Identifying the Most Important Factors for Pedestrian Level of Service Measurement: Results from a Delphi Study in Brisbane, Australia

Abstract

Pedestrian level-of-service (PLOS) is a common method for assessing the quality of pedestrian facilities. Identifying which factors relating to footpaths and their surrounding environment are most important is a major challenge for researchers and practitioners. Previous approaches and methods for factor selection have had numerous limitations, with many studies using expert judgement, often from a single researcher. This paper reports on a research effort that aims to overcome these problems by proposing a novel method for PLOS factor identification. The approach uses the outputs of a previous systematic quantitative literature review on PLOS factors as inputs to a Delphi study involving experts in Brisbane, Australia. In 2017, some 36 experts recruited from the professionals association PedBikeTrans participated in a questionnaire survey. Twenty of the same experts then participated in a follow-up ‘walkshop’ involving walking a dedicated route and a workshop to re-examine the possible set of PLOS factors. 33 factors affecting PLOS were eventually identified for inclusion. The results are limited only to commercial streets in city/activity centres in the Australian setting, but the approach and methods may open the pathway for much more robust PLOS measures to be developed for a range of facility types and across different urban contexts