To What Extent May Transit Stop Spacing Be Increased before Driving Away Riders? Referring to Evidence of the 2017 NHTS in the United States

Telan Wu, Hui Jin and Xiaoguang Yang
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Telan Wu: School of Rail Transportation, Soochow University, Suzhou 215131, China
Hui Jin: School of Rail Transportation, Soochow University, Suzhou 215131, China
Xiaoguang Yang: Key Laboratory of Road and Traffic Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 201800, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-19

Abstract: With the emergence of ride-sourcing and ride-splitting services, more options are available to support shifts away from transit, where maintaining transit ridership increases requirements for transit service quality, so as to promote high-capacity and sustainable transport systems. In this endeavor, proper transit stop spacing is critical for both service accessibility and in-vehicle trip efficiency, as well as operation cost. This research explores acceptable stop spacing for three kinds of transit services from the perspective of travel behavior, drawing on the 2017 National Household Travel Survey in the United States. A stochastic frontier model is developed to infer passengers’ unobservable vertex of acceptable transit access times on the basis of observed walk time, which can be converted to the tolerance with respect to stop spacing with the average walking speed. Significant explanatory variables on the vertex of acceptable transit stop spacing are further identified with their quantified impacts, including household density, household income, wait time, trip distance, transfer, and maintenance purpose, while the inefficiency variance is significantly related to traveler age, wait time, secondary walk time, and trip frequency. Recommended response strategies follow. Findings from this study provide insights, guidelines, and implementation plans for different transit agencies when considering stop spacing redesign, to strengthen transit service appeal and to promote cooperative and sustainable multi-modal urban transport systems.

Keywords: transit stop spacing; passenger walk time; stochastic frontier model; socio-economics; trip attributes; response strategies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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