Intra-Urban Rail ‘Access’: Policy Implications of Five Revealed Perspectives from a Q Sorting Exercise in Three Australian Cities

摘要

This project advances current understanding of intra-urban rail passengers and their travel experiences inorder to help rail industry leaders tailor policy approaches to fit specific, relevant segments of their targetpopulation. Using a Q sorting technique and cluster analysis, our preliminary research identified fiveperspectives occurring in a small sample of rail passengers, who varied in their frequency and location ofrail travel as well as certain socio-demographic characteristics. Revealed perspectives (named to capturethe gist of their content) included: ‘Rail Travel is About the Destination, Not the Journey’; ‘DespiteChallenges, Public Transport is Still the Best Option’; ‘Rail Travel is Fine’; ‘Rail Travel? So Far, SoGood’; and ‘Bad Taste for Rail Travel’. This paper discusses each of the perspectives in detail, andconsiders them in terms of tailored policy implications. An overarching finding from this study is thatimproving railway travel ‘access’ requires attention to physical, psychological, financial, and social facetsof accessibility. For example, designing waiting areas to be more socially functional and comfortable hasthe potential to increase ridership by addressing social forms of access, decreasing perceived wait times,and making time at the station feel like time well spent. Even at this preliminary stage, the Q sortingtechnique promises to provide a valuable, holistic albeit fine-grained analysis of passenger attitudes andexperiences that will assist industry efforts to increase ridership.