Factors Affecting Public Transport Use in Touristic Areas

Abstract

The paper explores the underlying unobserved factors that influence transit ridership as well as the levels of satisfaction when using transit services of both tourists and residents in tourist areas in the peak summer period and in winter. The popular tourism destination of the Island of Kos in Greece was used as the case study for this research, while two appropriate statistical methods were employed, Factor Analysis and Ordered Probit models. According to the analysis, the most significant factor for the tourists when deciding to use public transport is service production, reflecting route frequencies and reliability of service. On the contrary, residents place more focus on qualitative aspects such as comfort, safety and information. Furthermore, a common factor that holds a high position in the preferences of both tourists and residents is transfer quality, comprising attributes related to transfer coordination. The paper presents in detail the results derived from the two analyses and discusses the use of these results by local authorities in order to adjust their policy plans accordingly and to define actions that can better tackle the residents and tourists’ needs and expectations.