Knowledge of the Concept Light Rail Transit: Determinants of the Cognitive Mismatch between Actual and Perceived Knowledge

peer reviewedThe Flemish public transport company “De Lijn” is planning the development of a new Light Rail network for medium range distance trips (10 to 40km). A challenge exists in the fact that the concept of Light Rail Transit (LRT) is relatively unknown in Flanders. Therefore this paper explores the knowledge of the concept ‘Light Rail Transit’ among the Flemish population. To investigate the knowledge, two separate binary logit models are estimated to explore the determinants of the overall actual knowledge and the determinants of a cognitive mismatch. The results show that age, sex, public transit use, household size, bicycle ownership and weekly number of shopping activities contribute significantly to the overall actual knowledge of the LRT-concept. Besides, cognitive mismatch is only significantly affected by age and gender. Moreover, the results reveal a serious lack of knowledge of the concept of LRT. Consequently, a successful implementation of the LRT-system in Flanders may be jeopardized and thus it is of crucial importance to raise the level of knowledge. A first option is knowledge acquisition based on experience of the transit network. In this view, it can be a good idea to develop “travel-one-day-for-free” marketing actions. Second, it is important to provide information to the travelers by contriving information campaigns based on the determinants identified by the models. How the campaigns should be constructed from an intrinsic and psychological point of view and deliberating between the methods of communication to reach the various target groups are some important considerations for further research

Performance Assessment of Local Mobility Policy-Making Administrations Using the Principles of Total Quality Management in Flanders, Belgium: Expounding the Decision-Making Processes

peer reviewedThis article describes a quality assessment of the processes underlying municipal mobility policy-making in Flanders, Belgium. 25 criteria and 176 aspects were queried during 25 interview sessions. Results were aggregated at the level of 7 quality domains of action and suggest that Flemish municipal mobility policy-making is generally fairly frail and of an ad-hoc nature. Four factors are found to be determining for this finding: default of political continuity, internal conflicts between stakeholders, lacking internal expertise, and deficient financial resources. Inter-stakeholder collaboration, residents’ participation, and policy-integration with higher-level programs are the strengths of current mobility policy practices in Flanders

Unravelling the determinants of carpool behaviour in Flanders, Belgium: Integration of qualitative and quantitative research

peer reviewedThe goal of this study is to identify those factors that trigger carpoolers to share their rides and the barriers that restrain non-carpoolers from doing so. To this end, four focus group sessions were organized. In addition, information from the 2009-2010 Flemish household travel survey was analysed. From the focus group discussions, it can be concluded that the concept of carpooling is generally well known, but that the media attention and stimuli for the topic seem to have faded away over time. The main motivations to carpool are the social aspect, the financial benefit or a combination of both. The quantitative analysis underlined for the difference between the distinct types of employees. Furthermore, the finding that the home-work distance increases the likelihood to carpool emphasizes the importance of the financial benefits of carpooling. Financial stimuli are thought to have the most potential to increase the share of carpooling in the modal split

Improved Policy Support Through Segmentation Based on Social Acceptance

peer reviewedThis paper proposes Q-methodology as a technique for the identification of more homogeneous subgroups or ‘segments’ within a rather heterogeneous overall population when it comes to social acceptance of demand restricting policy measures. Identification of such segments would allow policy makers to better tailor their future actions and thereby increase the chance for a successful implementation of the measures they propose. A set of 33 persons, selected in function of age, gender and car ownership evaluated the acceptability of a total number of 42 demand restricting policy measures. Special care was taken that the final set of statements covered the four classically distinguished demand restricting strategies, i.e., improved transport options, incentives for the use of alternative transport modes, parking and land-use management, and institutional policy revision. In addition, a balance between both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ and ‘push’ and ‘pull’ measures was strived for. The results indicate that four different segments in terms of social acceptance of demand restricting policy measures, can be distinguished, i.e., travelers in favor of traffic calming, travelers against hard push measures, travelers in favor of demand restriction, and travelers against policy innovations. Besides the differences and similarities between these segments, the practical implications for policy makers are discussed, together with a series of specific recommendations and suggestions for future research

Identifying the Determinants of Light Rail Mode Choice for Medium/Long Distance Trips: Results from a Stated Preference Study

peer reviewedThe introduction of new public transport systems can influence society in a multitude of ways, ranging from modal choices and the environment to economic growth. This paper examines the determinants of light rail mode choice for medium/long distance trips (10-40km) for a new light rail system in Flanders, Belgium. To investigate these choices, the effects of various transport system specific factors (i.e. travel cost, in-vehicle travel time, transit punctuality, waiting time, access/egress time, transfers, and the availability of empty seats) as well as the travelers’ personal traits, are analyzed using an alternating logistic regression model, which explicitly takes into account the correlated responses for binary data. The data used for the analysis stem from a stated preference survey which was conducted in Flanders, Belgium. The modeling results yield findings that are in line with literature: most transport system specific factors as well as socio-economic variables, attitudinal factors, perceptions and the frequency of using public transport contribute significantly to the preference of light rail transit. In particular, it is shown that the use of light rail is strongly influenced by travel cost and in-vehicle travel time and to a lesser extent by waiting and access/egress time. It also appeared that seat availability plays a more important role than transfers in the decision process to choose light rail transit. The findings of this paper can be used by policy makers as a frame of reference to make light rail transit more successful

"The author: who or what is writing literature?"

This paper explores the knowledge of the concept ‘Light Rail Transit’ (LRT) in the context of implementing a Light Rail system in a (sub)-urban region. To this end, three models are estimated: a first model to explore the role of knowledge on modal choice, a second one to identify the determinants of the level of knowledge and a third model to identify the determinants of a cognitive mismatch between actual (real) knowledge and perceived knowledge. The first model (a negative binomial regression model) underlines the significant relation between knowledge of the concept LRT and modal choice. Given the lack of knowledge of the concept ‘Light Rail Transit’ revealed by the descriptive results, it is of crucial importance to raise the level of knowledge. Knowledge acquisition can be based on transit experiences and information provision. To explore how information campaigns should be constructed and which target groups should be approached, the factors influencing travelers’ knowledge and the determinants of a cognitive mismatch are identified by a Multinomial Logit Model (MNL-model) and a binary logit model. The results show that various socio-economic variables as well as socio-psychological variables are significantly influencing actual knowledge and significantly influencing a cognitive mismatch. Among these variables, employment, gender, perception of ticket price of Public Transit (PT) and expectations with regard to seat availability in the LRT-vehicle are the most influential ones

The socio-cognitive links between road pricing acceptability and changes in travel-behavior

The objective of this study is to examine the effect of road pricing on people's tendency to adapt their current travel behavior. To this end, the relationship between changes in activity-travel behavior on the one hand and public acceptability and its most important determinants on the other are investigated by means of a stated adaptation experiment. Using a two-stage hierarchical model, it was found that behavioral changes themselves are not dependent on the perceived acceptability of road pricing itself, and that only a small amount of the variability in the behavioral changes were explained by socio-cognitive factors. The lesson for policy makers is that road pricing charges must surpass a minimum threshold in order to entice changes in activity-travel behavior and that the benefits of road pricing should be clearly communicated, taking into account the needs and abilities of different types of travelers. Secondly, earlier findings concerning the acceptability of push measures were validated, supporting transferability of results. In line with other studies, effectiveness, fairness and personal norm all had a significant direct impact on perceived acceptability. Finally, the relevance of using latent factors rather than aggregate indicators was underlined.Road pricing Socio-cognitive factors Acceptability Activity-travel behavior Stated adaptation experiment

Optimizing the implementation of policy measures through social acceptance segmentation

This paper proposes Q-methodology as a technique for the identification of more homogeneous subgroups or ‘segments’ within a rather heterogeneous overall population when it comes to social acceptance of demand-restricting policy measures. Identification of such segments would allow policy makers to better tailor their future actions and thereby increase the chance for a successful implementation of the measures they propose. A set of 33 persons, selected in function of age, gender and car ownership evaluated the acceptability of a total number of 42 demand-restricting policy measures. Special care was taken that the final set of statements covered the four classically distinguished demand-restricting strategies, i.e., improved transport options, incentives for the use of alternative transport modes, parking and land-use management, and institutional policy revision. In addition, a balance between both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ and ‘push’ and ‘pull’ measures was strived for. The results indicate that four different segments in terms of social acceptance of demand-restricting policy measures can be distinguished, i.e., travelers in favor of traffic calming, travelers against hard push measures, travelers in favor of demand restriction, and travelers against policy innovations. Besides the differences and similarities between these segments, the practical implications for policy makers are discussed, together with a series of specific recommendations and suggestions for future research

The socio-cognitive links between road pricing acceptability and changes in travel-behavior

The objective of this study is to examine the effect of road pricing on people’s tendency to adapt their current travel behavior. To this end, the relationship between changes in activity-travel behavior on the one hand and public acceptability and its most important determinants on the other are investigated by means of a stated adaptation experiment. Using a two-stage hierarchical model, it was found that behavioral changes themselves are not dependent on the perceived acceptability of road pricing itself, and that only a small amount of the variability in the behavioral changes were explained by socio-cognitive factors. The lesson for policy makers is that road pricing charges must surpass a minimum threshold in order to entice changes in activity-travel behavior and that the benefits of road pricing should be clearly communicated, taking into account the needs and abilities of different types of travelers. Secondly, earlier findings concerning the acceptability of push measures were validated, supporting transferability of results. In line with other studies, effectiveness, fairness and personal norm all had a significant direct impact on perceived acceptability. Finally, the relevance of using latent factors rather than aggregate indicators was underlined