Modeling Transit User Travel Time Perception in a Post-Economic Recession Era: The Case of Athens, Greece

Travel time perception modeling and analysis is required for the planning, design and evaluation of public transportation systems. Often, changes in socioeconomic conditions may have an impact to the perception of public transportation travelers as for their perception of travel time components. Using stated preference data from Athens, Greece, this paper investigates perceived travel time characteristics in a post-economic recession era, using logistic and linear regression models. Two types of models are developed. The first type attempts to identify parameters that affect traveller preferences towards walking and waiting for a shorter or longer period. The second type investigates the contribution of individual in-vehicle and out-of-vehicle travel time (perceived) components to the total perceived travel time. Results are compared to those obtained by a recent, pre-recession study undertaken by the Athens Public Transport Organization. Findings suggest changes in traveler perceptions on the importance of waiting and walk access/egress time.