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Citation |
Parody TE. Transp. Res. Rec. 1982; 857: 45-51. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 1982, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing) |
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DOI |
unavailable |
PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
A large number of transit systems have begun selling monthly transit passes during the last decade without the benefit of data on who buys transit passes, what effect buying a pass has on transit travel behavior, and how many bus trips per month are taken with a pass. This paper documents these characteristics of transit pass purchasers by using a large-scale data base collected after the introduction of a monthly transit pass in Atlanta, Georgia. The quantitative information presented can provide useful input to transit officials who are planning to start a transit pass program or who may want to evaluate and possibly modify an existing one. In general, the findings show that pass purchasers tend to reflect the characteristics of frequent transit users. Thus, those purchasing passes include relatively more women and minorities and those with lower incomes and fewer automobiles available. There exists, however, a large number of frequent transit users who have not bought a monthly transit pass. On average, the monthly transit pass was used to make about 52 one-way transit trips per month compared with the breakeven-price level of 40 one-way trips. Thus, significant savings can be realized by using passes compared with paying cash fares. Although two-thirds of the bus trips are made for commutation purposes, about two-thirds of the new trips taken after buying a pass were for nonwork purposes. Basically, this was because pass buyers were already frequent users of the system for traveling to and from work. Language: en |
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Keywords |
TRANSPORTATION; COST ACCOUNTING - Planning; VALUE ENGINEERING - Social Aspects |