A modal shift due to a free within-destination tourist bus scheme: Multimodality and transport equity implications

The idea of the modal shift has been central to transport policymaking in the past few decades. Fare-free public transport (FFPT) schemes are among the potential policy instruments that are expected to promote modal shifts. After the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak, FFPT schemes have been implemented in large tourist destination areas in China to attract visitors. However, although FFPT has been practiced across the globe, its effect on travel modal shifts and transport equity is still under scrutiny. This paper, therefore, employs the notion of multimodality and indices for perceived accessibility and equity to investigate whether an FFPT scheme in tourist destination areas encourages a modal shift and promotes transport equity. A two-wave survey was conducted before and after the restoration of within-destination tourist bus tickets in the Mount Yandang Scenic Area, a famous tourist attraction in the Yangtze River delta. Propensity score matching (PSM) was then employed to analyse the treatment effect of the FFPT scheme. Our results indicate that, although the FFPT scheme significantly increased tourists' multimodality, the modal share of within-destination tourist buses was not significantly changed. More surprisingly, we found a modal shift from car-based services such as taxis to informal transportation provided by B&B operators and local residents. Moreover, it is notable that informal transport modes significantly influenced tourists' perceived accessibility and transport equity. Therefore, the tourism industry should encourage the integration of within-destination buses and informal transport modes to encourage multimodal travel, which is more sustainable ecologically and socially.