Travellers’ valuation of sitting and standing positions in crowded metros and trains
Journal article, Peer reviewed
Accepted version
Date
2025-04-16Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need to better understand travellers’ preferences for reduced crowding in public transport. Using panel data from repeated choice experiments with a large sample of Norwegian metro and train users during and after the pandemic, we investigate how the marginal valuation of travel time varies depending on crowding levels and passengers’ positions when sitting or standing. Based on mixed logit models and likelihood ratio tests, we find evidence that position does indeed matter: standing close to the door is preferred over other standing positions in the carriage. Regarding COVID-19, we find that crowding costs are lower after the pandemic but cannot reject the hypothesis that this reduction is independent of position. A key novelty of our study lies in the choice card layout, which contributes to the literature on crowding valuation by providing strong evidence that choice card presentations specifying passenger positions yield higher estimated crowding costs compared to variants where position is not specified. Travellers’ valuation of sitting and standing positions in crowded metros and trains
Description
Hulleberg, N., Flügel, S. Travellers’ valuation of sitting and standing positions in crowded metros and trains. Transportation (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-025-10610-z
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.