Exploring Melbourne Metro Train Passengers’ Pre-Boarding Behaviors and Perceptions

The focus on sustainable transportation has increased interest in promoting sustainable modes of transport, such as rail. Understanding train passengers’ behaviors and perceptions is essential to enhance their travel experience and increase train ridership. Pre-boarding behaviors and perceptions are crucial in shaping the overall train travel experience. However, there are limited studies that have developed a systematic framework for investigating train passengers’ pre-boarding behaviors and perceptions. This paper examines the train passenger’s pre-boarding behaviors and perceptions about the station and platform. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach by developing a pre-boarding decision framework and combining it with questionnaire surveys to explore passengers’ behaviors and perceptions on the platform before boarding. A total of 429 valid responses from Melbourne metro train users were used for analysis. Descriptive statistics and correlation techniques were applied to identify patterns and relationships. The findings reveal common pre-boarding behaviors and perceptions. Furthermore, the study uncovers factors influencing these behaviors and perceptions, such as passenger demographics, travel patterns, and specific trip characteristics. For example, carrying large items and travel frequency significantly impact passengers’ travel experience in the pre-boarding phase. Waiting time, group travel, carrying small items, gender, and age group also significantly impact some pre-boarding behavior variables. Travel time, on the other hand, makes no significant impact on any of the pre-boarding variables that we examined. This research provides valuable insights for rail service operators and policymakers to enhance the pre-boarding experience, optimize station design, and improve passenger satisfaction.