Public Transportation, Subjective Experience and Influencing Events – Identifying the Impact of Everyday Situations on Personal Journeys

Kurzfassung

The presented study investigates factors influencing public transportation experience in both urban (Hamburg) and rural (Tuttlingen) areas in Germany, with the aim of identifying events that affect travel experience and as a result sustainable travel behaviour. Using a mobile application, 21 participants in Tuttlingen tracked everyday trips, providing real-time evaluations of travel experiences along with demographic and situational data. Multi-level regression analyses were applied to assess the impact of events such as punctuality, capacity offer, information about public transportation and others on the ontrip experience. A previous collected dataset of Hamburg was used for comparison. Results indicate that a positive capacity offer has the strongest positive effect in Tuttlingen, whereas negative punctuality and low personal wellbeing have the strongest negative effects. In contrast, all event types significantly influence travel satisfaction in Hamburg, with negative punctuality and a negative information event having the largest impacts. This provides a foundation for decision-making and measures to improve local public transportation.