Measuring passenger loyalty to public transport modes

Abstract

This paper incorporates insights from relevant consumer behavior research in marketing to travel mode choice by adopting the loyalty model, a decision-making model, to better understand and evaluate passenger attitudes toward public transport modes. This paper describes the loyalty model and demonstrates and validates its use in transportation using a case study of a choice between two modes, rail and bus. Based on factor analysis, two factors from the loyalty model were identified: loyalty, which measures the repeat purchase of the service and the passenger’s attitude toward it; and hedonic commitment, which mea­sures the emotional feeling after using a mode. The full loyalty model was validated for both rail and bus passengers. The research shows that, like other consuming products toward which subjective emotional feelings affect the consumer’s behavior, passenger choice is significantly affected by subjective emotional feelings toward the mode. Additionally, the subjective effect can be measured easily using marketing research techniques.