban and intercity stations that need to be elaborated. These differences can influence the factors affecting WT, scale, and the direction of influential variables. Another contribution of this study is to introduce passengers' heterogeneous (planned and non-planned) arrival pattern in intercity stations and investigate its effect on WT using duration models for the first time. Thus, a comprehensive survey, from about 10,000 individuals, was conducted in Tehran Railway Station, and several accelerated failure time models were developed. The Weibull baseline distribution with univariate gamma frailty was the most suitable model to explain intercity WT. Consequently, important demographic, trip characteristics, and infrastructure variables affecting intercity WT are identified, and distinctions with urban WT are described. For example, contrary to the urban stations that headway is the most critical factor, in this intercity case, arriving at a station by another intercity rail service (i. e., transferring between services) had the primary impact on WT. The univariate frailty model with gamma heterogeneity can also elucidate the relation between passengers' arrival pattern and WT. Results were validated by WTs collected from Wi-Fi sensing technology. Planners and operators can use the results to improve the service quality and patronage of intercity rail transit.