Many public transport studies have found that potential passengers consider rail-based publictransport superior to bus systems. Why is this? Two studies have been completed in Germanyand Switzerland in search of explanations for this so called rail factor. In this paper these twostudies are presented and discussed in order to introduce the schemata approach and to helpidentify differences of attributions towards rail- and bus-based public transport.The ways in which people perceive and value a product or service are called attributions.Together a set of attributions forms an image of the product or service. Attributions can beorganized into schemata. Schemata and other routines are used as cognitive shortcuts and henceaffect human behavior. This research used attributions towards public transport modes todevelop schemata for tram, urban bus, regional train and regional bus.The research found a rail factor (i.e. a preference for using rail assuming equal serviceconditions) of 65% for regional train and 76% for trams compared to bus services. The higherpreference for rail-based systems in urban areas reflects positive attributions towards theguideway. While guideway and environmental attributions are prominent factors in urban publictransport mode preferences, emotional and social attributions are important in regional publictransport preferences. It is important to emphasize that attributions to schemata are influenced bythe region of residence and hence, the experience one has with the different public transportsystems. Nevertheless, further research is needed to quantify the influence of these schemata ontravel behavior.
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