This paper presents findings from a survey and focus groups designed to assess mode choices,attitudes toward transit and other modes, and willingness to pay for reliable services. The surveyexamined why travelers to downtown Oakland, CA, a transit-rich location, chose to use transit ornot. The focus groups examined responses to changes in tolls and carpool rules and likelyresponses should the Bay Area Rapid Transit system's reliability decline due to fundingshortfalls. The factors that most significantly affected mode choice were whether the traveler hada free parking space and whether access to and from the mainline transit service, bus or rail, wasfast. For bridge users, toll increases were usually less than parking fees and were not majordeterrents for most drivers. BART's high reliability is a major attraction for its users. Experienceusing transit in high school or college was a strong indicator of adult transit use. Adults wholacked such experience were likely to decline to consider transit use, even to well-serveddestinations. Considering funding issues, BART riders were resistant to the idea that reliabilitywould be allowed to decline. Those who did not use BART had already been deterred by traveltime considerations or concerns about crime, safety, and sanitation. Finding convincing ways toexpress the consequences of underinvestment was problematic. Most study participants foundcosts in billions incomprehensible and did not understand the implications of other supply-sidemetrics. Expressing costs in user terms, e.g., days you would be late by more than 20 minutes,was far more effective at communicating the issues and increased willingness to pay for highreliability and levels of service.
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