Strategies at the platform-train interface: in the pursuit of psychological comfort?

Platform-train interface (PTI) is a shared space with several interactions between travellers. These interactions lead to congestion, delays, safety concerns at PTI and resulting in a negative experience for users. Understanding individual behaviour is crucial to improving pedestrian flow at stations and users’ experience, to fine supporting public transport use. This study aims to understand how individuals experience and behaviour at PTI. Specifically, we investigate psychological comfort and its link with approach/avoidance strategies (AAS) used by travellers at PTI. Based on the critical incidents technique, 22 interviews were conducted. Participants were asked to describe multiple trips according to their valence (positive v. negative). Seventy-seven critical incidents representing 125 route sections involving a station were collected, coded and analysed through multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), to determine reasons of incidents’ valence. The descriptive analysis of the 125 sections aims at identifying AAS used by individuals at PTI. Results suggest that reasons of the valence of the trip (e.g., security or density) could be related to the different psychological comfort’s dimensions. AAS reported seem to be aimed at increasing psychological comfort. Finally, we observed that while crowds usually link to avoidance strategies, in specific cases of uncertainty travellers also reported approaching a crowd.