Narrowing the Rail–Bus Satisfaction Gap Through Real-Time Passenger Information

In metropolitan areas, rail services are inherently perceived as more attractive than buses, a well-documented phenomenon known as the ‘psychological rail factor’. This paper examines whether the use of real-time information (RTI) relates to the satisfaction gap between metropolitan bus and suburban rail services in Madrid Region, drawing on two mode-specific surveys. We compare travel behavior, information source adoption, and service satisfaction across user groups defined by their information habits. Among online RTI users, the rail–bus satisfaction gap narrows from 0.53 to 0.30 points; this reduction is not significant at the 95% level, though the 90% interval comes close to excluding zero, suggesting a genuine effect. Confounder-adjusted models confirm the narrowing is driven by a significant decline in rail satisfaction among online users (b = −0.399, p < 0.001), not by improvement among bus users, whose association remains null. These results suggest official information quality, rather than mere availability, may shape rail satisfaction. Each mode also shows distinct information needs within the metropolitan transport network; tailoring information accordingly, and ensuring its quality, is critical to sustaining public transport attractiveness.