Integrating Autonomous Buses as Door-to-Door and First- and Last-Mile Service into Public Transport: Findings from a Stated Choice Experiment

Autonomous busses and on-demand services have the potential to improve the public transport system. However, research on potential traffic impacts is still ongoing, mainly due to a lack of existing applications of autonomous driving as part of public transport. Thus, the availability of revealed preference data for mode choice decisions is very limited. Hence, we conducted a stated choice experiment to assess mode choice preferences regarding applications as main mode of transport and as solution for the first and last mile. We also distinguished between on-demand and timetable-based services. The responses of 1,434 people were analyzed using a nested logit approach. We examined the model and drew conclusions for efficient forms of deploying autonomous busses in addition to already existing well-developed public transport systems. We found that, under the given conditions, public transport pass owners without a car in their household would be interested in using the busses the most. Car owners without a smartphone see less benefit. It was also shown that the recruiting method of the respondents is crucial. Those reached via social media were significantly more positive than those contacted via the online panel. ... mehrFurther evaluations show that autonomous busses are evaluated similarly to existing public transport and thus have particularly high potential on medium distances wherever an access route is shortened.