Wayfinding in Public Transportation

Abstract

The Israeli Ministry of Transport initiated a project to restructure the bus network in the Metropolitan Tel Aviv, Israel, area, as part of a program to improve transit patronage. In addition to examining improvements in travel times, the project addressed ways to make the bus network easier to use. A study identified system legibility as a barrier to use. To evaluate alternative networks, a team of transportation planners developed a set of measures to evaluate the legibility of a transit network. The measures are a synthesis of common principles for city planning, transportation planning, and cognitive processes of wayfinding. These measures allow public transportation planners to evaluate the inherent legibility of various public transportation networks before the addition of navigational aids, such as maps, diagrams, signs, and others.