The personal and contextual factors that affect customer experience during rail service failures and the implications for service design

Uncovering factors influencing railway passenger experiences through love and breakup declarations

While existing approaches for assessing passenger experience are often limited to surveys of customer satisfaction, societal and technological challenges push the railway industry to adopt a user-centric approach to the design of their service. We used the love and breakup method in a study involving N = 53 passengers making a declaration to their railway company to collect qualitative feedback on the passenger experience. The method allowed to gather personal, emotional, and contextual insights into passengers' experiences that can inform the transportation service design process. We describe 21 factors and 8 needs influencing the passenger experience, thereby consolidating and deepening prior work in the railway context. Using the lens of user experience theories, we argue that the service should be assessed against fulfilling these needs, which can act as guiding principles regarding service improvement. The study also presents valuable insights into the love and breakup method to explore service experiences.

Promoting passenger behaviour change with provision of occupancy information to help moderate train overcrowding: A cognitive work analysis approach

Passengers' travel behaviour is one of the significant factors affecting train overcrowding. Train occupancy information has been introduced as a tool to stimulate passengers' behaviour change to ease in-vehicle crowding. However, there are limitations to this strategy as it often fails to consider other elements in the complex rail system that influence behaviour. This research provides insights to service providers to promote passenger behaviour change by revealing the behavioural constraints in the environment. Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) was applied to systematically analyse passengers' behaviour and related constraints in the environment. Specifically, Work Domain Analysis (WDA) and Social Organisation and Cooperation Analysis (SOCA) were conducted and presented in the forms of Abstraction Hierarchy (AH) and Contextual Activity Template (CAT). Results showed that a wide range of informational, navigational and physical support alongside provision of occupancy information could better encourage passengers to select and use less busy carriages and trains. Behaviour change goals are likely to be achieved more effectively when the constraints of the system are better understood.

Experimental Location of the Vertical Handrail to Improve the Accessibility of Wheelchair Passengers Boarding and Alighting at Metro Stations—A Pilot Study

Acknowledging the possible impacts of the location of a vertical handrail on the accessibility of wheelchair passengers, this study explores different dimensions of the vertical handrail and elements of the internal space of a metro carriage and how they can impact the behaviour of passengers. For this purpose, simulation scenarios have been developed with different configurations of the location of the vertical handrail, which includes variables such as the number of passengers boarding and alighting and the type of relationship that exists between them. In this way, participants have been recruited for the simulation in a controlled environment, using a mock-up with characteristics and dimensions representing the space inside a metro carriage. The results show that the current location, that is, in the centre of the carriage, affects the accessibility of wheelchair users. Similarly, it has been observed that placing the handrail on one side of the train has positive effects on the accessibility of these users since the boarding time is considerably reduced. In addition, it has been shown that the relationship between passengers who hold on to the vertical handrail has an impact on the accessibility of wheelchair users. If passengers holding the handrail know each other, they will use less space inside the metro, and therefore, the boarding time is reduced. Finally, a series of recommendations have been proposed for future research, for example, carrying out new simulations with a more significant number of passengers, considering other types of disabilities.

Influence of Passenger Flow at the Station Entrances on Passenger Satisfaction Amid COVID-19

Railway stations are centers of mass accumulation of people. Additional regulations change the intensity of the flow of visitors and the time of entering the station. Delays become an essential factor affecting the perceived satisfaction with all services at stations. This paper analyzes the impact of the intensity of passenger flow in the key areas of the station (entrance groups) on the satisfaction of visitors with station functioning (by the example of Moscow railway stations). The authors of the paper used methods of observation to measure the current passenger flows at the entrances to the station and also collected secondary data on transport flows at city railway stations. To predict passenger flow, the authors used statistical methods to assess the relationship between variables and regression. The paper used a survey of passengers to analyze satisfaction with the functioning of railway station facilities and assess the acceptable delay time at the entrance/exit to the station. The article substantiates that in the context of current requirements for transport security, an important factor for perceived satisfaction with station services is the forecasting and management of passenger flows and control of time of entering the station.