A Data-Driven Approach to Help Understanding the Preferences of Public Transport Users

The maintenance of the quality of the public transport service in big cities requires constant monitoring, which may become an expensive and time-consuming practice. The perception of quality, from the users point of view is an important aspect of quality monitoring. In this sense, we proposed a methodology based on big data analysis and visualization, which allows for the structuring of estimates and assumptions of where and who seems to be having unsatisfactory experiences while making use of the public transportation in metropolitan areas. Moreover, it provides support in setting up a plan for on-site quality surveys. The proposed methodology increases the likelihood that, with the on-site visits, the interviewer finds users who suffer inconveniences, which influence their behavior. Simulation comparison and a small-scale pilot survey helped validate the proposed method.