Focus groups and a panel surveys provide insight on how and where various RTTI options fit into the transit experience in Arlington County, Virginia.
Arlington, Virginia, United States
Market Research on Real Time Transit Information Needs and Users’ Expectations
Summary Information
This report examines how public transit riders value real time transit information (RTTI) and how agencies can make transit services more attractive. This report examined several traveler information systems that support transit services in in Arlington County, Virginia including online arrival prediction tools, phone-based arrival prediction tools (SMS and call centers), BusFinder at Arlington Transit bus stops, and LED electronic information signs and LCD interface displays at bus stops and rail stations.
METHODOLOGY
Extensive focus groups and a panel survey were conducted to gain insight on how and where RTTI fits into the transit experience. Fourteen (14) focus groups were held between 7/11/2018 and 7/26/2018, with each group containing seven to 12 participants. Prior to the start of each focus group session, participants completed a background survey to document their demographics, travel habits, and attitudes. Based on the focus group findings, an online survey was developed and subsequently sent to people who live, work, or attend school in Arlington County. Overall, 346 online panel surveys were completed between 9/26/2018 and 10/12/2018.
FINDINGS
Arlington residents and workers used a variety of county-offered RTTI, were satisfied with their service, and found the offered technologies valuable. The figure below, excerpted from the source report, shows the satisfaction with each option.
The highest levels of satisfaction were found with Transit Screen and Redmon, both of which are dynamic message boards. These offer displays of next arrival information covering multiple routes / services on a single screen. Overall, 93 percent of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with Transit Screen while satisfaction with Redmon Screen was only slightly lower at 90 percent.
The dynamic message boards garnered the most positive reactions from the focus group participants because of their high readability and understandability. Opinions on the dynamic message boards were also consistent across age groups. However, participants noted that these are not instantly understandable.
