Shared micromobility as an access/egress mode to train stations

Topic

Active modes and micromobility play a big role in multi-modal trips involving public transportation, especially when it comes to train travel. The trip's access and egress legs can account for 20% and up to 50% of the total trip time, meaning they play a crucial role in the decision to travel by public transport or not. Enhancing the quality of access and egress legs is therefore essential in increasing the patronage of public transport and in reducing our car dependence.
In recent years, shared micromobility services have been piloted around the world, with varying levels of success and large variety of consequences on existing modes and travel patterns. With respect to public transport, we can observe that micromobility both competes with and complements public transport. Competition can primarily be observed for shorter trips, in central urban areas, where crowding and congestion limit the attractiveness of transit. Added value for public transport can be seen for longer trips, particularly for accessing/egressing higher speed public transportation which is a competitive alternative to the private car. Yet the impacts of different implementation approaches and policy measures remain unknown.

Objective

In this research, we aim to gain new insights into individuals’ behaviour and preferences with respect to active modes and micromobility ((E-)bicycles, scooters, mopeds,…) in the context of public transport trips and multi-modal trip chains. In particular, our interest is on their role in the first/last mile when accessing public transport services, with a focus on train trips as the main leg of the journey and comparing them to trips made with the car. Doing so will enable us to quantify the preferences of travellers with respect to public transport trips’ access/egress modes, and what can and should be done to achieve a modal shift to more sustainable ways of travel, namely moving from the car and towards a combination of active modes, micromobility and public transport.

Approach

We employ a combined revealed and stated preference approach. Revealed preference information from people’s travel diaries enables us to analyse current travel behaviour and how the quality of access and egress services affects the overall choice to travel by public transport. To add to that knowledge, a stated preference survey is designed, aimed at obtaining detailed attitudinal and mode choice information on traveller’s behaviour on the activity-end of the trip and how (potential) shared micromobility services are perceived and how they (may) improve accessibility of the traveller’s activity location.
Combining both approaches, we can join the realism of the revealed preference choice behaviour with the insight from the stated preference survey on individuals’ attitudes and preferences in a hypothetical future situation.

Besides the staff members mentioned below, the research team consist of Dr. Dorine Duives (TU Delft), Dr. Mark van Hagen (NS), and Hussein Al-Tamimi (NS).