Reliability of Stockholm Subway - Index of

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background and Motivation
Economic growth causes the rapid process of urbanization. The cities and their
population constantly increase worldwide resulting in the considerable demand for
transportation. Well-planned public transport system becomes the most efficient
solution to satisfy the growing demand. It is a guarantee of sustainability and
development for any modern city. Nowadays the effectively developing city is the one
where everyday public transit is able to provide reliable, fast and comfortable
commuting between different parts of the city.
One of the major problems that any city government faces is the increasing number of
car owners. Car‟s high level of comfort and constantly lowering car prices make the
car the most attractive transportation mode. To keep urban streets uncongested and
manage the negative effects of private cars such as noise, pollution, and accidents,
city has to provide a public transit service which could hold existing passengers loyal
as well as attract the motorists. In order to reach the aim public transportation should
be able to compete with private cars.
Another issue is that due to economical reasons public transit is not usually selfsupporting.
It often demands governmental subsidies and investments. Transit fare
collection is the most popular way to partly compensate these subsidies. However,
passengers are greatly sensitive to the ticket price. Thus the operator should provide
the service the customers are willing to pay for.
According to many researches, for example Litman (2010), transit reliability is one of
the most important characteristics of attractive public transportation. Besides, the
advantage of the reliable transit service is that it attracts more passengers an as a
result more fare money which, for example, can be used for public transport
development.
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