Users’ Willingness to Ride an Intercity Passenger Rail: A Case Study From Louisiana

Abstract

Intercity passenger rail services must be designed in a way that users will be willing and able to ride. This study examines potential users’ current travel behaviors and willingness to ride a proposed passenger rail between New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Louisiana, US. By analyzing a user preference survey with discrete choice experiment (DCE), the results show a strong support of the proposed rail service, but distinct deficiencies in the current multimodal transportation environment connecting to and from proposed stations. In addition, previous analyses include potentially faulty assumptions about trip purposes, which have critical implications for service design. The findings of this study reflect the priorities of likely rail passengers and advance efforts to plan for successful passenger rail service operation in Southeast Louisiana. The potential user-based and data-driven approach of this case study can also be used for planning other passenger rail services in the US.