Freeing the “Captive Rider”: Young Adults’ Public Transit Experiences in Toronto High-Rise Suburbs
In recent years, public transit policy has often focused on chasing ‘choice’ riders, or those who have mode alternatives, while taking for granted ‘captive’ riders, or also referred to as transit dependents. This paper argues for a need to re-centre attention towards ‘captive’ riders through equity...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Queen's University
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Canadian Planning and Policy |
| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1811315347062521856 |
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| author | Khairunnabila Prayitno Markus Moos |
| author_facet | Khairunnabila Prayitno Markus Moos |
| author_sort | Khairunnabila Prayitno |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In recent years, public transit policy has often focused on chasing ‘choice’ riders, or those who have mode alternatives, while taking for granted ‘captive’ riders, or also referred to as transit dependents. This paper argues for a need to re-centre attention towards ‘captive’ riders through equity and sustainability perspectives, and to question the use of the term ‘captive’, as it alludes to marginalization. We conduct this research by examining the transit experiences of a sample of young captive riders in Don Valley Village and Crescent Town, two high-rise suburban neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto. Semi-structured interviews are used to gain insight into participants’ travel patterns and the challenges associated with public transit use. Participants accrue different types of costs with their experiences (i.e., time, money, safety, and comfort), which do limit their ability to participate in public life. The study is situated in the broader context of transit equity, which point to the need for service quality improvements for ‘captive’ riders. This study also shows why assessments of young captive riders’ experiences is essential for planning. Contrary to how captive riders are perceived, service quality issues prompted some of the study participants to switch to driving, which further questions the categorization of ‘choice’ and ‘captive’. Transit agencies are urged to consider further how to improve transit quality for ‘captive’ riders to contribute to equity but also to maintain transit loyalty among younger transit riders as their circumstances change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T11:28:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6aea689aae0748308f01df90d9837504 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2562-122X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T11:28:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Queen's University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Canadian Planning and Policy |
| spelling | doaj.art-6aea689aae0748308f01df90d98375042022-12-22T02:48:37ZengQueen's UniversityCanadian Planning and Policy2562-122X2022-07-0120221204810.24908/cppapc.v2022i1.15316Freeing the “Captive Rider”: Young Adults’ Public Transit Experiences in Toronto High-Rise SuburbsKhairunnabila Prayitno0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3279-2252Markus Moos1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2667-8664University of WaterlooUniversity of WaterlooIn recent years, public transit policy has often focused on chasing ‘choice’ riders, or those who have mode alternatives, while taking for granted ‘captive’ riders, or also referred to as transit dependents. This paper argues for a need to re-centre attention towards ‘captive’ riders through equity and sustainability perspectives, and to question the use of the term ‘captive’, as it alludes to marginalization. We conduct this research by examining the transit experiences of a sample of young captive riders in Don Valley Village and Crescent Town, two high-rise suburban neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto. Semi-structured interviews are used to gain insight into participants’ travel patterns and the challenges associated with public transit use. Participants accrue different types of costs with their experiences (i.e., time, money, safety, and comfort), which do limit their ability to participate in public life. The study is situated in the broader context of transit equity, which point to the need for service quality improvements for ‘captive’ riders. This study also shows why assessments of young captive riders’ experiences is essential for planning. Contrary to how captive riders are perceived, service quality issues prompted some of the study participants to switch to driving, which further questions the categorization of ‘choice’ and ‘captive’. Transit agencies are urged to consider further how to improve transit quality for ‘captive’ riders to contribute to equity but also to maintain transit loyalty among younger transit riders as their circumstances change.transit equityyoung captive riderspublic transit experiencemode switchtransit loyalty |
| spellingShingle | Khairunnabila Prayitno Markus Moos Freeing the “Captive Rider”: Young Adults’ Public Transit Experiences in Toronto High-Rise Suburbs Canadian Planning and Policy transit equity young captive riders public transit experience mode switch transit loyalty |
| title | Freeing the “Captive Rider”: Young Adults’ Public Transit Experiences in Toronto High-Rise Suburbs |
| title_full | Freeing the “Captive Rider”: Young Adults’ Public Transit Experiences in Toronto High-Rise Suburbs |
| title_fullStr | Freeing the “Captive Rider”: Young Adults’ Public Transit Experiences in Toronto High-Rise Suburbs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Freeing the “Captive Rider”: Young Adults’ Public Transit Experiences in Toronto High-Rise Suburbs |
| title_short | Freeing the “Captive Rider”: Young Adults’ Public Transit Experiences in Toronto High-Rise Suburbs |
| title_sort | freeing the captive rider young adults public transit experiences in toronto high rise suburbs |
| topic | transit equity young captive riders public transit experience mode switch transit loyalty |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT khairunnabilaprayitno freeingthecaptiverideryoungadultspublictransitexperiencesintorontohighrisesuburbs AT markusmoos freeingthecaptiverideryoungadultspublictransitexperiencesintorontohighrisesuburbs |