Investigating the Influence Factors of Public Transit Rider Transfer Intentions: A Case Study in Nanjing

This paper investigated the impacts of various factors on travelers’ intentions to use public transportation (PT) routes with transfers based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Data were collected from a questionnaire survey of 503 participants in Nanjing, China. Then, structural equation model (SEM) and multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis were conducted to estimate the influences of different factor variables, e.g., habit, anticipated affect, and perceived risk on transit riders’ intentions to use route with transfer. Also, relationships among socio-demographic, conventional TPB, and extended TPB variables were explored. The results show that psychological factors—e.g., attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and habit—have more significant influences on mode choice behaviors than socio-economic factors such as age, gender, and income. Habitual factors explain travelers’ intentions better than the three key traditional TPB variables. The findings of this study are useful for public transit agencies to develop constructive solutions from a user perspective to increase the attraction of transfer routes, which can contribute to the increase of PT ridership.