Report

The importance of preceived risks and feelings of unsafety associated with travels with public transport modes. A study in Göteborg as well as a comparison with results from Norrköping and Stockholm

Reseach area: Society and transport
Year: 2004
VTI-code: 962
Price: 160 kr

 
VTI meddelande 962, 63 pages, 250 kB (written in Swedish with an English summary)

A questionnaire was constructed in order to study perceived attractiveness, feelings of unsafety and different types of perceived risks connected to five different transport modes (car, city bus, tram, regional bus and commuter train). The questionnaire was filled out by 58 persons (30 women and 28 men), ranging in ages from 21 to 78, at the city library in Gothenburg. The participants were to state what they thought about travelling with the transport modes along with their general opinion about these modes of transportation. Also, the participants were to judge the risk of being seriously injured in traffic accidents, the risk of being bothered, threatened or attacked by fellow passengers in connection with travels. The participants were to state how often they worried about being seriously injured in traffic accidents, being bothered, threatened or attacked while travelling with the transport modes. The participants were to judge how often they had felt unsafe while travelling with the different transport modes and how often they had avoided travelling because they thought they would feel unsafe. They were also to judge to what extent different circumstances (such as day of the week and bad lighting) contributed to their feelings of unsafety while walking to or waiting at bus stops etc and while travelling with different public transport modes. Also they were to state their age, gender, education and usage of transport modes. The participants were further given the option to state if there are certain areas where they avoid to travel with the public modes of transportation. Also the participants could state which transport modes and during which circumstances they avoid to travel.
The participants stated that they like it better to travel with car than with commuter train and subway, although there were no differences between the different public transport modes concerning the general opinion that they had about these modes of transportation.

The participants in Norrköping stated that they like it better to travel with and that they have a more positive attitude towards car than towards the public transport modes. The participants in Stockholm stated that they like it better to travel with car than with regional bus, commuter train and subway, while they have a more positive attitude towards tram than towards regional bus and commuter train. The results from the present study show that the respondents rate the risk as greater and worry more often about being seriously injured in traffic accidents with car than with the public transport modes, which is a result which was obtained in Norrköping and in Stockholm.

The results from the present study also show that the respondents rate the risk as greater and worry more often about being threatened or attacked when travelling with the public modes of transportation than with car, a result which was also obtained in Norrköping and in Stockholm. The results from the present study also show that the respondents rate the risk as greater and worry more often about being bothered, threatened or attacked when travelling with tram than with regional buss and commuter train. An opposite pattern was observed in Stockholm since the participants rate the risk as greater and worry more often about being threatened or attacked when travelling with commuter train than when travelling with tram. The participants in Stockholm also rate the risk as greater of being threatened or attacked when travelling with commuter train than the participants in the current study. The participants in the present study stated that they more often had felt unsafe when travelling with city bus and tram than when travelling with regional bus and commuter train, while participants in Stockholm stated that they more often had felt unsafe when travelling with commuter train and subway than with the remaining transport modes.

In an open question 45 per cent of the respondents in the present study stated that they avoid travelling with tram during evenings or nights, particularly during weekends. In Stockholm 54 per cent of the respondents stated that they avoid travelling with subway, particularly with the red line, under similar circumstances. Further, the respondents in the present study stated that certain circumstances such as walking through a pedestrial tunnel, walking through a park/forest or waiting alone at the bus stop etc. contributes to a high degree to feelings of unsafety while walking to or waiting at a bus stop etc. When travelling with a public transport mode feelings of safety arise particularly when the driver/personell do not supervise their vehicle or when travelling alone.

Women stated to a higher extent than men that different circumstances contributes to feelings of unsafety. These results are in line with the results obtained in Norrköping and in Stockholm.

The results also suggest that individual differences such as gender and how often the respondents travel with a particular transport mode is related to travelling attitude and perceived worry and risk of being seriously injured in traffic accidents connected to this transport mode. Men stated that they liked it better to travel with car than did women. Further, women stated that they more often worried about being seriously injured in traffic accidents while travelling with car, tram and regional buss than did men. However, no significant differences between men and women regarding perceived risks and worry of being bothered, threatened or attacked were obtained, whereas such differences were revealed in Norrköping and in Stockholm.

Participants in the present study who often travel with commuter train like it better to travel and have a more positive attitude towards commuter train than do participants who seldom travel. This result was also obtained in Norrköping. Participants who often travel with regional bus worry more often about being seriously injured in traffic accidents, being bothered and threatened while travelling with regional bus than do participants who seldom travel. Both in Norrköping and in Stockholm the participants who often travel with a specific public transport mode stated that they worry more about being seriously injured in traffic accidents, that they more often had fel unsafe and that the risk is greater of being bothered when travelling with that transport mode.

In sum, the results from the present study along with the results obtained in Norrköping and in Stockholm suggest that perceived risk and worry of being bothered, threatened or attacked might have a larger impact on perceived attractiveness than perceived risk and worry of being seriously injured in traffic accidents. The results from the present study as well as the results obtained in Stockholm also suggest that perceived risk and worry of being bothered, threatened or attacked affects feelings of unsafety. The results are discussed in terms of whether personal experiences of threat or attacks affect perceived attractiveness, risk and worry and feelings of unsafety. Further, the results are discussed in terms of practical usage when designing bus stops etc. Future studies should also investigate the extent to which different circumstances contributes to feelings of unsafety in connection to real bus stops etc. and public transport modes.

Author(s)

Alm, Charlotte
Lindberg, Erik

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