Flutterby™! : Bus or rail?

Bus or Rail: An Approach to Explain the Psychological Rail Factor Milena Scherer, ETH Zurich, Katrin Dziekan, Berlin Institute of Technology (PDF)

The presented studies support the conclusion that how people think and talk about public transport modes reflects the schemata of public transport modes. Schemata are a useful background for helping design public transport systems. For example, thinking of barriers toward public transport use in general or buses in par- ticular, the schema shows that implementing small individual measures to improve bus service are not likely to be effective since the bus schema is highly loaded with emotional factors, based on experiences and habits. Considering the findings of Guiver (2007) concerning negative scenarios and the importance of contra argu- ments combined with the psychological model by Dziekan et al. (2004), we find it questionable whether single improvements targeting only one attribution can lead to higher demand. Overcoming one negative attribution is not simply a matter of creating a more positive image for a public transport mode.