Exploring agency relationship in transport service sector by analysing traveller choice behaviour

Examining travellers’ preferences for mode choices to understand a rela-tionship between traveller and transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) from the perspective of agency theory (AT) is the main focus of this paper. This paper emphasises on latent and traditional objective attributes to as-sess the mode choice process within the agency relationship as indicated in AT as a method by which the utility of the principal (traveller) can be max-imised. It is found that the probability of car use is significantly higher than public transport due to mismatch between traveller expectations and present transport services and it indicates an existence of agency problem in this services. Finally, some arguments have been identified to minimise this problem. Thus, the contribution of this research is three-fold: firstly, the application of agency theory’s utility and implications in traveller choice behaviour; secondly, the demonstration of scale to which attributes influence traveller mode choice to shape the agency relationship within transport mode services; and finally, a pathway for the improvement of agency relationship in transport mode services.