User experience and psychological comfort at the Platform-Train Interface

Platform-train interface (PTI) is a shared space with several interactions between travellers. These interactions lead to congestion phenomena causing delays, safety concerns at PTI and resulting in a negative experience for users. It is thus important to understand individual behavior to help in improving pedestrian flow at stations and users’ experience, and finally in supporting and promoting public transport use. This study aims to understand individuals experience and behavior in such places. More specifically, we investigate psychological comfort and its link with approach/avoidance strategies used by travellers at PTI. Based on the critical incidents technique, 22 interviews were conducted. Participants were asked to describe multiple trips according to their valence (positive versus negative). 77 critical incidents representing 125 sections of route involving a station were collected, coded and analysed through a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), in order to determine what characteristics were associated to the valence of the incidents. For the 125 sections, we used a descriptive analysis to identify the approach/avoidance strategies used by individuals at PTI. Results show that trip characteristics are linked to each psychological comfort dimension. Furthermore, individuals potentially apply approach/avoidance strategies to increase psychological comfort. Finally, we observed that even though crowds are mostly associated with avoidance strategies, some approach strategies were identified towards crowds.