Regional differences and similarities for traditional and demand-responsive public transport preferences: evidence from Sweden

Understanding regional variation in public transport preferences is essential for designing efficient mobility systems. This study examines the stability of preferences for both traditional public transport and demand-responsive transport across three Swedish regions – Stockholm (urban), Skåne (intermediate), and Värmland (rural) – using discrete choice experiments. The analysis focuses on key service attributes: travel time, price, comfort, reliability, walking distance, crowding, and pre-booking requirements. The results show that comfort is consistently the most valued attribute, while pre-booking requirements, a feature specific to demand-responsive transport, are among the least important. Participants from Värmland have a stronger preference for reliability compared to those in Stockholm. Although the second most important attribute varies by region, the overall ranking patterns are similar, suggesting that regional differences in attribute importance are relatively minor.