Objective Currently, the accessibility of suburban tourist attractions via urban rail transit network in large cities is limited, making it difficult to meet the growing demands for suburban tourism. Accordingly, it can be considered that customized buses connecting with urban rail transit are used to serve as an effective complement and service extension to the existing urban rail transit network. In this regard, it is necessary to analyze travel choice behavior patterns under the customized bus connection service mode to provide demand-side references for the design of customized bus products.

Method  A set of behavioral influencing factors is constructed from three dimensions: individual socioeconomic attributes, psychological cognitive attributes, and tourism travel attributes. A Multinomial Logit (MNL) model and sensitivity analysis are applied to identify key variables affecting suburban tourism travel choices, and analyze the characteristics of behavioral changes. Taking the Lingang New Area of Shanghai as a case study, a questionnaire survey covering individual attributes and tourism travel attributes is designed and conducted. The data is collected and verified, followed by model establishment and analysis.

Result & Conclusion  Variables such as the type and number of travel companions, tourist awareness of customized buses, bus waiting time and fare have significant impacts on the choice probability of customized buses. Sensitivity analysis shows that customized buses have obvious advantages when the connection distance exceeds 6 km. A one-way fare no more than 5 yuan and a waiting time within 15 minutes are more attractive to tourists.