Knowledge of the concept Light Rail Transit: Exploring its relevance and identification of the determinants of various knowledge levels

This paper explores the knowledge of the concept ‘Light Rail Transit’ (LRT) in the context of implementing a Light Rail system in a (sub)-urban region. To this end, three models are estimated: a first model to explore the role of knowledge on modal choice, a second one to identify the determinants of the level of knowledge and a third model to identify the determinants of a cognitive mismatch between actual (real) knowledge and perceived knowledge. The first model (a negative binomial regression model) underlines the significant relation between knowledge of the concept LRT and modal choice. Given the lack of knowledge of the concept ‘Light Rail Transit’ revealed by the descriptive results, it is of crucial importance to raise the level of knowledge. Knowledge acquisition can be based on transit experiences and information provision. To explore how information campaigns should be constructed and which target groups should be approached, the factors influencing travelers’ knowledge and the determinants of a cognitive mismatch are identified by a Multinomial Logit Model (MNL-model) and a binary logit model. The results show that various socio-economic variables as well as socio-psychological variables are significantly influencing actual knowledge and significantly influencing a cognitive mismatch. Among these variables, employment, gender, perception of ticket price of Public Transit (PT) and expectations with regard to seat availability in the LRT-vehicle are the most influential ones.