Understanding the effects of economic crisis on public transport users’ satisfaction and demand

This paper extends the research that begun in 2008 by the authors, on users’ perception of public transport quality. The objective of the current paper is to investigate the impact of crisis on public transport users’ satisfaction, and demand. Data from two user satisfaction surveys that took place in Athens in 2008 and 2013 are used for the analysis. A hybrid choice and latent variable model is developed, to model the increase of public transport demand within the last five years. As exploratory variables are used demographic characteristics and travel attributes. The satisfaction of the users about the quality of public transport service is included as latent variable into the model. The results show that overall people use public transport in 2013 more than in 2008. More specifically, the improved satisfaction about the quality of service has led to increase of public transport demand. Environmental consciousness, public transport service improvement, and high car use and maintenance costs have turned people towards public transport; on the other hand, increased ticket prices, as well as increased preference to use other modes (car, bike and walk) have turned others to use it less. The demonstrated increase of public transport market share comes in contrast with studies that support the opposite, not taking into consideration the general decrease of commuting activities due to the increase of unemployment.