Analysis of satisfaction factors at urban transport interchanges: Measuring travellers' attitudes to information, security and waiting

Transport interchanges can be seen as nodes where people transfer from one mode to another, and also as a place to stay and use facilities, services and waiting areas. Reducing transfer disruption in multimodal trips is a key element for ensuring seamless mobility in big cities. Based on previous research (Hernandez and Monzon, 2016), this paper aims to explore how attitudes towards several service factors can predict general satisfaction with a transport interchange. It also analyses how personal and trip characteristics affect the evaluation of some variables, and examine the relationship between waiting time and perceived quality. A two-step methodology (personal and online interview) was applied to a representative sample of 740 users (54% female, 55% travelling for work purposes). The model was tested with path analysis and showed a satisfactory statistical fit. The model performed well when predicting general satisfaction with the Moncloa transport interchange (Madrid, Spain). The outputs indicate that Information and Safety and Security factors predicted 49% of general satisfaction. The results also revealed a strong association between Design and Environmental quality, although these factors do not affect general satisfaction directly, but through the perception of Information and Safety & Security, which act as mediator variables. Time spent queuing inside the interchange is negatively correlated with Information and Safety & Security, while the age of participants negatively affects Information, indicating that older individuals have some cognitive problems with accessibility. Our data shows gender differences in safety perception, since women (particularly younger women) feel less safe inside the interchange. The results point to a number of priority measures to enhance the perceived quality and efficiency of interchanges.