Two, a smartcard and EMV contactless bank card, involved new ways of paying for public transport. The third, Best Value Capping (BVC), entailed a new fares structure such that maximum values would not be exceeded. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) wished to understand the behavioural impacts of the new products, and resulting changes in demand and revenue to inform their internal business case.
We undertook a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach to the work, commencing with a series of focus groups with regular and infrequent users to understand first reactions, appropriate terminology and language, perceived benefits and disbenefits, and any variation by market segment. Subsequent on-street interviews were conducted to quantify take-up rates and trip generation/mode shift. Full market segmentation analysis combined journey purpose, frequency of use, demographics and cluster analysis to identify how preferences varied, and a means for growthing the work to the entire conurbation.
Statistical analysis identified how different market segments would react to the new ticketing propositions. Take-up rates and new public transport trips allowed the demand and revenue implications for the client to be forecast, including any social and distributional variation. These informed the internal business case(s) where were taken forward to implementation.
