We examine the effect of weather, accessibility and built-environment characteristics on overall travel experience as well as the experience with the latest trips. These are factors that are often disregarded in the travel satisfaction literature even though they are believed to largely influence the first mile of the door-to-door trip. This study fills a research gap in investigating all these factors by using, amongst other, a relatively large travel satisfaction survey from years 2009 to 2015 and by focusing on urban and peri-urban geographical contexts, the city and county of Stockholm (Sweden), respectively. The ordered logit model results show that county dwellers living close to a metro station and in well linked-to-all areas report higher overall travel satisfaction evaluations. In addition, precipitation and ground covered with snow have a negative influence on travel satisfaction. Our findings indicate that built-environment characteristics exert a rather weak influence on the travel experience, especially in the peri-urban context. However, some aspects such as living in areas with medium densities, low income and with high safety perceptions around public transport stations are associated with higher satisfaction levels. In turn, areas with single land uses are found to have lower travel satisfactions. These results are important for public transport planners and designers in devising measures to prevent and mitigate the negative outcome of some weather conditions and to conceive better designed transit oriented developments.

Measurement and analysis of satisfaction with public transport services facilitate service performance monitoring, market analysis, benchmarking, and the identification of priority areas. The systematic and regular collection of information concerning satisfaction enables investigation of how passengers’ satisfaction and its determinants change over time. These changes may be driven by changes in service quality or shifts in passengers’ expectations and preferences. This study analyzed how satisfaction with public transport and its determinants evolved over time in Sweden in the years 2001 to 2013. The determinants of satisfaction were identified by factor analysis and the estimation of multivariate satisfaction models. The superposition of these findings culminated in a dynamic passenger satisfaction priority map that allowed the identification of priority areas on the basis of observed trends in satisfaction with service attributes and their respective importance. The deterioration of overall satisfaction with public transport in Sweden in recent years has been driven by a decrease in satisfaction with customer interface and length of trip time. These two service aspects, as well as operation, were found to be key determinants of overall satisfaction that users consistently rated among the least satisfactory. The results of this study will support service providers in designing measures that will foster satisfaction in the future.