Crowding in public transport: Who cares and why?. (June 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Haywood, Luke; Koning, Martin; Monchambert, Guillaume
• Is Part Of: Transportation research. Volume 100(2017)
• Page Start: 215
• Page End: 227
• Publication Date: 2017-06
• Subjects: Public transport -- Crowding -- Stated satisfaction -- Travel cost -- Survey data; Transportation -- Research -- Periodicals; 388.011
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2017.04.022
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0965-8564

Abstract

Abstract: Crowding on public transport (PT) is a major issue for commuters around the world. Nevertheless, economists have rarely investigated the causes of crowding discomfort. Furthermore, most evidence on the costs of PT crowding is based on trade-offs between crowding, travel time and money. First, this paper assesses discomfort with PT crowding at various density levels across heterogeneous individuals using a different methodology. Based on a survey of 1000 Paris PT users, the negative relationship of in-vehicle density on reported satisfaction is similar to previous studies investigating PT crowding costs and stable across most individual characteristics. We also find a sensitive increase in crowding costs over users' income. Second, we investigate the causes of this discomfort effect. We identify three key drivers: (a) dissatisfaction with standing and not being seated; (b) less opportunities to make use of the time during the journey; (c) the physical closeness of other travelers per se .