Passengers preferences for using emerging modes as first/last mile transport to and from a multimodal hub case study Delft Campus railway station

Emerging access/egress transport modes to and from railway stations may play a vital role in the future performance and usage of public transport. To learn about these modes, their acceptability, and attractiveness, we performed a case study at Delft Campus train station in the Netherlands, using a stated preference experiment. We investigated travellers’ preferences towards shared bicycles, shared e-steps, shared e-scooters, automated vehicles (individuals and shuttles), and the importance of time, costs, and availability of these modes to access or egress this small-sized hub. Furthermore, we studied the impacts of two contextual situations: weather conditions and carrying luggage, affecting mode choice. The results indicate that travel costs have much higher importance than travel time for accessing or egressing from a small hub, and Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) usage is positively valued as first/last mile transport modes compared to other alternatives. Increasing 10% time and cost of all modes indicate that the demand for individual and collective AVs falls sharply, whereas the change in demands of shared bikes is negligible. A significant impact of context effect variables in the utility of travellers was also observed when these variables interacted with the leading travel attributes. The potential market share of the modes indicates that shared bike usage will continue to be strong, and automated vehicles will find their position at future stations. These findings could provide critical criteria for designing future small/medium multimodal hubs.