A large and growing body of research suggests that transit users hate to wait.Given broad policy goals to increase public transit use in U.S. cities, this research shedslight on cost-effective ways to increase transit use by decreasing the perceived burdens ofwaiting at stops/stations. Our goal is to determine (1) the relative importance ofstop/station amenities and attributes, and (2) how the importance of these amenities andattributes vary with wait time. To do this we draw on a transit user survey that asked over2,000 travelers to rate both the importance of amenities at their stops/stations and theirwait times. In this paper we ask: At what duration of wait time do amenities becomeimportant?Regardless of wait time, safety and on-time performance are paramount to riders;these also rank highest relative to all other station/stop amenities examined in this study.Lighting, cleanliness, information, shelter, and the presence of guards are less important totravelers when waits are short, but are more important with longer wait times. Thus,improving service frequency and reliability reduces the need for amenities at stations.This suggests that transit managers, when they have a choice and when riders feel safe andsecure, should favor service improvements over station/stop amenities.Finally, some amenities become more important with long wait times, such asrestrooms and food/drink facilities. While intuitive, this poses a conundrum: restroomsand food/drink sales are most likely present at high passenger volume, high-servicefrequency stops/station, where they are valued least by travelers.
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