Modeling Passengers’ Attitude and Analysis of Travel Experience Attributes: A case of Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit
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Date
2015-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The importance of public transportation in developing countries lies in its ability to promote sustainable urban development, support economic growth, and enhance the overall well-being of communities. Light rail transit systems are particularly essential for alleviating traffic congestion issues on roads by offering an alternative mode of transportation. Therefore, it is essential to assess the performance of light rail transit services from passengers’ perspective to pinpoint both strengths and areas needing improvement within the transit network. Accordingly, the primary goal of this thesis research is to evaluate the light rail transit service performance from the perspective of AA-LRT’s passengers and recommend optimal improvement strategies that enhance travel experience of passengers. Through a satisfaction survey conducted via paper-based questionnaire, the authors determined the passengers' satisfaction index on AA-LRT’s service through HPSI. The calculated overall passenger satisfaction index of 2.66 indicates that passengers remain below the “fairly satisfied” threshold (score=3). The authors also proposed an NDS compartmental model to explore trends of passenger satisfaction levels. The model categorizes passengers into "N" for less or quite satisfied, "D" for dissatisfied, and "S" for satisfied. The model was evaluated for existence and uniqueness of solutions, as well as the positivity and boundedness of solutions. Local stability was analyzed for both dissatisfaction-free and dissatisfaction-persistent steady states. An optimal control problem was formulated and analyzed to investigate strategies for minimizing passenger dissatisfaction. Numerical findings indicate that the efforts related to providing train services that adhere to high levels of reliability and punctuality for arrivals, and related to trains operate with excellent safety and security standards effectively reduces dissatisfaction levels. The graphical representation of numerical results also indicates the importance of the order of the fractional derivative in representing the evolution of passengers’ satisfaction over time with consideration of memory effects.
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Keywords
Passengers’ attitude, Mathematical model, Satisfaction index, travel experience attributes, optimal control