Shared Mobility and Last-Mile Connectivity to Metro Public Transport: Survey Design Aspects for Determining Willingness for Intermodal Ridesharing in Athens

People living in peri-urban low-density areas may not choose the urban rail because they are hindered by the ‘first/last mile’ problem. The issue concerns poor bus feeder service to rail stations and/or congested Park&Ride facilities at respective intermodal hubs. Shared mobility in the form of carpooling is a viable alternative in connection to urban rail, especially when appropriate incentives and ridematching tools are effectuated. A multi-modal ride-matching app combining flexible (carpooling) and scheduled (rail and bus public transport) mobility is stipulated by the Horizon 2020 Ride2Rail project. Two intermodal hubs of urban rail along the 20 km-long corridor connecting the Athens basin with the Athens airport in Eastern Attica, Greece, are selected as a case study. The paper envisages the behavioural underpinning of combined rail-rideshare travel companion platform in the first/last mile context through the design of a SP experiment, as mode choice is concerned. All main access and egress modes of intermodal hubs are considered in the mode choice experiment, namely driving alone, using bus feeder, carpool driving and carpool riding. Tested parameters pertain particularly to incentive mechanisms increasing ridesharing to intermodal hubs, contextual preferences related to the trip purpose and perceived barriers of shared mobility.