title: The effects of a token reinforcement procedure on bus ridership.
abstract: Tokens, exchangeable for a variety of back-up reinforcers, were delivered for several days to all persons boarding a clearly marked campus bus. This procedure increased ridership to 150% of baseline. The experiment was carried out to demonstrate the applicability of operant techniques to urban transportation problems. In this study, a token reinforcement procedure was introduced in an attempt to increase bus ridership while holding the costs of reinforcers to a minimum and circumventing the problems of individual satiety and preferences and of delivering cumbersome reinforcers. A methodology for establishing a token-exchange procedure in an "open-field" behavior setting, where the subject population size, geographic location, preferences, age, sex, preferred hours of mobility, etc. are unspecified, is also presented.
authors.affiliation: The Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Everett
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Hayward
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Meyers