Traveler expectations and willingness-to-pay for Web-enabled public transport information services

Web-enabled public transport (PT) information systems that combine information on different PT modes, different PT companies and different geographical regions, can be built to improve the accessibility of public transportation. As the potential list of information aspects that can be included in such systems is long, it is interesting to examine the relative importance of different information aspects. This study reports the relative importance travelers attach to a range of information aspects. In addition, the willingness to pay for this information was examined by conducting a stated choice experiment, in which price was traded off against groupings of information aspects. The results of the study indicate that even though public transport travel information is highly price sensitive, travelers are willing to pay for it if the information systems provide additional functionality such as real-time information and, to a lesser extent, additional trip planning options.