A holistic view of safe, attractive travel environments for public transport satisfaction

Public transport (PT) users spend considerable time reaching, waiting and transferring at stations, finding these trip legs highly cumbersome. Improving travellers’ experiences during these legs is pivotal for satisfaction with door-to-door PT and, hence, long-term ridership. Further attention to the design of stations and their urban surroundings, considering the travel experience holistically, is therefore necessary. This study investigates the relationship between (i) street- and station-level built environment features at both trip ends, perceived safety and travel environment satisfaction, (ii) travel environment satisfaction and trip satisfaction, using data from a tailor-made survey (N=3,085) on train trips in East Denmark. Findings from structural equation model highlight that safe, attractive environments at home and activity ends can boost satisfaction. Key improvements include better maintenance, lighting, and wayfinding and reducing isolated areas around stations. The results encourage researchers to factor in urban surroundings in PT studies and practitioners to design safe and attractive travel environments. • Structural equation model explains safety, travel environment satisfaction and trip satisfaction. • Good lighting, maintenance, wayfinding improve travellers’ experience. • Isolated areas around stations reduce perceived safety and satisfaction. • Home end characteristics are more important for overall trip satisfaction. • Investigating the holistic experience is necessary to enhance safety and satisfaction.