Travelers' information requirements regarding public transport services

This paper describes some findings concerning travelers’ information requirement regarding public transport services. Six different information constructs were investigated. The constructs cover facilities, promotion, vehicle, organization, trip, and price related information aspects. Data was collected in the city of Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Respondents were asked to rank the information constructs and aspects from important to unimportant. More than 600 respondents participated completed the questionnaire. With respect to the contents of required information, it appears that information about the price of a trip and the trip itself is considered as most important. Information concerning the aspects costs of public transport, decease of tariffs, and behavior of the driver has been indicated as most important. Respondents prefer a relative level of information in the case the information only concerns bus related information. When the information deals with a comparison of bus and car, respondents prefer absolute information. Newspapers and free local papers seem to be the most favorite channels to distribute public transport related information.