The effect of incentives on the actions transit riders make in response to crowding

Public transit crowding has a significant influence on riders’ satisfaction and needs to be tackled using both demand and supply management approaches. In this study, we focus on the policy response to public transit crowding using various customer incentive schemes. By analyzing data from a stated preference survey collected in Metro Vancouver, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we identified the differences in preferences for various incentive schemes on public transit and assessed the relationship between the riders’ eagerness to modify their travel patterns in response to crowding and the likelihood to respond to incentives that influence them to do the same. Our findings suggest that people who favor incentives tend to be more likely to change their travel behavior in response to crowding and that incentives that reduce the cost of travel on public transit have more potential to shift riders’ travel time, while other incentives (like participation in a raffle, or smartphone game points) have a more pronounced effect on the decision to travel via a less crowded public transit route. Demographic-specific preferences for various incentive schemes were also identified; for example, individuals in the 20–34 age group were found to be more likely to respond to incentives, while full-time workers had a lower propensity to do that. The findings of this study are aimed at public transit agencies interested in employing policy instruments to manage transit crowding and researchers seeking to advance the knowledge about the influence of personal preferences on travel behavior.