Improving data collection and modelling of perceived quality in public transport systems

RESUMEN: Estudiar la calidad percibida en el transporte público es una forma de definir políticas efectivas enfocadas a mejorar el mismo. La satisfacción de los clientes con respecto a un sistema de transporte público depende principalmente de dos factores: cuán satisfechos están estos con los diferentes aspectos que componen el servicio y cuán importante es cada uno de esos aspectos. La forma de obtener esta información es mediante encuestas de satisfacción. Los datos obtenidos permiten estimar modelos que definen aquellos aspectos del servicio que más influyen en la percepción de la calidad de los usuarios. De esta forma, es posible establecer prioridades de inversión para los operadores o autoridades de los servicios. La presente tesis se encuentra constituida por un compendio de artículos compuesto por un total de 4 artículos. Los cuales, se centran en mejorar el rendimiento de recolección de datos proponiendo mejoras al método utilizado actualmente o proponiendo un método alternativo más eficiente. Adicionalmente, se mejoran los modelos de análisis utilizados y se facilita su interpretación.ABSTRACT: Studying perceived quality in a public transport system is a way of defining effective policies aimed at improving it. Customer overall satisfaction towards a public transport system depends mainly on two factors: how satisfied they are with different aspects that make up the service and how important each of the service aspects is to the customer. The common way to obtain this information is through satisfaction surveys. The data obtained through the surveys allow the researchers to estimate models that define those aspects of the service that most influence the perception of user satisfaction. Thus, it is possible to establish investment priorities for service operators or authorities. The present thesis consists of a compendium of 4 articles, which are focused on improving the performance of the surveying process by proposing improvements to the currently used method, or by proposing a more efficient alternative method. Additionally, the models used in previous studies are improved and their interpretation is made easier.Me gustaría empezar agradeciendo a las entidades con cuya financiacion ha si posible realizar esta tesis. Por una parte, a los proyectos de investigación TRA2015-69903-R, financiado por el Ministerio de Economía e Industria del Gobierno de España y cofinanciado con fondos FEDER; SETA-project (grant agreement Nº 688082), financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación (ERC) bajo el programa de la Union Europea Horizonte 2020; y NEAR2050 (Project Reference: 730838, Call Reference S2R- OC-CCA-01-2015), financiado por la iniciativa europea Shift2Rail. Por otra parte, al Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte del Gobierno de España por concederme la ayuda para la formación de profesorado universitario FPU15 / 02990 y por la ayuda a la movilidad para estancias breves y translados temporales EST18/00547 que permitió financiar una de las estancias realizadas en esta tesis. Ambas ayudas pertenecen actualmente al Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación

MODELLING PERCEIVED QUALITY FOR URBAN TRANSPORT SYSTEMS USING WEIGHTED VARIABLES AND RANDOM PARAMETERS

[EN] In this article, an Ordered Logit model is proposed considering systematic and random variations in tastes. The methodology followed for the creation of this model consisted, in first place, in obtaining data using a revelled preferences survey. In the survey, each user had to evaluate, following a qualitative scale, each one of the attributes of the analysed transport system. The variables evaluated in the survey had been grouped into six groups, and for each group, users had to order the attributes belonging to the group, using a ranking based method, from the most important to de least important, and, in the same way, with the groups itself. Once the database is formed, a generic model have been created, establishing this model as a comparative base for the rest. Next, two more models have been estimated one considering systematic users variations and the other one combining the systematic variations with weighted variables. Additionally, three new models have been calculated as an evolution of the previous ones using random variables as representation of systematic and random variations in user’s tastes. The results shows that as model’s complexity increase, an improvement in model fit is achieved.Echaniz Beneitez, E.; Dell'olio, L.; Ibeas Portilla, A. (2016). MODELLING PERCEIVED QUALITY FOR URBAN TRANSPORT SYSTEMS USING WEIGHTED VARIABLES AND RANDOM PARAMETERS. En XII Congreso de ingeniería del transporte. 7, 8 y 9 de Junio, Valencia (España). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 955-974. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2015.4072OCS95597

Modelling user satisfaction in public transport systems considering missing information

Collecting data to obtain insights into customer satisfaction with public transport services is very time-consuming and costly. Many factors such as service frequency, reliability and comfort during the trip have been found important drivers of customer satisfaction. Consequently, customer satisfaction surveys are quite lengthy, resulting in many interviews not being completed within the aboard time of the passengers/respondents. This paper questions as to whether it is possible to reduce the amount of information collected without a compromise on insights. To address this research question, we conduct a comparative analysis of different Ordered Probit models: one with a full list of attributes versus one with partial set of attributes. For the latter, missing information was imputed using three different methods that are based on modes, single imputations using predictive models and multiple imputation. Estimation results show that the partial model using the multiple imputation method behaves in a similar way to the model that is based on the full survey. This finding opens an opportunity to reduce interview time which is critical for most customer satisfaction surveys.This study has been possible thanks to the financing of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Industry in the TRA2015-69903-R Project, the training grant FPU15 / 02990 of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 688082 - SETA Project) and thanks to the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities trough the project TRA2017-85853-C2-1-R

Comparing best-worst and ordered logit approaches for user satisfaction in transit services

Customer overall satisfaction towards a public transport system depends mainly on two factors: how satisfied they are with different aspects that make up the service and how important each of the service aspects is to the customer. Traditionally, researchers use revealed preference surveys and ordered probit/logit models to estimate the contribution of each service attribute towards the overall satisfaction. This paper aims to verify the possibility of replacing the traditional method with the more cost-effective best-worst case 1 method, using a customer survey recently conducted in Santander, Spain. The results show that the satisfaction level obtained from these alternative methods are remarkably similar. The relative importance of each attribute delivered by the two methods differ, with the Best-Worst approach showing more intuitive and consistent results with the literature on public transport customer satisfaction. A regression method is developed to derive customer satisfaction with each service attribute from Best-Worst modelling results

Weighted Variables Using Best-Worst Scaling in Ordered Logit Models for Public Transit Satisfaction

ABSTRACT: Customer overall satisfaction regarding a public transport system is dependent on the satisfaction of the users with the attributes that make up the service, as well as the contribution that each of these attributes makes to explain the overall satisfaction. A common way of analysing the contribution of service attributes to explain overall satisfaction is through the use of ordered logit or probit models. This article presents an ordered logit model that considers the weighting of independent variables through the explicit importance calculated on the basis of a best-worst case 1 choice task. For the calculation of importance, a multinomial logit model has been estimated which considers the heterogeneity of the sample through systematic variations in user tastes. In this way, it is possible to establish a level of importance of each specific attribute for each type of user. The results show that the importance varies considerably depending on different socio-economic and mobility-base variables. On the other hand, the inclusion of the weighted variables in the ordered logit model improves its fit. Therefore, the results make possible to develop policies focused on improving satisfaction on specific user targetsThis research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Industry in the TRA2015-69903-R Project (co-funded with ERDF funds), by the training grant FPU15/02990 of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, and by European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 688082—SETA Project)

Effects of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Urban Mobility: Empirical Evidence from the City of Santander (Spain)

ABSTRACT: This article analyses the impact that the confinement measures or quarantine imposed in Spain on 15 March 2020 had on urban mobility in the northern city of Santander. Data have been collected from traffic counters, public transport ITS, and recordings from traffic control cameras and environmental sensors to make comparisons between journey flows and times before and during the confinement. This data has been used to re-estimate Origin-Destination trip matrices to obtain an initial diagnostic of how daily mobility has been reduced and how the modal distribution and journey purposes have changed. The impact on externalities such as NO2 emissions and traffic accidents have also been quantified. The analysis revealed an overall mobility fall of 76%, being less important in the case of the private car. Public transport users dropped by up to 93%, NO2 emissions were reduced by up to 60%, and traffic accidents were reduced by up to 67% in relative termsFunding: The infrastructure of the Tra_c and Dynamic Modeling Laboratory of the University of Cantabria has been partially funded by FEDER funds (Ref. No: UCAN10-4E-549). The image recognition methodology applied in this research has been developed thanks to financing from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad from the project referenced TRA2017-85853-C2-1-R

Perceived quality model using weighted variables

Máster en Ingeniería de Caminos, Canales y Puerto

Behavioural changes in transport and future repercussions of the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain

ABSTRACT:COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) brought about a huge change in the behaviour and mobility of citizens in all parts of the world. This change was mainly a consequence of the strong measures of isolation and social distancing taken by the different governments in most countries through the world. The specific measures adopted in each country, in combination with the particular characteristics of the spread of the virus, generated differentiated, although similar, behavioural changes. This article presents the analysis of a survey carried out in Spain in March 2020, where citizens were asked about their mobility preferences before, during and after the lockdown due to the virus. In turn, questions were asked about the preferred modes of transport in each of the situations and the perception of safety on public transport in their current conditions. The mobility questions were differentiated between commuting to work or studies, shopping and leisure. The results show that public transport was the most affected transport mode, with a considerable increase in the use of the bicycle and walking trips. At the same time, changes were observed in the behaviour of shopping trips, including a considerable decrease on the use of large supermarkets. Citizens perceived great uncertainty in planning leisure trips, the consequence of which could be that a higher proportion of people not being able to carry out their planned trips