Understanding the Relationship Between Physical and Virtual Representations of Transit Agencies |
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| Authors: | Chang Yi Benjamin K Rasmussen Daniel A Rodriguez |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Architecture , University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA changyi@mail.utexas.edu;3. Office of Surface Transportation Programs , John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center , Cambridge, MA, USA;4. Department of City and Regional Planning , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill, NC, USA |
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| Abstract: | Abstract This study examines whether physical attributes of transit agencies, such as agency size, make a difference in how transit websites are designed, and how transit information is distributed. The objective of this study is to see if there is a relationship between physical and virtual representations of transit agencies. A rating instrument is developed for evaluating the quality of transit websites. Our findings suggest that transit agency size plays a key role in determining website quality: When the size of transit system is large, the information about the agency is too complex to be effectively presented on web pages. Thus, the quality of the large agencies’ websites is lower than medium-sized agencies. Instead, we find that large agencies attempt to design more user-friendly sites, and provide advanced information searching tools to compensate for low information quality. Policy implications for transit agencies are discussed. |
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| Keywords: | Transit agency transit information Internet transit website information quality |
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