A study carried out by researchers from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) shows that knowing the satisfaction of the user of the BiciMAD public bicycle rental system in Madrid is a “key aspect” to promote the use of the bicycle, and that this satisfaction depends in a large part of questions such as that the bicycles are “reliable”, with “good maintenance” and an “extended” network.
The study has been carried out since 2014 by the Transport Research Center (TransyT-UPM) of the UPM, which has regularly monitored the BiciMAD public bicycle rental system in Madrid, focusing on issues such as user satisfaction.
In addition, they have had the collaboration of the Municipal Transport Company of Madrid (EMT) and the EMT-UCM Extraordinary Chair of Cycling Mobility, says the UPM in a note this Monday.
In order to know in depth the degree of satisfaction of each user, a methodology has been proposed that combines a method widely used in transport (Importance Performance Analysis -IPA), with another more typical of market research (Three Factor Theory -FT).
The result, published in the journal Transportation, is a methodology that allows the direct interpretation of results from explicit and implicit aspects that facilitates decision-making, the authors explain.
Regarding the types of users, it is concluded that the BiciMAD subscribers, that is, the most common ones, what influences them the most is that the bicycle is reliable, with adequate maintenance, that the network is more extensive and that there is a larger number of stations.
On the other hand, the satisfaction of occasional customers depends especially on the extension of the network, for which they demand a greater number and density of stations; since it deals especially with potential users who demand better coverage of the service to subscribe.
The methodology applied for the analysis also allows us to observe that both user profiles are “highly satisfied” with the electrical assistance of the bicycles, both explicitly and implicitly.
In this sense, the study points out that precisely the electrical assistance of the vehicles “is probably one of the keys to their success and their adequate levels of general satisfaction.”
The authors conclude that the results are “double useful”, since they are valuable for the system operator to identify intervention priorities based on general satisfaction; and because they demonstrate that this methodology can be “especially useful” for operators, promoters and researchers of other modes of transport.
The authors of the paper also suggest that an investment in public transport may have “less effects than expected if the priorities are not clearly identified” for each of the profiles to which the measures are dedicated.
