A literature review of the passenger benefits of real-time transit information

ABSTRACT

Recently, it has become common practice for transit operators to provide real-time information (RTI) to passengers about the location or predicted arrival times of transit vehicles. Accompanying this is a growing body of literature that aims to assess the impacts of RTI on transit passenger behaviour and perceptions. The main objective of this research is to compile a literature review of studies that assess the passenger benefits of RTI provision. The results suggest that the primary behavioural changes associated with providing RTI to passengers pertain to decreased wait times, reductions in overall travel time due to changes in path choice, and increased use of transit. RTI may also be associated with increased satisfaction with transit service and increases in the perception of personal security when riding transit. A second objective of this review was to identify areas for future research based on remaining gaps in the literature; two keys areas that were identified are assessing actual behavioural changes of path choice of transit riders and conducting cost–benefit analyses post implementation of RTI systems. The results of this study have immediate implications for public transit operators considering implementation or expansion of RTI systems and researchers seeking topics for future investigation.

KEYWORDS:

• Public transit
• real-time information
• wait times
• ridership
• path choice

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of former students Almeria Senecat, Vinh Pham-Gia, and Aaron Gooze to early drafts of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University Transportation Research Center: [Grant Number #49198-20 27].