Attractiveness of Urban Public Transport From the Point of View of Young Passengers

Abstract

This chapter uses the customer-oriented approach to help enhance understanding of the use of sustainable public transportation (PT) systems in urban areas to support climate change actions. It studies the views and experiences of young passengers (Generation Z) in a heavily used Central European PT system. Three surveys were conducted to study the effect of the coronavirus epidemic on the behavior of passengers. Additionally, automated passenger counting data were utilized. The surveys identified that despite the epidemic, the most important factors of customer experience were those that related to the total travel time. Findings further included the fact that the PT is starting to be used more frequently in 2022 after decline in 2020 and 2021. The decline was not caused by a massive outflow of regular passengers, but in general by passengers having fewer reasons to travel. Discussions are underway as to how to increase the attractiveness of PT systems.