@article{ref1,
title="First-/last-mile experience matters: the influence of the built environment on satisfaction and loyalty among public transit riders",
journal="Transport policy",
year="2021",
author="Park, Keunhyun and Farb, Anna and Chen, Shuolei",
volume="112",
number="",
pages="32-42",
abstract="Public transit authorities have enhanced the travel experience to promote ridership and customer loyalty. Previous studies about satisfaction and loyalty of transit riders, however, give less attention to out-of-vehicle environments such as walking/biking routes, transfer comfort, and traffic and crime safety conditions. The first-mile and last-mile problem--distance traveled before and after using transit--is a well-known barrier of transit use, but an empirical study about how people experience it is lacking. Thus, this study aims to explore how transit riders experience out-of-vehicle environments--access, transfer, and egress--and how their experience is related to overall satisfaction and loyalty to transit service. We conducted a questionnaire survey of people (n = 445) living in areas served by the Utah Transit Authority and analyzed the responses through an Importance-Satisfaction analysis and a path analysis, a type of structural equation modeling. A descriptive analysis demonstrates complex first-mile travel patterns: driving is the most common mode to start a transit-involved trip (68.5%), and one-third of transit riders transfer more than once before riding on a transit (e.g., driving → walking → transit). <br><br>RESULTS from the Importance-Satisfaction analysis highlight both traffic and crime safety concerns at transit stops and walking routes as a critical out-of-vehicle element most in need of improvement. A path analysis result confirms that out-of-vehicle environments--in particular, safety and transfer experience--influence customer satisfaction and loyalty more than in-vehicle and system-related factors do. This paper concludes with practical suggestions for multiple agencies (e.g., public transit, transportation, and urban planning), including urban design strategies, land use-transit integration, and multi-modal integration.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0967-070X",
doi="10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.08.003",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.08.003"
}