Paper Reference For Transport Integration

Transportation Research Part A 77 (2015) 386–403
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Transportation Research Part A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tra
Perceived accessibility, mobility, and connectivity of public

transportation systems
Yung-Hsiang Cheng ⇑, Ssu-Yun Chen 1
Department of Transportation and Communication Management Science, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Road, Tainan City 701, Taiwan, ROC
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Although public transportation is considered effective at reducing the external cost of driv-
Received 11 September 2014 ing private vehicles, many urbanites do not use public transportation. This study develops
Received in revised form 28 April 2015 measures employing accessibility, mobility, and seamless connectivity for an entire public
Accepted 4 May 2015
transportation service chain as indicators for evaluating public transport services, priori-
Available online 27 May 2015
tizes underperforming scenarios from the perspective of urban travelers, and derives var-
ious market segmentation strategies that consider different socio-demographic
Keywords:
characteristics. A conceptual model is set up herein to assess these latent constructs that
Public transportation
Accessibility
describe unobservable and immeasurable characteristics. As a Likert ordinal scale can gen-
Mobility erate misleading statistical inferences, the Rasch model is used to eliminate bias generated
Seamless connectivity by an ordinal scale when measuring these three latent constructs separately. The Rasch
Multidimensional Rasch model model compares person parameters with item parameters, which are then subjected to
logarithmic transformation along a logit scale so as to recognize specific difficulties of ser-
vice scenarios that cannot be easily eliminated by certain urban travelers. The multidimen-
sional Rasch model also measures the perceptions of urban travelers in terms of the
interactions between accessibility, mobility, and seamless connectivity of this public trans-
portation system. While comparing urban travelers of two large cities in Taiwan, Taipei and
Kaohsiung, the empirical results demonstrate that perceived accessibility, mobility, and
seamless connectivity differ based on travelers’ age, frequency of weekly sports activities,
and environmental awareness. This paper also advances appropriate improvement strate-
gies and provides policy suggestions for urban planners, public transportation service oper-
ation agencies, and policy makers when they seek to create user-friendly public
transportation services. The proposed approach can be generalized in other cities by con-
sidering their local context uniqueness and further evaluating their public transport
services.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Sustainable transportation systems should move people and goods and help promote social inclusion and balanced urban
development (Gudmundsson, 2004; Elias and Shiftan, 2012; Miranda and Rodrigues da Silva, 2012). As public transportation
is regarded as a solution to problems related to difficult mobility in cities, a user-friendly public transportation system
should consider the accessibility to public transportation stations, the mobility of the public transportation system, and
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 6 2757575x53227; fax: +886 6 2753882.

E-mail address: yhcheng@mail.ncku.edu.tw (Y.-H. Cheng).
1
Tel.: +886 6 2757575x53227; fax: +886 6 2753882.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2015.05.003
0965-8564/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y.-H. Cheng, S.-Y. Chen / Transportation Research Part A 77 (2015) 386–403 387
seamless connectivity with various other transportation systems (e.g., railways, metros, local light rail transit, and buses)
(Mishra et al., 2012). Although public transportation is an effective means for promoting transportation sustainability, many
urban travelers do not use it (Gabrielli et al., 2014), as inappropriate planning in terms of accessibility, public transport
mobility, and seamless connectivity can reduce ridership and increase the dependence of urban travelers on private vehicles
(Welch and Mishra, 2013).
Accessibility can be measured by the distance between households and public transport stops or by the length of a
journey from one’s house to work via public transportation (Handy and Niemeier, 1997; Weber, 2003), yet research on acces-
sibility of public transportation is limited (Mavoa et al., 2012; Martin et al., 2002). Captive riders, including youth and the
elderly, need a reasonable level of accessibility to reach their destinations (Martin et al., 2008). Urban travelers are also
concerned with the mobility of public transportation services, whereby mobility is defined as the ability to travel. The most
common method of measuring mobility is to evaluate the frequency of a service at a particular node (Sanchez et al., 2004).
Although intermodal transfers are often necessary (Vuchic, 2006), inconvenient transfers can reduce user satisfaction,
discourage potential riders, and diminish a system’s competitiveness (Wardman et al., 2001). Seamless connectivity helps
expand performance to meet the demands of multimodal transportation systems (Hadas and Ranjitkar, 2012). Although
connectivity measures are often studied, their application to public transportation is rare (Mishra et al., 2012).
Previous studies measuring accessibility, mobility, and connectivity focused mainly on Geographic Information System
(GIS)-based public transit networks (O’Sullivan et al., 2000; Tribby and Zandbergen, 2012; Mavoa et al., 2012).
Comprehensive measurement indicators have been rarely developed in the literature to assess accessibility, mobility, and
connectivity of an entire public transportation service chain from the perspective of urban travelers. This paper’s proposed
measurement approach is a tool that urban planners and policy makers can deploy to evaluate the perceptions of urban
travelers regarding accessibility, mobility, and connectivity so as to prioritize underperforming scenarios. This study also
considers the heterogeneity of passenger behavior.
The work contributes to the literature by measuring the latent traits of urban travelers, including their perception of
accessibility, mobility, and connectivity, and using the Rasch method, a psychometric approach, to avoid bias generated
by an ordinal scale via a logistic linear transformation. The Rasch model is advantageous in its capacity to compare person
parameters with item parameters, which can then be subjected to a logarithmic transformation along a logit scale to clearly
identify difficulties in service scenarios that cannot be overcome easily by certain urban travelers. This study also looks at the
effects of differences in the socio-economic characteristics of urban travelers on their perceptions of accessibility, mobility,
and connectivity. An effective strategy is then derived to alleviate the perceived travel difficulties for segmented urban trav-
elers. Analytical results by the Rasch model generate several managerial implications and serve as reference for transporta-
tion agencies, urban planners, and policy makers who seek to improve public transportation services by addressing the needs
of various groups of passengers.
This study has six sections. The introduction identifies key research issues. Section 2 characterizes the two public trans-
portation systems in metropolitan Taipei and Kaohsiung. Section 3 elucidates the conceptual model for measuring accessi-
bility, mobility, and connectivity as perceived by urban travelers. Section 4 describes the Rasch model and its application for
measuring perceived accessibility, mobility, and connectivity. Section 5 describes the procedure for data collection and Rasch
analytical results. Section 6 presents research findings, policy implications, conclusions, and recommendations for future
research.
2. Public transportation services in Taipei and Kaohsiung
Taipei, Taiwan’s capital city, is the country’s economic and political center and is located in the north of the island. The
city has experienced rapid growth in both population and number of vehicles, generating countless traffic congestion issues.
Taipei’s city government has implemented several transportation policies aimed at slowing increases in the number of pri-
vate vehicles and to improve the percentage of people using transportation. The Taipei metro currently has 11 lines and a
ridership of 1.9 million passengers daily. Moreover, Taipei buses serve 385 lines and 1.8 million passengers daily.
Taipei’s city government has established the Public Bike Sharing System (PBSS) and has created a network of urban bike
lanes with bike station services to encourage residents to take advantage of PBSS for short distances and to reduce the use of
and to replace personal motor vehicles, resulting in reductions in traffic congestion and environmental pollution. This bike
system offers a 24-h unmanned automated kiosk system service. Taipei’s PBSS is called YouBike, and the city government has
delegated its service operations to Giant, which is Taiwan’s number one global bicycle manufacturer. Passengers can take a
bicycle from a station and return it to any station. Although Taipei has 1.8 million daily bus riders and 1.9 million daily metro
riders, only 2775 daily urban travelers used PBSS in 2012.
Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second largest city, is located in southwest Taiwan and is the only other city with a metro system, yet
the percentage of private cars and motorcycles there is higher than in Taipei. Consequently, its city government is also pro-
moting the use of public transportation. Currently, the Kaohsiung metro has two MRT lines serving 160,000 passengers every
day. To improve usage rates for public transportation (9.59%), the city government has favored a light-rail system.
Construction of the north–south and east–west loop networks with light-rail transit lines around the perimeter is predicted
to increase overall performance of the public transportation system. Kaohsiung also launched free bus services in 2014.
Various public transportation services are increasingly being offered to enhance ridership.
388 Y.-H. Cheng, S.-Y. Chen / Transportation Research Part A 77 (2015) 386–403
Kaohsiung’s city government is promoting the use of green transportation and to mitigate the negative effects of private
vehicles. In 2009, the government started its PBSS and contracted its operation to the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation.
As mentioned above, this system provides public access to bicycles from a fixed number of stations distributed around the
city. Passengers use this system to travel from one PBSS location to another one without leaving a large deposit. Nonetheless,
Kaohsiung’s PBSS can be improved, because the numbers of PBSS are still lacking.
Based on survey data from the Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications, 43.38% of residents in Taipei,
compared with 9.59% for Kaohsiung, use public transportation. The data indicate that the problem for these cities is in usage,
rather than a lack of public transportation services (Cheng and Chang, 2012). If these systems were to be improved and their
usage became habitual, then their effectiveness would naturally increase.
3. Conceptual model for measuring the ability of travelers to complete trips via public transport
This research examines all possible service items that urban travelers may experience when using public transportation,
including accessibility, mobility, and connectivity. It assumes a traveler walks to a bus stop or a metro station from home,
takes a bus or the metro, and then transfers onto another transportation mode to reach his/her final destination.
Accessibility is the ease with which a given destination can be reached from an origin or a set of origins (Holden et al.,
2005). Accessibility to a bus stop or a metro station is typically affected by distance, weather, traffic conditions, and tree cov-
erage; as a result, accessibility is classified into two main factors: network coverage and weather conditions; and walking
quality. The first factor is applied to examine how passengers perceive their trip distance to a metro station or bus stop.
Moreover, weather conditions can affect a user’s perception of accessibility. These scenarios are included in the factor net-
work coverage and weather conditions. The walkable environment issue takes place when a person is traveling from home to
a metro station or bus stop, including traffic conditions, tree coverage, bicycles and motorcycles randomly parked on the
sidewalk, and it can also affect the user’s perception of accessibility. Therefore, these possible scenarios are incorporated
in the second factor ‘‘walking quality’’.
Mobility helps assess the service performance (e.g., service headway and reliability) and service quality (cleanliness and
crowding levels) of transportation modes. Seamless connectivity is the level of integration of different public transportation
systems, allowing them to provide door-to-door service (Preston, 2012). This dimension comprises transfer accommoda-
tions, passenger transfer information, services’ integration, station staff, as well as any negative perceptions in the ease of
transfer. Consequently, this dimension is deconstructed as transfer service facilities, transfer service quality, and transfer
penalty (Fig. 1).
Hierarchical and multimodal networks, such as trains, metro networks, and buses, help expand the reach of public trans-
port systems, providing users with various services (Guo and Wilson, 2011). A metro system is designed to provide
high-capacity, medium-to-long distance transportation services that are reliable and comfortable, typically resulting in a
positive image (Button and Rietveld, 1999). Bus services operate on roads for shorter journeys and utilize relatively
Accessibility Mobility
Network coverage and
weather conditions Transportation mode service performance
Walking quality Transportation mode service quality
Seamless Connectivity
Transfer service facilities
Transfer penalty
Transfer service quality
Fig. 1. Process of using public transportation.

inexpensive stops, thus serving as the nucleus of urban rail transit services. Bus stations are often accessible for urban users.
Conversely, it is relatively more difficult for urban travelers to reach a metro station. The two systems – bus and metro –
provide different services and are characterized by their headway, capacity, reliability, and safety. Therefore, this work
separately measures the user-perceived accessibility and mobility of these two services.
3.1. Rasch models for measuring perceived abilities of urban travelers
A better panorama of sustainable urban development is attained through a combination of indicators that capture the
dimensions and aspects of any problem (Gudmundsson, 2000). The multidimensional Rasch model can be employed to mea-
sure perceived accessibility, mobility, and connectivity when using urban public transportation under the perspective of a
comprehensive service chain. Other multi-dimensional models, using the traditional Likert method with an ordinal scale,
generate erroneous statistical inferences. The multidimensional Rasch model eliminates such a potential problem.
This paper applies the Rasch model to measure the perceived abilities of urban travelers to overcome difficulties derived
from service items associated with accessibility to public transportation stations, mobility of the public transportation sys-
tem, and transfer connectivity of public transportation modes. Fig. 2 illustrates the measurement concept of the Rasch
model. One dimension, accessibility, is taken as an example to elucidate the application of the Rasch model to measure
the perceived abilities of urban travelers. Measurements of the mobility offered by a public transportation system and
the connectivity among various travel modes are similar to those of accessibility. In this study, each urban traveler, n, has
a unique ability, hn , representing the capability of urban traveler n to overcome a difficulty associated with an item. Each
item i has a difficulty value bi , representing the difficulty urban travelers have when using the public transportation service.
The Rasch model calibrates the urban traveler’s ability, hn , and item difficulty, bi , on the same scale. The right portion of Fig. 2
ranks items from high to low based on their difficulty, while the left portion ranks urban travelers from high to low based on
their ability to overcome difficulties. Comparing an item’s difficulty and user’s ability can help identify the relationship
between items and users. For instance, urban traveler B feels difficulty associated with ‘‘My metro station is not close enough
to walk to,’’ because his/her ability level is lower than the difficulty level of this item, indicating that this traveler cannot
overcome the difficulty caused by this service item. Comparatively, urban traveler B does not experience difficulty in relation
to the item ‘‘Finding my bus station is not easy.’’ However, these two items are true for traveler A, because he/she has better
abilities to overcome the difficulty of these two items. On the contrary, traveler C has difficulty with both items
simultaneously.
3.2. Multidimensional Rasch model
Multidimensional Rasch models generate precise measures, because they simultaneously estimate all parameters, and
correlations among dimensions are estimated directly and are free of attenuation from measurement errors (Mislevy,
1984). The multidimensional random coefficients multinomial logit model (MRCMLM), an extension of the Rasch family
Urban travelers’ abilities to Difficulties caused by the

overcome perceived difficulties service scenarios
(High) (High)
+2.0
Urban traveler A
My metro station is not

+1.0 close enough to walk to
Urban traveler B
-1.0
Finding my metro
station is not easy
Urban traveler C -2.0
(Low) (Low)
Fig. 2. Illustration measuring urban traveler’s perceived difficulties when using the public transportation service by the Rasch method.
of item-response models, is built up from a basic conceptual building block. First, the model assumes that for an item i with
ordered categories of responses indexed by k, a unique dimension corresponds to a larger set of possible dimensions denoted
by d (d = 1, . . . , D). Those responding to a given item are indexed by n (n = 1, . . . , N). Second, the log odds ratio of a person’s
response in category k of item i (Pnik), compared to category k 1 (Pnik1), is modeled as a linear function of latent abilities on
that dimension hnd and the relative difficulty of category k (dik):

P nik
ln ¼ hnd dik ; ð1Þ
Pniðk1Þ
where hnd is the latent ability of urban traveler n on dimension d, to which only item i is correlated; and the dik value,
commonly called a ‘‘step difficulty,’’ reveals the comparative ease or difficulty an urban traveler has in being classified as
achieving category k compared to category k 1 for item i.
The general MRCMLM formulation for the probability of a response pattern, Xn, to an item is as follows:
exp½x0n ðBhn AdÞ
PðX n ; djhn Þ ¼ P ; ð2Þ
Z2X exp½z ðBhn AdÞ
0
where the position of person n in the D-dimensional latent space is described by the D 1 column vector hn = (hn1,
hn2, . . . hnD); d is the vector of item parameters; X is the set of all possible response patterns; z represents a pattern derived
from the full set of response patterns; and Xn represents the response pattern of interest. Matrices A and B are known as the
design and scoring matrices, respectively, and they specify the functional form of the model relative to the hypothesized map
of items in dimension (B) to difficulty parameters in dimension (A) (Briggs and Wilson, 2003).
3.3. Evaluation of fit to the Rasch models
The fit of the Rasch models, which can be expressed as the responses observed for each person on all items (person fit) or
as the responses to each item by all persons (item fit), is the degree of match between the observed responses and the mod-
eled expectations (Chang and Shih, 2012). A number of indices, including outfit and infit statistics, can be used to assess the
quality of the scale from a Rasch measurement result (Yan and Mok, 2012). Both outfit and infit mean square errors (MNSQs)
are applied to check whether the raw data fit the Rasch model’s specifications. Statistically, the MNSQ is a chi-square statistic
divided by its degrees of freedom. The range of MNSQs is often suggested to fall within 0.7–1.3, which is the critical range
according to Wang et al. (2006).
4. Methods
Questionnaire items herein were derived mainly from the proposed conceptual model of the entire service chain and pre-
vious works in the literature, as well as from discussions with public transportation experts. Many issues were taken up by
two public transportation experts, a senior public servant and a university professor, who have both worked in this domain
for over 20 years. These two experts provided policy suggestions, and the professor has previously conducted several surveys
for planned public transportation service projects for city governments. Drafts of the questionnaire were given to these two
experts for analysis, and the questionnaire was then modified based on their feedback. A random pre-test questionnaire was
distributed to the general public to identify problematic questions, ensuring that the final version would be understood by
most users, regardless of demographics. The final version was thus designed based on input from experts and the general
public. Table 1 lists possible service items used to measure perceived accessibility, mobility, and connectivity when using
public transportation systems to complete a trip from home to a destination. The questionnaires measured three dimensions
covering seven factors: network coverage and weather conditions; walking quality, transportation mode service perfor-
mance; transportation mode service quality; transfer facilities; transfer service quality; and transfer penalty.
4.1. Data and sampling processes
The data comprise self-reported responses to items. The responses to items, i.e., whether service attributes (Table 1) make
it difficult to use public transportation, are on a five-point Likert scale. Five or seven-point formats are the most common and
frequently used (Malhotra and Peterson, 2006), but no great difference exists between the two (Dawes, 2008). With a
five-point scale, respondents can easily read the complete list of scale descriptions (Dawes, 2008), while with the 7-point
scale, respondents have more choices, which often makes it too complex for easy responses, thus frustrating the subjects.
Therefore, this research employs the five-point Likert scale.
Each item represents different difficulties. Responses on the scale range from 1 for ‘‘strongly disagree,’’ to 5 for ‘‘strongly
agree.’’ Respondents also provided basic demographic information for their gender, age, city of residence, frequency of
weekly regular sports activities, environmental awareness, and whether they utilized the public transportation system for
their daily commute.
A brief on-site presentation on the accessibility, mobility, and connectivity of the public transportation service was given
to the respondents, as was the purpose of the survey. This was followed by a question and answer session prior to
Table 1
Service measurement items during public transportation travel.
Dimensions Factors No. Service item description Referred literatures

Accessibility Network coverage and 1 Finding my metro station is not easy Ringler et al. (2007), Givoni and Rietveld
weather conditions (2007) and Brons et al. (2009)
2 Finding my bus station is not easy Iseki and Taylor (2010)
3 My metro station is not close enough to walk Humpel et al. (2004), Givoni and Rietveld
to (2007) and Brons et al. (2009)
4 My bus stop is not close enough to walk to Humpel et al. (2004)
5 I avoid walking when it is hot Humpel et al. (2004)
6 I avoid walking when it is raining Olszewski and Wibowo (2005)
Walking quality 7 I feel unsafe, because of traffic conditions Humpel et al. (2004)
8 I feel stressed, because of traffic conditions Humpel et al. (2004)
9 I do not like crossing busy roads Humpel et al. (2004)
10 There is litter in the streets near my transit Humpel et al. (2004)
station
11 The number of shade trees on the route to my Humpel et al. (2004)
transit station is insufficient
12 I do not like bicycles and motorcycles parking Mattson (2009)
randomly on the sidewalk
13 The walking environment near transit stations Ringler et al. (2007)
is poor
Mobility Transportation mode 14 The metro is usually not on time Ringler et al. (2007)
service performance 15 The bus is usually not on time Chien et al. (2002)
16 The metro service is infrequent Ben-Akiva and Morikawa (2002)
17 The bus service is infrequent Wall and McDonald (2007)
18 The metro does not provide real-time Hine and Scott (2000)
information
19 The bus system does not provide real-time Hine and Scott (2000)
information
20 The metro does not handle delays Stradling et al. (2007)
appropriately
21 The bus system does not handle delays Stradling et al. (2007)
appropriately
22 Bicycles are not allowed on the metro Cheng and Liu (2012)
23 Bicycles are not allowed on buses Cheng and Liu (2012)
24 Metro crime and violence is high Mattson (2009)
25 Bus crime and violence is high Loukaitou-Sideris (1999)
26 Metro service on weekends or at night is poor Mattson (2009)
27 Bus service on weekends or at night is poor Broome et al. (2010)
28 Metro lines have too many stops Tyrinopoulos and Antoniou (2008)
29 Bus lines have too many stops Broome et al. (2010)
Transportation mode 30 Metro cars are crowed Cox et al. (2006)
service quality 31 Buses are crowded Cox et al. (2006)
32 Riding the metro is not safe Tyrinopoulos and Antoniou (2008)
33 Riding the bus is not safe Broome et al. (2010)
34 Overall cleanliness inside the metro is poor Mattson (2009)
35 Overall cleanliness inside buses is poor Broome et al. (2010)
36 I am anxious when getting off the metro Cox et al. (2006)
37 I am anxious when getting off the bus Cox et al. (2006)
38 I am unable to estimate the remaining metro Tyrinopoulos and Antoniou (2008)
stations until my arrival
39 I am unable to estimate the remaining bus Broome et al. (2010)
stops until my arrival
Seamless Transfer service quality 40 Transfer from the metro to a bus is not walker- Suggested by local expert
connectivity friendly
41 Passenger information for transfers is not clear Hine and Scott (2000)
42 Schedule disclosure and route information is Ringler et al. (2007) and Hine and Scott
poor (2000)
43 Metro information at bus stops is not in real Hine and Scott (2000)
time
44 Bus information at metro stations is not in real Hine and Scott (2000)
time
45 Booths are not available when transferring Ringler et al. (2007)
Transfer penalty 46 Transfer is risky on inappropriate platforms or Wardman (1998)
on metro lines
47 I dislike uncertain travel time for transfers Wardman (1998)
48 I dislike multiple transfers for trip planning Wardman (1998)
49 I dislike extra costs for transfer time and Wardman (1998)
money
50 I dislike inconvenient transfers by walking Wardman (1998)
(continued on next page)

Table 1 (continued)
Dimensions Factors No. Service item description Referred literatures

Transfer performance 51 I dislike the metro not adhering to schedule Wardman (1998)
52 I dislike a bus not adhering to schedule Wardman (1998)
53 Bus wait time is not acceptable Ringler et al. (2007)
54 Metro and bus transfers are not seamless Miller et al. (2005)
55 I do not get useful information from metro staff Suggested by the experts
56 My smart card does not work for all public Suggested by the experts
transportation services
distribution of the questionnaire. Before the survey, an interviewer explained the main environmental management mea-
sures recently promoted by the respective city governments and some common issues related to environmental protection
measures. Taiwan’s government encourages individuals to use personnel utensils at restaurants and recycled shopping bags
at stores. After explanations, the interviewer asked the respondents to determine whether they considered themselves
environmentally aware individuals.
4.2. Sampling processes
This study selected every fifth passenger from a serial ordering of respondents at the entrances of the Taipei and
Kaohsiung metro and main bus stations, politely requesting their participation. If one declined, then the next fifth passenger
entering the station was requested to participate. Finally, 600 respondents agreed to participate. Of these, 565 provided valid
questionnaires; 35 questionnaires contained missing data and/or had response errors. The software program ConQuest was
used (Wu et al., 1998). Of the 565 anonymous respondents, 53.6% (303/565) were male, 46.3% (262/565) were female, 36.8%
(208/565) used public transportation more than more than or equal to 6 times per week, and 35% (198/565) used public
transportation 2–5 times per week. Most trips were to work or school (66.7%, 377/565), and most respondents had driving
licenses (82.1%, 464/565) (Table 2).
The sample size chosen for testing the polytomous items (rating scale) using the Rasch model was based on maintaining
item difficulty stability (Linacre, 2002). Mean square statistics of the Rasch model analysis were relatively independent of
sample size for polytomous data (Smith et al., 2008). The rating scale for the questionnaire is the standard five-point
Likert rating scale, such that a minimum of 125 subjects was required (Hawkins et al., 2014). Linacre (2002) also suggested
that 25 or even 50 observations per category may be required depending on the degree of stability desired. Even with 50
observations per category and under the 5-point Likert scale, 565 subjects were obtained, which is more than
5 ⁄ 50 = 250 and sufficient for Rasch analysis. Moreover, several studies using the Rasch model in the transportation domain
had sample sizes of 300–500 (Cheng, 2010; Cheng and Liu, 2012; Chang and Wu, 2008). Thus, this research sample is accept-
able for analyses.
5. Rasch result analysis
5.1. Fit statistics analysis and item parameter estimates
Prior to Rasch model analysis, the unidimensionality assumption and local independence should be met. Although uni-
dimensionality assumes subject responses are based on one latent trait (Brentari and Golia, 2008), this assumption is rarely
germane (Rubio et al., 2007). Thus, this work applied exploratory factor analysis to test whether the data fit was unidimen-
sional (Reeve and Masse, 2007). Analytical results demonstrate that the percentage of explained variation for the first factor
exceeded 20% for each dimension. Moreover, the ratio of eigenvalues between the first and second factor exceeded 2, sup-
porting unidimensionality (Lumsden, 1976). These analytical results imply that the data fulfill the unidimensionality
assumption, thus meeting the assumption of local independence (Lord and Novick, 1968).
This work subsequently examined the goodness-of-fit of each item and the MNSQ from infit and outfit using the Rasch
model. Table 3 shows fit statistics for the items. The MNSQ values of both infit and outfit were 0.89–1.16 (near 1), indicating
a suitable fit of user responses based on the Guttman scale (Guttman, 1950). The reliability was 0.997, indicating high sta-
bility of collective information (Aiken, 1996). A difficulty value ‘‘bi’’ represents resistance of an urban traveler to each service
item (Table 3). Consequently, the highest logit value implies that the service item is the most difficult. An item difficulty ‘‘bi’’
that is greater than 0 indicates that urban travelers have greater difficulty related to this item and are more likely to perceive
difficulty during their travels.
5.1.1. Person-item map of the Rasch model

Fig. 3 shows the person-item map that represents the number of people who have the ability to overcome a difficulty
related to a measurement item among the three dimensions. The left side indicates passenger ability, with a high level
denoting that passengers have a good ability to overcome difficulty when using public transportation. Item difficulty is listed
Table 2
The users’ ability in accessibility, mobility and seamless connectivity on various demographic factors.
Item Subgroup Sample

Gender Male 303 (53.6%)
Female 262 (46.3%)
Age 525 348 (61.6%)
26–50 184 (32.6%)
=51 33 (5.8%)
City of residence Taipei 371 (65.7%)
Kaohsiung 194 (34.3%)
Occupation Student 292 (51.7%)
Public servant 42 (7.4%)
Industry 16 (2.8%)
Commerce 43 (7.6%)
Service industry 100 (17.7%)
Information industry 21 (3.7%)
Unemployed/retired 19 (3.4%)
House keeper 16 (2.8%)
Others 10 (1.8%)
Educational level Elementary school 5 (0.9%)
Junior high school 11 (1.9%)
Senior high school 79 (14.0%)
Colleges & universities 347 (61.4%)
Master/doctor 123 (21.8%)
Public transportation usages =6 times 208 (36.8%)
2–5 198 (35.0%)
51 (per week) 159 (28.1%)
Main transportation mode Private vehicle 220 (38.9%)
Public transportation 345 (61.1%)
Trip purpose Study 203 (35.9%)
Work 174 (30.8%)
Shopping 40 (7.1%)
Leisure 103 (18.2%)
Business trip 12 (2.1%)
Hospital 5 (0.9%)
Visit relatives or friend 9 (1.6%)
Others 19 (3.4%)
Environmental awareness Yes 374 (66.2%)
No 191 (33.8%)
Frequency of weekly sports activities =6 times 54 (9.6%)
2–5 301 (53.2%)
51 210 (37.2%)
License status Yes 464 (82.1%)
No 101 (17.9%)
on the right side, and the notations ‘‘M,’’ ‘‘S,’’ and ‘‘T’’ indicate mean, one standard deviation (SD), and two SDs, respectively
(Brentari and Golia, 2008). If a person’s ability exceeds item difficulty, then the respondent has a higher probability of over-
coming item difficulty, and vice versa.
Interpretations of the estimated item and person parameters by Rasch model analysis are according to logits. Based on the
person-item map by Rasch model analysis (Fig. 3), this work has found that the respondents’ distribution peak for accessi-
bility was located at a position <0 logit. The Rasch assessment fixes the average measure of all item parameters at 0 logit as a
comparative basis of the relative interval scale (Chang and Wu, 2008); the average value of passenger-perceived accessibility
was <0 logit. This negative value indicates that many respondents have difficulty in accessibility under the service scenarios.
Conversely, the average values of passenger-perceived mobility and connectivity were both positive. Therefore, accessibility
should be improved immediately, especially with regard to problems caused by traffic and weather conditions that adversely
affect pedestrian access to transit stations.
The relationship between item difficulty and a person’s ability can be examined using the person-item map. For instance,
the most difficult item was in the mobility dimension, ‘‘The bus system does not handle delays appropriately’’ (Item 21), and
no passenger was able to overcome this (bi = 1.457). In the seamless connectivity dimension, ‘‘I dislike a bus not adhering to
schedule’’ (Item 52) and ‘‘I dislike extra costs for transfer time and money’’ (Item 49) both have a higher position away from
the mean. For the accessibility dimension, stressful traffic conditions for pedestrians walking to the transit station adversely
affected travelers the most (Item 8). In sum, sub-dimensions, such as walking quality and transfer penalty, were the items
Table 3
Estimation of item measures and fit statistics.
No. Item Estimate Error Unweighted Weighted

(logits) bi fit(outfit) fit(infit)
MNSQ T MNSQ T
I. Accessibility (1–13) 8 I feel stressed, because of traffic conditions 0.867 0.038 1 0 1 0.1
12 I do not like bicycles and motorcycles parking randomly 0.842 0.04 1.01 0.3 1.03 0.5
on the sidewalk
6 I avoid walking when it is raining 0.781 0.037 1.11 1.8 1.12 2
5 I avoid walking when it is hot 0.761 0.037 1.06 1 1.07 1.1
11 The number of shade trees on the route to my transit 0.735 0.038 0.97 0.4 0.98 0.3
station is insufficient
7 I feel unsafe, because of traffic conditions 0.731 0.039 1 0.1 1.01 0.1
10 There is litter in the streets near my transit station 0.563 0.039 1.04 0.6 1.05 0.9
9 I do not like crossing busy roads 0.021 0.036 0.97 0.6 0.96 0.7
3 My metro station is not close enough to walk to 0.597 0.034 1.07 1.2 1.03 0.6
1 Finding my metro station is not easy 1.048 0.038 1.01 0.2 0.99 0.1
4 My bus stop is not close enough to walk to 1.138 0.038 0.99 0.1 0.95 0.8
2 Finding my bus station is not easy 1.146 0.038 0.95 0.9 0.94 1
13 The walking environment near transit stations is poor 1.372 0.131 1.01 0.2 1.01 0.2
II. Mobility (14–39) 21 The bus system does not handle delays appropriately 1.457 0.035 1.16 2.5 1.16 2.4
20 The metro does not handle delays appropriately 0.846 0.034 1.16 2.6 1.17 2.8
29 Bus lines have too many stops 0.685 0.033 1 0 1 0.1
27 Bus service on weekends or at night is poor 0.628 0.032 0.98 0.3 0.98 0.3
26 Metro service on weekends or at night is poor 0.568 0.032 0.99 0.2 0.99 0.1
31 Buses are crowded 0.439 0.033 1.04 0.6 1.04 0.7
30 Metro cars are crowed 0.409 0.032 1.05 0.9 1.05 0.8
33 Riding the bus is not safe 0.401 0.034 1.05 0.9 1.04 0.7
17 The bus service is infrequent 0.374 0.033 1.01 0.2 1 0.1
15 The bus is usually not on time 0.297 0.033 0.95 0.8 0.95 0.9
37 I am anxious when getting off the bus 0.276 0.033 1.08 1.4 1.08 1.5
28 Metro lines have too many stops 0.176 0.034 0.97 0.6 0.96 0.6
24 Metro crime and violence is high 0.14 0.032 1.01 0.3 1.01 0.2
25 Bus crime and violence is high 0.139 0.032 1.02 0.3 1.01 0.3
23 Bicycles are not allowed on buses 0.025 0.032 1.17 2.7 1.16 2.8
39 I am unable to estimate the remaining bus stops until 0.085 0.17 1.07 1.1 1.06 1
my arrival
36 I am anxious when getting off the metro 0.135 0.033 1 0.1 1.01 0.1
35 Overall cleanliness inside buses is poor 0.22 0.035 0.89 1.8 0.89 1.9
19 The bus system does not provide real-time information 0.318 0.034 0.97 0.5 0.96 0.6
22 Bicycles are not allowed on the metro 0.368 0.034 1.13 2.1 1.12 2
38 I am unable to estimate the remaining metro stations 0.699 0.036 0.9 1.7 0.9 1.9
until my arrival
32 Riding the metro is not safe 0.798 0.037 0.94 1 0.93 1
34 Overall cleanliness inside the metro is poor 0.897 0.037 0.89 1.9 0.89 2.1
16 The metro service is infrequent 0.948 0.036 0.95 0.8 0.95 0.8
14 The metro is usually not on time 1.127 0.038 0.91 1.5 0.91 1.6
18 The metro does not provide real-time information 1.214 0.036 0.9 1.8 0.9 1.6
III. Seamless connectivity 52 I dislike a bus not adhering to schedule 1.398 0.041 1.15 2.4 1.16 2.5
(40–56) 49 I dislike extra costs for transfer time and money 1.342 0.043 1.07 1.1 1.06 1.1
50 I dislike inconvenient transfers by walking 0.926 0.041 1.01 0.2 1.01 0.2
48 I dislike multiple transfers for trip planning 0.897 0.041 1.03 0.5 1.03 0.6
53 Bus wait time is not acceptable 0.736 0.041 1.09 1.6 1.09 1.6
47 I dislike uncertain travel time for transfers 0.495 0.04 0.99 0.1 0.99 0.1
54 Metro and bus transfers are not seamless 0.185 0.043 1.1 1.7 1.1 1.6
45 Booths are not available when transferring 0.151 0.042 1.04 0.7 1.03 0.5
51 I dislike the metro not adhering to schedule 0.189 0.041 1.04 0.7 1.03 0.6
46 Transfer is risky on inappropriate platforms or on metro 0.25 0.044 1 0.1 1 0
lines
40 Transfer from the metro to a bus is not walker-friendly 0.299 0.042 0.95 0.9 0.96 0.8
43 Metro information at bus stops is not in real time 0.429 0.043 0.94 1 0.94 1.1
55 I do not get useful information from metro staff 0.666 0.045 1.03 0.6 1.03 0.5
44 Bus information at metro stations is not in real time 0.846 0.046 0.92 1.4 0.93 1.1
41 Passenger information for transfers is not clear 0.952 0.045 0.91 1.5 0.91 1.4
42 Schedule disclosure and route information is poor 1.046 0.044 0.91 1.5 0.91 1.6
56 My smart card does not work for all public 1.151 0.17 1.06 1.1 1.05 1
transportation services
Seamless
Accessibility Mobility connectivity
Fig. 3. Person-item map of three dimensions.
many urban travelers had difficulty to overcome during their travel. Conversely, Item 13 in the accessibility dimension, ‘‘The
walking environment near transit stations is poor’’, is considered the simplest item, and all respondents can achieve it
without difficulty.
Except for item difficulty, the Rasch model determines the ability of each passenger to overcome difficulties during trips.
A high logit value implies that a respondent has good ability to overcome difficulties caused by a specific scenario during
travel. Fig. 4 lists the percentage of respondents with the ability to overcome difficulties in the three dimensions. In terms
of accessibility, fewer than 10% of travelers overcame the service item difficulty of ‘‘walking quality,’’ indicating most
passengers believe the service items that include the sub-dimension ‘‘walking quality’’ are not acceptable.
5.2. Analysis of group differences
To determine whether significant differences exist in traveler-perceived difficulties among various groups, one-way anal-
ysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied. The variables are gender, age, city of residence, occupation, educational background,
frequency of usage, whether public transportation is the main transportation mode, environmental awareness, frequency of
weekly sports activities, and driving license status. The ANOVA results indicate passengers’ socio-demographic characteris-
tics do have a significant effect on several subgroups in three dimensions at the 95% confidence level (Table 4). For the acces-
sibility dimension, gender (p = 0.006), age (p = 0.045), city of residence (p = 0.006), frequency of public transportation usage
(p = 0.000), whether public transportation is the main transportation mode (p = 0.000), environmental awareness (p = 0.016),
and frequency of weekly sports activities (p = 0.007) were significant for the subgroups. In the mobility dimension, environ-
mental awareness (p = 0.023) and frequency of weekly sports activities (p = 0.001) were significant for the subgroups. In the
100%
90% Network coverage and
weather condions
80%
Walking quality
70%
Transportaon mode service
60%
performance
50% Transportaon mode service
quality
40%
Transfer service facilies
30%
20% Transfer penalty
10% Transfer service quality

0%
Accessibility Mobility seamless connecvity
Fig. 4. Percentage of the surveyed respondents whose ability can overcome the difficulty of certain factors among the three dimensions.
Table 4
Average user’s ability to overcome perceived difficulties in each subgroup.
Characteristic Group Sample size User’s average ability F-value P-value

Accessibility
Gender Male 303 0.087 7.613 0.006**
Female 262 0.199
Age 525 348 0.099 3.126 0.045*
26–50 184 0.198
=51 33 0.226
City of residence Taipei 371 0.073 20.677 0.000**
Kaohsiung 194 0.264
Public transportation usage (per week) =6 times 208 0.048 10.233 0.000**
2–5 198 0.125
51 159 0.274
Main transportation Private vehicle 220 0.266 25.992 0.000**
Public transportation 345 0.058
Environmental awareness Yes 374 0.104 5.798 0.016*
No 191 0.207
Frequency of weekly sports activities =6 times 54 0.025 5.048 0.007**
2–5 301 0.125
51 210 0.201
License Yes 464 0.160 5.250 0.022*
No 101 0.039
Mobility
Age 525 348 0.338 7.378 0.001**
26–50 184 0.227
=51 33 0.129
Environmental awareness Yes 374 0.314 5.202 0.023*
No 191 0.236
Frequency of weekly sports activities =6 54 0.428 6.891 0.001**
2–5 301 0.308
51 210 0.218
Seamless connectivity
Age 525 348 0.585 4.006 0.019*
26–50 184 0.425
=51 33 0.322
Main transportation mode usage Private vehicle 220 0.423 5.994 0.015*
Public transportation 345 0.579
Environmental awareness Yes 374 0.586 9.429 0.002**
No 191 0.384
Frequency of weekly sports activities =6 54 0.818 7.209 0.001**
2–5 301 0.544
51 21 0.402
*
The mean difference of two groups is significant at the 0.05 level.
**
The mean difference of two groups is significant at the 0.01 level.
connectivity dimension, whether public transportation is the main transportation mode (p = 0.015), environmental aware-
ness (p = 0.002), and frequency of weekly sports activities (p = 0.001) had significant effects.
In the accessibility dimension, males (0.087 logits) had a higher ability to use public transportation than females
(0.199 logits). Riders in Taipei (0.073 logits) also had a better ability than riders in Kaohsiung (0.264 logit) to deal with
difficulties associated during trips. Moreover, young passengers, frequent users, environmentally conscious passengers, and
passengers who use the public transportation system service as their primary choice for transportation were more able to
handle difficulties associated with travel. Respondents without driving licenses (0.039 logits) had a better ability to handle
difficulties associated with travel than those with driving licenses (0.16 logits). Those who had frequent weekly sports
activities (0.025 logits) had the best ability to handle difficulties associated with travel among all subgroups. For the mobility
dimension, passengers under 25 (0.331 logits) had a better ability to handle difficulties associated with travel than those
over 50 (0.198 logits). At the same time, environmentally aware passengers and those who preferred to conduct regular
sports activity frequently have a higher ability to handle such difficulties.
Compared with the accessibility and mobility dimensions, the respondents had a better than average ability to overcome
the difficulties of service items included in the connectivity dimension. This analytical result indicates that passengers have a
greater ability to transfer between transportation modes when compared with the difficulties encountered in the accessibil-
ity and mobility dimensions. Moreover, young passengers, environmentally conscious travelers, those using the public trans-
portation as their main transportation mode, and those who have frequent sports activities had a better ability to overcome
the difficulties caused by service times during their travel than urban travelers without these aforementioned
socio-demographic characteristics.
Fig. 5 compares traveler-perceived accessibility, mobility, and connectivity in Taipei and Kaohsiung. Riders in Taipei gen-
erally had a greater ability than travelers in Kaohsiung to complete their trips using the public transportation system.
Likewise, the accessibility dimension is significantly higher than the other two dimensions for both cities’ residents, with
Taipei rider-perceived accessibility rated higher than that by Kaohsiung riders. This comparison result implies that accessi-
bility was the dimension that caused the most difficulty for passengers, especially those in Kaohsiung. For the mobility
dimension, the ability of urban travelers to overcome the difficulties during their travel using the public transportation ser-
vice was almost the same in the two cities, and at least 60% of urban travelers could overcome any difficulty associated with
this dimension. Urban travelers generally felt system connectivity was seamless.
5.2.1. Correlations among accessibility, mobility, and connectivity

This work further compares correlations between accessibility, mobility, and connectivity – two by two – for groups of
various ages. In terms of age, this work aims to understand the perceptions of those people economically active and also that
of younger users who are often more dependent of public transportation. The majority of individuals aged approximately
25 years old should have already completed their higher education studies. Passengers over 50 are more likely to have weak
knees problems, especially women (Jinks et al., 2004). Therefore, this work focused on respondents aged <25, 25–50, and
>50.
Accessibility and mobility were positively correlated for the above age groups by correlation coefficients (<25, 0.684; 26–
50, 0.713; >50, 0.784). Passengers aged >50 indicate the highest correlation for accessibility and seamless connectivity at
0.786, along with the correlation between mobility and connectivity at 0.950. For the group aged 26–50, the correlation
between accessibility and connectivity was moderate at 0.709, and the correlation between mobility and connectivity
was moderate at 0.889 when compared to that of the other age groups. However, passengers aged <25 had the weakest
correlation between accessibility and connectivity at 0.705, as well as for mobility and connectivity at 0.902.
These analytical results indicate that the high correlations among the dimension pairs are highly associated with senior-
ity. This finding implies that elderly travelers were more concerned with accessibility, mobility, and connectivity, because of
their relatively poor abilities to overcome obstacles in these dimensions.
Abilities (in logit)

0.60 0.54
0.50 0.47
0.40
0.31
0.30 0.28
0.20 Residences in Taipei
0.10 Residences in Kaohsiung
0.00
Accessibility Mobility Seamless
-0.10 -0.07 connecvity
-0.20
-0.30 -0.26
Fig. 5. Comparison of urban user’s perceived abilities in overcoming the difficulties from accessibility, mobility and seamless connectivity between Taipei
and Kaohsiung.
5.3. Certain perceptions with specific features
Aside from age, environmental awareness and weekly sports activities were also significant among subgroups for each
dimension. This work therefore assigns subjects to the following six categories by two specific features: (a) YE and HS: urban
travelers who were environmentally conscious and had a high sports activity frequency of P6/week; (b) YE and MS: urban
travelers who were environmentally conscious and had a moderate sports activity frequency of 2–5/week; (c) YE and LS:
urban travelers who were environmentally conscious and had a low sports activity frequency of 61/week; (d) NE and HS:
urban travelers who were not environmentally conscious and had a high sports activity frequency of P6/week; (e) NE
and MS: urban travelers who were not environmentally conscious and had a moderate sports activity frequency of
2–5/week); and (f) NE and LS: urban travelers who were not environmentally conscious and had a low sports activity
frequency of 61/week. Group abilities were (a) > (d) > (b) > (c) > (e) > (f), implying that the ability of travelers to overcome
difficulties during travel increase significantly for the group that is environmentally conscious and has high regular sports
activity frequency (a). This analytical result is especially true in the connectivity dimension.
This work also compares levels of ability for groups (a), (b), and (c) and determines that the group with high regular sports
activity frequency had the best ability to overcome perceived difficulties among those groups that were environmentally
conscious. Moreover, the environmentally conscious group had an elevated ability to overcome perceived difficulties among
those groups that had the same sports activity frequency. This work subsequently compares groups (c) and (f) with groups
(d) and (f) and notes that the vertical gap between groups (c) and (f) represents the effect of ‘‘environmentally conscious,’’
and the vertical gap between groups (d) and (f) signifies the effect of the ‘‘frequency of sports activities.’’ The vertical gap
between groups (d) and (f) was higher than that between groups (c) and (f). These analytical results indicate that ‘‘frequency
of sports activities’’ was more effective than ‘‘environmentally conscious’’ in helping one to overcome perceived difficulties
during travel (Fig. 6).
This research further compares the ability of travelers having various demographic factors in the two cities to overcome
difficulties of service scenarios during their travel using the public transport. The Rasch results determine that travelers in
Taipei who were environmentally conscious had better abilities than those who were not environmentally conscious in the
accessibility, mobility, and seamless connectivity dimensions. At the same time, the more regular sports activities per week
urban travelers do, the better the riders’ ability is to overcome difficulties when commuting. For travelers in Taipei, the effect
of ‘‘frequency of sports activities’’ was greater than that of ‘‘environmental awareness’’ in improving their ability to overcome
an item’s difficulty.
In Kaohsiung the effects of sports frequency and environmental awareness on the three dimensions differed from those in
Taipei. In the mobility dimension, travelers who are environmentally conscious had better abilities to overcome problems
than those who are not environmentally conscious, but the latter travelers addressing this dimension were unaffected by
the frequency of sports activities. In the connectivity dimension, travelers not environmentally conscious had a compara-
tively lower ability to overcome the difficulties during their travel by public transport service. Having many sports activities
could significantly enhance the ability of urban travelers to overcome the difficulties during their travel by public transport
service. However, environmentally conscious riders had a similar ability for overcoming difficulties during their travel,
regardless of their sports frequency. In the accessibility dimension, groups (a) and (d), both of which had frequent sports
activities, had a better ability to overcome difficulties during their travel than groups (b), (c), (e), and (f), each of which
had a lower frequency of sports activities. However, groups (b), (c), (e), and (f) were affected by environmental awareness
and not by frequent sports activities.
5.4. Possible solutions to reduce the perceived difficulties of urban travelers
To diminish the perceived difficulties of passengers while using public transportation, the Rasch results can be applied
to increase their ability to overcome difficulties and to reduce service-related difficulty, providing them with significantly
better experiences (Cheng, 2010).
This study assumes that the improvement magnitude of a service item’s difficulty in logits can be represented by reduced
item difficulty of the person-item map in logits. Based on the person-item map, a service item’s difficulty can be reduced and
the number of passengers overcoming this item’s difficulty can increase. This work employs this information to understand
the relationship between improvement magnitude and the percentage of user-perceived difficulties of a certain mitigating
service item.
The person-item map of the Rasch analytical results can help facilitate in estimating the number of passengers who will
not experience difficulties for a service item after this service has been improved and the improvement percentage of pas-
sengers who can overcome the service-related difficulty. Prior to improvement, the number of passengers P0 denotes those
who can overcome the difficulty of a specific service item. After improvement by reducing the service-related difficulty, the
number of passengers overcoming this difficulty is augmented to be P1. This study thus estimates the improvement percent-
age of passengers who overcome the service-related difficulty, because of reduced difficulty in a specific service item, by
using the formula [(P1 P0)/P0] ⁄ 100%.
Fig. 7 shows the relationship between the improvement magnitude of a service item’s difficulty and the improvement
percentage of passengers who overcome the service-related difficulty. The x-axis represents the former in logits, while
the y-axis indicates the latter. Each improvement logit in the x-axis ranges from 0 to 0.25 (Fig. 7), while an increasing
Abilities (in logit)

1.00 (a)
0.80 (d)
(b)
0.60 (c)
(e)
(f) Accesibility
0.40
Mobility
0.20 Seamless connecvity
0.00
NE&LS NE&MS YE&LS YE&MS NE&HS YE&HS
-0.20
-0.40
Fig. 6. User’s ability to overcome the difficulties based on the various demographic factors.
Fig. 7. Relationship between improvement magnitude and the percentage of user-perceived difficulties of certain mitigating service items.
percentage ratio in the y-axis shows a more effective result than a decreasing percentage ratio. Improvement strategies with
steeper slopes imply a greater effectiveness than those with less steeper slopes. With the exception of transfer service qual-
ity, the other service items of six factors can be ameliorated significantly after the x-axis value increases from 0 logits to 0.25
logits. With an improvement of 0.5 logits to 1 logit, the service item ‘‘walking quality’’ had a significant effect in reducing
difficulties compared with the other service scenarios, implying that walking quality had a lag improvement effect. As
improvement magnitude increases, the cost, time, and resources a city government needs also increase (Cheng and Liu,
2012). This study assumes that a less improvement magnitude can be achieved in the short term, where a greater improve-
ment magnitude needs to be accomplished in the medium or long term.
Based on the Rasch results, this study suggests that city governments and agencies should implement short-, medium-,
and long-term measures to enhance the ability of passengers to overcome their perceived difficulties. In Taipei, resources
should be allocated to improve system performance and transfer performance in the short term, while walking quality
should be improved continually in the medium term and long term. By contrast, network coverage and weather conditions,
transfer performance, and transportation mode service performance in Kaohsiung can be improved in the short term.
Walking quality can be enhanced in the medium term and long term in Kaohsiung, just like in Taipei.
6. Conclusions and policy implications
This study contributes toward developing an integrated conceptual measurement approach via the multidimensional
Rasch model to identify items that lead to perceived difficulties of urban travelers when using public transportation.
From the perspectives of unban users, three dimensions are considered – accessibility, mobility and connectivity – and
the relationships between the dimension pairs are examined to determine their correlation. The Rasch model clearly assists
in recognizing the perceptions of travelers in different groups, be it age or socio-economic (Rossi et al., 2001; Cheng, 2010),
and derives segmented strategies for improving various passengers’ travel experience and for ameliorating different
metropolitan areas’ transportation system problems.
6.1. Research findings
First, compared to the other two dimensions (mobility and connectivity), accessibility issues cause the greatest problems
for riders. In the accessibility dimension, ‘‘stressful traffic conditions for pedestrians walking to the transit station’’ under-
performed the most. This finding agrees well with that obtained by Engel-Yan et al. (2014). The item ‘‘bicycles and motor-
cycles parking randomly on the sidewalk’’ was the second toughest scenario. Weather conditions, including hot weather and
rain, can also generate difficulties for passengers. Conversely, passengers perceived that the walkable environment near
transit stations did not pose significant difficulties.
Second, for the mobility dimension, delayed buses were the most critical problem for passengers, agreeing with the find-
ing acquired by Gu et al. (2014). Moreover, ‘‘bus lines have too many stops’’ and ‘‘lack of frequent bus service on weekends
and at night’’ were also important. Based on these findings, bus service seems to be lacking and does not meet the mobility
needs of riders. Alternatively, metro service mobility is adequate.
Third, with respect to connectivity, ‘‘bus not adhering to schedule,’’ ‘‘extra costs for transfer time and money,’’ and ‘‘in-
convenience transfers by walking’’ were the most difficult scenarios for passengers. The current smart card that is available
for use during transfer among different public transportation systems poses the fewest problems.
Fourth, the Rasch results indicate that riders in Taipei had a better ability to overcome their perceived difficulties than
those in Kaohsiung, but riders in both cities rated accessibility lower than mobility and connectivity. Young passengers, envi-
ronmentally conscious users, those using public transportation as their main transportation mode, and those who have fre-
quent sports activities had a better ability to overcome difficulties during their trips. Specifically, the habit of frequent sports
activities was the most effective factor in terms of enhancing passengers’ abilities to overcome difficulties during their travel.
Customers who do not use public transportation can be targeted as potential new users. Finally, the Rasch results also
demonstrate that correlations among perceived accessibility, mobility, and connectivity are significant and positive and
are associated with seniority.
6.2. Policy implications
Several policy implications can be derived from findings. First, in terms of accessibility, fewer than 10% of urban travelers
can overcome difficulties associated with ‘‘walking quality.’’ Moreover, passengers claimed that walking in hot weather was
difficult. Therefore, city governments should provide sufficient pedestrian crossings on arterial and collector roads and
design walking routes to stations under the coverage of trees (Olszewski and Wibowo, 2005). Urban planners can also design
underground shopping malls in stations with high volumes to facilitate comfortable transfers and to create additional
commercial activities, especially in Kaohsiung.
Second, passengers are typically impatient and find delayed buses are a big problem. City governments should encourage
bus agencies to provide more real-time information to decrease uncertainty and develop psychological strategies to reduce
the adverse effects of uncertainty and to raise feelings of security. Such services will improve customer satisfaction and
brand image (Dziekan and Kottenhoff, 2007). Moreover, developing a mobile app that works on smartphones, tablet
computers, and other mobile devices can assist passengers in checking the status of buses, estimate possible travel times,
point out bus stops, and offer information on possible delays.
Third, passengers have difficulty understanding signs and instructions when transferring. Therefore, establishing a stron-
ger passenger information service is suggested. Moreover, well-trained staff can help the elderly, disabled, and children dur-
ing transfers at some of the main stations, as well as passengers carrying heavy luggage. Respondents perceived bus service
as being infrequent, and links between transportation modes require improvement. Thus, coordinating bus and metro sched-
ules can reduce wait times.
Fourth, as for cost effectiveness, the Rasch results indicate that Taipei should focus on transportation mode performance
and transfer performance in the short term. It implies that Taipei’s city government should prioritize solving problems with
schedules, delays, and transfer waiting times. By contrast, increasing the system network coverage and performance in
Kaohsiung should be prioritized in the short term. Hot weather typically prevents travelers from walking to stations.
Thus, planting more trees along sidewalks can help increase the amount of shade and is a natural means for improve walk-
ways. For the long term, enhancing walking quality and ameliorating transfer penalties are crucial items to address.
Fifth and lastly, the gap between expectations and actual services provided is highly perceived by the senior group of
commuters. As age increases, one’s requirements for a user-friendly system and seamless service typically increase. This ana-
lytical result agrees well with that of Mattson (2009), indicating that age has a significant effect on transportation opinions
and mobility. Elderly people represent a growing share of Taiwan’s population, such that local authorities should provide
adequate incentives to transportation service operation agencies, such as tax reductions or subsidies, to improve their public
transportation services for these residents, including comfortable seating on buses, protection from inclement or hot
weather, improved signage, and lighting at bus stops. Conversely, travelers with frequent sports activities had a greater abil-
ity to overcome problems when using public transportation than travelers without frequent sports activities. This study sug-
gests that government campaigns can target sports club members and offer them discounts to increase their use of public
transit.
Taiwan’s central government can implement laws and regulations that improve pedestrian access to transit stations. It
can also fund walking programs that improve access infrastructure, planning and design, and urban travelers’ safety and
behavioral change. Local governments can intervene to mitigate perceived problems with accessibility, including providing
walkable networks and community facilities as well as maintaining access infrastructure. Metro and bus agencies should
offer riders more incentives to combine the two during their commute travels, thereby improving their efficiency and trans-
fers. From an implementation perspective, having better pedestrian access to transit stations, higher bus reliability, and
lower transfer inconvenience require the cooperation of multiple jurisdictions. This study suggests that a task force be com-
posed of city government officers, urban planners, and bus and metro managers to help develop action plans for building
pedestrian-friendly environments, streets, and public spaces and for offering seamless and efficient public transportation
services.
6.3. Conclusions
Among the research findings, accessibility was perceived as the most problematic dimension by travelers. Age, frequency
of weekly sports activities, and environmental awareness significantly influenced user perceptions. Customized promotion
programs should be based on social-demographic factors. The study compared Taiwan’s two biggest cities, Taipei and
Kaohsiung, so as to provide policy suggestions for urban planners according to age-defined user groups, as well as to present
short- and long-term improvement strategies.
6.4. Limitations and future research
This work has explored rider-perceived accessibility, mobility, and connectivity of the public transportation systems in
Taipei and Kaohsiung. Future research can expand the scope of research and compare other cities in terms of urban planning,
transportation policy, and land use. The proposed approach via the Rasch model can also be applied to identify context
uniqueness. The recommendations herein are strategies mainly aimed at promoting public transportation usage for com-
muters in Taipei and Kaohsiung. Future studies can also consider the perspectives of other stakeholders, including urban
planners, public transportation agencies, and the central government. Moreover, examining how a trip’s purpose and travel
cost influence a passenger’s perceptions of accessibility, mobility, and connectivity can be examined further.
This research collected self-reported data to examine perceived accessibility, mobility, and connectivity. Future works can
use GIS-based and Google Map data, combined with the proposed approach herein, to increase the applicability of accessi-
bility improvement strategies. Moreover, a precise cost-benefit analysis for different improvement measures can be per-
formed in future studies.
When using public transportation services, walking to a metro station or bus stop and climbing on and off a bus can be a
significant burden for some passengers aged >50. This study thus analyzed passengers aged >50 as one category.
Unfortunately, this category does not yield detailed analyses. Future studies can address age groups of older citizens and
explore their perceptions of accessibility, mobility, and connectivity.
Although the YouBike system is in Taipei and PBSS is in Kaohsiung, the numbers of kiosks currently installed in these two
cities are not widespread enough, especially in Kaohsiung. PBSS users represent a small portion of urban travelers compared
to metro and bus users. As such, this work did not consider PBSS when assessing user-perceived accessibility, mobility, and
connectivity. This study mainly focused on walking to/from metro stations/bus stops. This trip type is the most widely
adopted travel pattern for local public transportation users. Moreover, it‘s interesting to consider cyclists and metro station
drop-offs in combination with public transport for future studies. Future studies can also examine perceptions toward the
usages of intermediate public transport/shared transport/bicycles/personal two-wheelers (or cars) by commuters when
going to a metro or bus stop.
Acknowledgments
The authors of this paper sincerely acknowledge the valuable suggestions of the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. John Rose, and the
two anonymous reviewers, which have immensely helped to enhance the quality of the paper over its earlier version. The
authors thank the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Taiwan, ROC, for financially supporting this research.
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Transportation Research Part A 77 (2015) 386–403

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Transportation Research Part A

Perceived accessibility, mobility, and connectivity of public

⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 6 2757575x53227; fax: +886 6 2753882.

2. Public transportation services in Taipei and Kaohsiung

Fig. 1. Process of using public transportation.

3.1. Rasch models for measuring perceived abilities of urban travelers

3.2. Multidimensional Rasch model

Urban travelers’ abilities to Difficulties caused by the

My metro station is not

Urban traveler C -2.0

3.3. Evaluation of ﬁt to the Rasch models

4.1. Data and sampling processes

Dimensions Factors No. Service item description Referred literatures

(continued on next page)

Dimensions Factors No. Service item description Referred literatures

4.2. Sampling processes

5. Rasch result analysis

5.1. Fit statistics analysis and item parameter estimates

5.1.1. Person-item map of the Rasch model

Item Subgroup Sample

No. Item Estimate Error Unweighted Weighted

Fig. 3. Person-item map of three dimensions.

5.2. Analysis of group differences

10% Transfer service quality

Characteristic Group Sample size User’s average ability F-value P-value

5.2.1. Correlations among accessibility, mobility, and connectivity

Abilities (in logit)

0.20 Residences in Taipei

0.10 Residences in Kaohsiung

5.3. Certain perceptions with speciﬁc features

5.4. Possible solutions to reduce the perceived difﬁculties of urban travelers

Abilities (in logit)

6. Conclusions and policy implications

6.1. Research ﬁndings

6.2. Policy implications

6.4. Limitations and future research

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