The future of public transport design in a postpandemic world

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has instigated substantial changes to daily routines and behaviors. Specifically, one lasting impact of the pandemic has been more flexible work arrangements. Such increased time and commuting flexibility can fundamentally impact future public transport use. Accordingly, the pricing and business models of public transit providers are being increasingly questioned. Yet, the post-pandemic future of public transportation usage remains unclear. Here public opinion plays a crucial role – particularly regarding which types of service delivery modes people think the government should support. Should the government support increased number of connections throughout the day and to peripheral regions, or rather incentivize shifting towards more demand-based services? How much public funding should be provided for these services? And lastly, how do these preferences vary by individual characteristics? We explore citizen preferences for the case of public transportation in Switzerland via a full factorial survey experiment within a nationally representative survey (Winter 2022). We find that generally, people are in favor of higher government contributions. While we find that increased ticket prices are only accepted if both number of connections and connections to peripheral regions are improved, people seem to be accepting more demand-driven forms of service when ticket prices are lowered.