Public transport travel time perception

A comparative study of passenger estimates and actual bus trip durations

Bibliographic Data

ID6454827
AuthorsGeorgios Georgiadis (0000-0002-5506-033X), Ioannis Politis (0000-0002-9693-9113), Eleni Verani (0000-0002-8803-260X), Aristomenis Kopsacheilis (0000-0002-8651-6758), Alexandros Sdoukopoulos (0000-0003-2566-5167), Ioannis Fyrogenis (0000-0003-1007-5033)
Year2025
Volume9
Pages100590-100590
Publication date2025-04-03
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSustainable Futures (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2666-1888
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.sftr.2025.100590
OpenAlexW4409113505
LanguageEN
References cited31

In this paper, we analyze questionnaire survey and AVL data to compare perceived and actual in-vehicle travel times for 297 bus public transport trips made in Thessaloniki, Greece. We estimate the perceived-to-actual travel time ratio to achieve a fairer comparison between longer and shorter trips, thereby better representing the passengers' perspectives. Empirical findings showed that one out of five passengers made nearly accurate travel time estimations, with a difference of up to ±10 % from the actual duration. However, on average, passengers overestimated in-vehicle travel times by 18 %. We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to construct comprehensive passenger satisfaction factors for both in-vehicle and out-of-vehicle travel conditions. By employing multiple regression analysis, we highlight that passengers who are less satisfied with trip duration and bus occupancy levels tend to overperceive in-vehicle time. Additionally, longer-duration trips and those requiring relatively higher waiting times at bus stops are more likely to be underestimated. Our findings contribute to the limited research on in-vehicle travel time perceptions of public transport users and emphasize the need to improve commercial speed and provide real-time information to bridge the gap between actual and perceived travel times

Advertising · Business · Perception · Public transport · Transport engineering · Travel time · Computer Science · Engineering · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis · Psychology · Transportation Planning and Optimization · Urban Transport and Accessibility

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