Access to Ubiquitous Real-Time Information by Bus Passengers in Urban Contexts

Due to higher smartphone uptake and Internet penetration rate, Ubiquitous Real-time Passenger Information (URTPI) has become available to and required by larger segments of the public transit passenger population. URTPI can influence perceptions regarding transport services and affect mode and route choice. The impact of URTPI can be increased by a clear understanding of how the information is actually used. We investigate the demand for URTPI by means of an online survey in the UK. We study passenger behaviour in relation to personal attitudes, social norms and perceived behaviour control. The perceived behavioural control is defined by the attributes of information provision in the case of access to information. Our results confirm that URTPI is very popular among bus users. We find that the frequency of access to URTPI is strongly associated with the attributes of information and to a lesser degree to social norms. Our results highlight that simplifying apps is the best way to foster the use of URTPI, which in turn could help influencing travel behavior.