Viilup Studies conducted an opinion study commissioned by Elron aimed at identifying, in particular, the expectations and experience of road users by train in the combination of train and wheel.
The opinion study was conducted during the period 19.12.2021 to 14.01 2022. 1,450 people responded to the survey via the web, and representatives of nearly 30 municipalities were represented in the sample, who have travelled by train and/or bike in the past 5 years.
The train and wheel are naturally less combined by those who use the wheel rather for hiking or sports, and for whom the train stations are located far from home or the desired destinations, or that's what they use the wheel only for near-home purposes. At the same time, a third of respondents pointed out as a non-combination reason that taking the wheel train with them is uncomfortable, and a quarter noted that not sure if it could fit the wheel on the train.
As a reason for combining the main wheel and train a appropriate traffic network was pointed out, which was answered by a 50% specification that trains run to places or near places where it is necessary to go. 41% combine wheel and train because they consider this mode of movement environmentally friendly. For passengers, when it comes to combining wheel and train, the advantages are also the speed, the convenience of taking your bike with you and the existing bike path to the train station. The train and wheel are significantly more combined by those who use the wheel for daily business operations or to go to work and school.
The study revealed that road users look forward to the possibility of buying a bike ticket in advance (slaus 61% expressed it as a wish), and frequent passengers also realize that additional developments in the online environment are necessary to prevent the lack of space on the trains. The study also asked about the introduction of a bike ticket, but the majority of respondents could not say whether the introduction of a bike ticket had affected train traffic. However, it was pointed out that passengers now have more space.
Trafficers with wheel wait from the municipality for a network of more suitable and secure bike paths to the railway station and a bike parking lot with closed space and/or video surveillance. In different municipalities, however, expectations are also slightly different - in Tallinn, for example, a secure bike and cycle path is more important than average, and in Narva a bike parking lot with closed video surveillance.
On 19 April 2022, the virtual seminar "Trains and Wheels" was held, where the results of the opinion survey were presented to local government representatives and Elron's plans for the future regarding the combination of wheel and train were discussed. The mobility expert from the mobility planning department of the Transport Agency gave a presentation entitled "The train as the backbone of multimodal mobility".
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