Perception of security and use of public travel modes in an urban Norwegian public

The aim of the study was to examine judgement of security problems when using public transportation. A self-completion questionnaire survey was carried out among representative samples of residents in six Norwegian urban areas (n = 1047). Respondents who most frequently use public travel modes assessed the security problems to be larger compared to less frequent users. Frequency of use as well as past personal experience of a security problem enhanced the assessment of future probability of experiencing such an event. Perceived risk consistency was also measured and a median split on both these variables was carried out and four groups emerged. The first group was a group of risk insensitive respondents, the second group consisted of risk inconsistent respondents, the third consisted of risk consistent respondents and the fourth was risk sensitive respondents. Travel mode use and personal experience of a security-related problem were positively associated with risk sensitivity.