Asian Transport Studies
Online ISSN : 2185-5560
ISSN-L : 2185-5560
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The Impact of Attitudes and Perceptions on High Speed Rail Usage Uptake in Taiwan and the Shanghai Area
Yeun-Touh LIJan-Dirk SCHMÖCKERDong ZHANG
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2017 Volume 4 Issue 3 Pages 601-620

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Abstract

China has the world's most extensive high speed rail (HSR) network. The modernized railway network began commercial operations in April 2007. On the other side of the strait, Taiwan High Speed Rail was inaugurated in January 2007. The newly introduced travel mode has over time significantly changed the travel patterns in these areas. This study aims to understand the factors influencing how quickly travelers get used to taking high speed rail. A web-based questionnaire was conducted and carried out in Taiwan and Shanghai in 2014 using visualized usage patterns for respondents to choose the one that most fits to their actual HSR usage. Multinomial Logit model (MNL) is then employed to estimate parameters influencing HSR usage among different groups of travelers. The MNL results suggest that fast adopters and those who dropped usage at some point, share similar characteristics compared to slow adopters. From the attitudinal factors, one’s general "willingness to try" has a positive impact on a person's likelihood to start using HSR. As for socio demographics, higher education degree and personal income would encourage travelers adopting to HSR. A number of reasons to start using HSR are discussed and found to have different impacts on perceptions towards HSR among all travelers and regions.

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2017 Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies
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