Chicago Transit Authority Weekday Park-and-Ride Users: Choice Market with Ridership Growth Potential

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) park-and-ride users make up a small but important submarket of CTA ridership (2.3 million of 445.3 million annual rides). In fall 1998, a survey was made of 1,758 CTA park-and-ride users on weekdays at 15 CTA park-and-ride lots near the point of payment. The survey asked for customer satisfaction ratings, travel characteristics, prior mode used, reasons for park-and-ride use, demographics, and, at the largest lots, ratings of the desirability of potential amenities or services that could be added to the lots. Compared with CTA riders overall, park-and-ride users showed substantially higher household incomes and travel frequencies and made predominantly work-related trips to and from Chicago’s central business district. Riders said that they chose to use park-and-ride because it was the fastest way to make their trip, because of the cost of parking at their destination (mean cost of $10.29), or because they disliked driving. Before using CTA park-and-ride service, most customers used some automobile-related means of making their trips. Substantial turnover and geographic information system analysis of home location data suggest that regular target marketing and investment in new facilities would have a positive impact on overall ridership. Of potential customer amenities tested, riders showed the most willingness to try shopping-related amenities (convenience mart, fast food and grocery outlet) over amenities related to automobile servicing.