Understanding how levels of satisfaction differ across transportation modes can be helpful to encourage the use of active as well as public modes of transportation over the use of the automobile. This study uses a large-scale travel survey to compare commuter satisfaction across six modes of transportation (walking, bicycle, automobile, bus, metro, commuter train) and investigates how the determinants of commuter satisfaction differ across modes. The framework guiding this research assumes that external and internal factors influence satisfaction: personal, social, and attitudinal variables must be considered in addition to objective trip characteristics. Using ordinary least square regression technique, we develop six mode-specific models of trip satisfaction that include the same independent variables (trip and travel characteristics, personal characteristics, and travel and mode preferences). We find that pedestrians, train commuters and cyclists are significantly more satisfied than drivers, metro and bus users. We also establish that determinants of satisfaction vary considerably by mode, with modes that are more affected by external factors generally displaying lower levels of satisfaction. Mode preference (need/desire to use other modes) affects satisfaction, particularly for transit users. Perceptions that the commute has value other than arriving at a destination significantly increases satisfaction for all modes. Findings from this study provide a better understanding of determinants of trip satisfaction to transport professionals who are interested in this topic and working on increasing satisfaction among different mode users.

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Affiliations and biosAhmed El-Geneidy is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning at McGill University. His research interests include land use and transportation planning, transit operations and planning, travel behavior analysis and measurements of accessibility and mobility in urban contexts. Michael Grimsrud has a Master's in Urban Planning from McGill University. His research interests are in land use and transport interaction, trend modeling, behavior change, and sustainability policy. Rania Wasfi is a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography, McGill University. She has a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University. Her research interests are in travel behavior, and planning for active transportation and its relation to obesity and health. Paul Tétreault has a Master's of Urban Planning from McGill University. He currently works for GENIVAR as a transportation planner and engineer. His research interests are in the fields of active transport, public transit, traffic, parking, geospatial analysis, traffic calming and traveldemand management. Julien Surprenant-Legault has a Master's of Urban Planning , McGill University and a baccalaureate in Economics from the Université de Montréal. He works in public transit planning and transportation modelling in Montréal. His research interests include land use and transport planning, urban economics, public transit planning and operations, travel behaviour, and public policy.ABSTRACT The percentage of the population being served by a transit system in a metropolitan region is a key system performance measure but depends heavily on the definition of service area. Observing existing service areas can help identify transit system gaps and redundancies. In the public transit industry, buffers at 400 meters (0.25 miles) around bus stops and 800 meters (0.5 miles) around rail stations are commonly used to identify the area from which most transit users will access the system by foot. This study uses detailed origin-destination survey information to generate service areas that define walking catchment areas around transit services in Montreal, Canada. The 85 th percentile walking distance to bus transit service is around 524 meters from home-based trip origins, 1,259 meters for commuter rail. Yet these values are found to vary based on our analysis using two statistical models. Walking distances vary based on route and trip qualities (such as type of transit service, transfers and wait time), as well as personal, household, and neighbourhood characteristics. Accordingly, service areas around transit stations should vary based on the service offered and attributes of the people and places served. The generated service areas derived from the generalized statistical model are then used to identify gaps and redundancies at the system and route level using Montreal region as an example. This study can be of benefit to transport engineers and planners trying to maximize transit service coverage in a region while avoiding oversupply of service.

The location of transit infrastructure distributes publicly-funded benefits to residents throughout a region. However, these benefits are not always distributed equally among different population groups. This research seeks to determine whether the benefits of Toronto's public transit system are equitably distributed, and how these benefits change from 1996 to 2006 after the implementation of several transit projects in the region. We develop a methodology using a social indicator based on census tract level socio-economic characteristics to measure the relationship between social disadvantage and accessibility to jobs and transit travel time in the Toronto region over time. Transit equity is examined at three levels: spatially, temporally, and by job type. We find the range in accessibility and transit travel time narrows over the 10-year period. In addition, the most socially disadvantaged census tracts have statistically significantly better accessibility and lower transit travel times relative to the rest of the region in both 1996 and in 2006. Our findings show that Toronto has a generally equitable transit system that benefits those in social need, who are likely to gain the most from transit. The methodology proposed presents a useful way to bring issues of social equity directly into the land use and transportation planning process.

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