Train Overcrowding: Assessing and Prioritising Demand Management Strategies by Key Stakeholders

Train overcrowding has been associated with a number of negative outcomes, including psychological stress, negative health effects, negative behavioural reactions, and spillover effects. Despite the seriousness of this issue, there is little agreement on the appropriate demand management strategies to deal with the increasing passenger numbers, particularly on rail services in Malaysia, which, in turn, warrants a closer examination of existing scientific evidence. To address this need, a survey with 13 individuals from organisations that are likely to affect and be affected by the demand management issue was conducted. Two aims were addressed: (1) to identify a set of demand management strategies that addresses growing passenger numbers, and (2) to examine the feasibility, effectiveness, and cost of these strategies, as perceived by the stakeholders. Participants ranked three sets of demand management strategies (i.e., pricing, service quality, and policy), which was obtained from a systematic review of literature, based on their feasibility, effectiveness, and cost. Using Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (Kendall’s W), findings showed weak agreement among participants across all strategies on their feasibility, effectiveness, and cost. Despite these differing views, it appears that high priority was placed on four strategies (i.e., free early bird incentives, discounted early bird or off peak fares, increasing train frequency, and travel demand management program), implying their potential applications for peak smoothing in Malaysian urban rail systems. It is suggested that the identified strategies should be targeted for intervention and evaluation in order to further refine our understanding of sustainable, effective, and cost-efficient ways in addressing current and future train overcrowding issues