CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY WEEKDAY PARK-AND-RIDE USERS: CHOICE MARKET WITH RIDERSHIP GROWTH POTENTIAL
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
2000
Subject Area
planning - surveys, planning - marketing/promotion, ridership - commuting, ridership - growth, policy - parking, mode - park and ride
Keywords
Work trips, Travel behavior, Transit riders, Surveys, Ridership, Patronage (Transit ridership), Park and ride, Marketing, Journey to work, Investments, Investment requirements, Income, Fringe parking, Fast food restaurants, Demographics, Customer satisfaction, Customer amenities, Convenience stores, Chicago Transit Authority, Automobile repair shops
Abstract
Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) park-and-ride users make up a small but important submarket of CTA ridership (2.3 million of 445.3 million annual rides). In fall 1998, a survey was made of 1,758 CTA park-and-ride users on weekdays at 15 CTA park-and-ride lots near the point of payment. The survey asked for customer satisfaction ratings, travel characteristics, prior mode used, reasons for park-and-ride use, demographics, and, at the largest lots, ratings of the desirability of potential amenities or services that could be added to the lots. Compared with CTA riders overall, park-and-ride users showed substantially higher household incomes and travel frequencies and made predominantly work-related trips to and from Chicago's central business district. Riders said that they chose to use park-and-ride because it was the fastest way to make their trip, because of the cost of parking at their destination (mean cost of $10.29), or because they disliked driving. Before using CTA park-and-ride service, most customers used some automobile-related means of making their trips. Substantial turnover and geographic information system analysis of home location data suggest that regular target marketing and investment in new facilities would have a positive impact on overall ridership. Of potential customer amenities tested, riders showed the most willingness to try shopping-related amenities (convenience mart, fast food and grocery outlet) over amenities related to automobile servicing.
Recommended Citation
Foote, P. (2000). CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY WEEKDAY PARK-AND-RIDE USERS: CHOICE MARKET WITH RIDERSHIP GROWTH POTENTIAL. Transportation Research Record, Vol. 1735, p. 158-168.
