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Public ridepooling systems could contribute to the reduction of traffic volume and emissions in cities by decreasing the number of rides by private car while increasing the average number of passengers per vehicle. Yet, it is unknown how urban travelers value different attributes of the ridepooling’s operational concept. Which characteristics of ridepooling concepts are most important to the users? In order to obtain a deeper understanding of travelers’ preferences concerning a ridepooling system, choice-based Conjoint Analysis was performed. Based on a literature review and a focus group, six relevant attributes of the operational concept of ridepooling systems were determined: fare, walking distance, time of booking, shift of departure time, travel time, and information provision. Data from 237 German city dwellers were analyzed with the help of Cox regression. Except for time of booking, all service attributes significantly affected the respondents’ choice. Besides the high relevance of fare, the results underline the particular importance of the attribute walking distance to the pick-up point for elderly. The results give guidance for the creation of user-centered public transport systems that meet the requirements of the prospective passengers and thus might contribute to the development of shared passenger transport systems for sustainable urban mobility.

International level crossing statistics reveal that the majority of accidents at level crossings occur due to human error on the part of car drivers. Often, the rather unspecific description of "attentional deficits" is given as the cause of most accidents. In this study, driving data and eye-tracking data were collected during a standardized driving study. Using a research vehicle, the behavior of 24 participants was observed while approaching two level crossings (one with passive protection, the other with active light-signal protection). It turned out that on the last 300m of the approach towards level crossings, all of the drivers detected and fixated upon at least parts of the protection layout at both level crossings. Nevertheless, only one third of all participants subsequently derived the right reaction and checked the rails for an oncoming train. Two thirds of the participants did not direct their attention towards the rail tracks. With such deficient gaze behavior, visual detection of a potentially oncoming train is difficult. In addition to the maladaptive gaze patterns, inattentive drivers decelerated significantly less while approaching both level crossings than attentive drivers.

Background: Ridepooling services have been predicted a bright future since they promise a flexible and usercentered mobility service. However, there is a research gap in examining the travelers' perception of ridepooling service characteristics since findings concerning fixed-scheduled public transport are hardly transferable. Methods: In order to shed some light on the human factors of ridepooling services a Discrete Choice Experiment (N = 410) was performed to identify travelers' preferences concerning ridepooling's service features. The study thereby focusses on the effect of trip purpose on the appraisal of the service attributes. Based on a literature review and a focus group six attributes of the operational concept were determined: fare, walking distance to the pickup point, time of booking in advance, shift of departure time, travel time and information. Results: The results underline that all of the six attributes significantly affected choice behavior. The appraisal of the service characteristics differed depending on the presented trip purpose. The willingness to pay was calculated for each service characteristics. The results give guidance for the user-centered design and operation of ridepooling systems that meet the requirements of the prospective passengers and thus facilitate behavioral shifts towards more sustainable mobility systems.

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