Online information and its effect on ridership

The connection between easy-to-use customer information (schedules, maps, etc.) and transit ridership seems obvious.  And online tools provide a powerful way to make transit information easier to use (remember: unfamiliar transit riders find conventional maps and schedules difficult to use; in fact, in one study, they failed to plan trips about half of the time).

I am searching for, and cataloging, studies and accounts of online transit information and its potential, or observed, impacts on ridership.

Today, I turned up “The Effect of ITS on Transit Ridership” (Abdel-Aty, Mohamed A.; P.P. Jovanis. ITS Quarterly. Vol. III. 1995).  Unfortunately, the article is old (1995) and the ITS Quarterly is not published online.  But the literature review paper (“The Factors Influencing Transit Ridership: A Review and Analysis of the Ridership Literature”) gives a few highlights:

ITS-delivered transit information might encourage shifts to transit: 58.7 percent of respondents were likely to use transit at least once per week given the availability of ITS-delivered transit information, and about half of the non-transit users who might consider transit would be more likely to use it if certain information items were available.

I wish the whole paper was available.  Does anyone know of other research on the connection between online information, or customer information in general, and ridership?

Aaron is the founding principal of Trillium Solutions, Inc. He brings experience that includes 13 years of experience in public transportation, with knowledge of fixed-route transportation, paratransit, rural transportation, and active transportation modes. Aaron is a recognized expert in developing data standards, web-application design, digital communications, and online marketing strategy. He originally developed Trillium’s GTFS Manager, and has played a key role in the development of the GTFS data specification since 2007.