Tourists' Use of Public Transport Information: What They Need and What They Get

Authors

Karen Thompson

Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

10-2004

Subject Area

planning - signage/information

Abstract

The adequacy and accuracy of public transport information is one of the key attributes on which the quality of a public transport service and customer satisfaction with that service is frequently measured. Furthermore, simplicity of information has been revealed to be an underlying dimension of public transport service quality for local users. However, despite the importance of information to the transport and tourism industries alike, and the fact that there are likely to be differences between the public transport information requirements of tourists and local users, tourist interaction and satisfaction with public transport information has been the subject of little attention in the transport literature. The paper presents the results of a study of overseas visitors’ use of public transport information in the Greater Manchester conurbation. Visitors were found to have a greater requirement for information than local users when making public transport journeys, particularly in the case of certain information items. In addition, incongruities were shown to exist between the public transport information sources that are most readily available to the tourist and those that are of greatest use to him. The adequacy and accuracy of public transport information is one of the key attributes on which the quality of a public transport service and customer satisfaction with that service is frequently measured. Furthermore, simplicity of information has been revealed to be an underlying dimension of public transport service quality for local users. However, despite the importance of information to the transport and tourism industries alike, and the fact that there are likely to be differences between the public transport information requirements of tourists and local users, tourist interaction and satisfaction with public transport information has been the subject of little attention in the transport literature. The paper presents the results of a study of overseas visitors’ use of public transport information in the Greater Manchester conurbation. Visitors were found to have a greater requirement for information than local users when making public transport journeys, particularly in the case of certain information items. In addition, incongruities were shown to exist between the public transport information sources that are most readily available to the tourist and those that are of greatest use to him.

Comments

Permission to publish abstract given by AET.

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