Psychological Behavior Analysis of Bus Fare System

In rapidly expanding cities and fast urbanization, the volume and structure of resident trips have become more complex. The research in selecting and adjusting urban public transit fare system has significant influence on passenger's choice to ride on public transport service. This study proposes a questionnaire based analyses of different groups, different-vote system and different fares system in public transit of Chengdu city. The results from this study depict that commuters may accept transit service with fare of ¥0.6 RMB and discount of 0.5 for transfer, while values of non-commuters and students are respectively, fare of ¥0.7 RMB and transfer discount of 0.5, and fare of ¥0.3 RMB and transfer discount of 0.2. As for the bus company, they are willing to accept at fare of ¥0.2 RMB and transfer discount of 0.2 for students, fare of ¥0.7 RMB and transfer discount of 0.5 for commuters and fare of ¥0.9 RMB and transfer discount of 0.7 for non-commuters. It is also expected that 54% travelers will shift from non-motor vehicles to transit when there is no cost for transfer. As a result, the transit share in Chengdu increased from 14.7% to 19.8% after the fare policy of 0.5 fold on normal transit IC card holders and 0.2 fold on students' IC card and without cost for transfer.