COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TOWN AND SUBURBAN TRANSIT MALLS

Abstract

In view of the rapidly increasing public transport ridership, vast opportunities for retailing lie in transit malls which are strategically concentrated around mass rapid transit nodes. The integration of transport and shopping as well as the provision of extensive public transportation system in Singapore has bridged accessibility gaps between malls in town and suburban areas. Despite presence of a comparable shopping experience and variety in suburban transit malls, consumers today are still willing to travel beyond their neighbourhoods to shop in town. Hence, with the ease of travelling to town, the question is whether it is still necessary to provide transit malls in suburban areas today.

On the hypothesis that town transit malls are more attractive than suburban transit malls, this research explores differences between transit malls in the two areas and identify reasons which each are able to appeal to the masses. The research methodology comprises two parts, a comparative study on mall attributes and a survey on consumer’s views of mall attractiveness in town and suburban transit malls.

From the survey results, out of 14 factors affecting transit mall attractiveness, mean scores rated by respondents were higher for nine factors in town transit malls, indicating a better performance. Respondents likewise provided more favourable responses for town transit malls in the terms of duration of time spent and expenditure levels per trip. Nonetheless, suburban transit malls had better responses for frequency of visit. Moreover, survey results established ‘shopping’ as the top reason for respondents to visit town transit malls, which can be attributable to a considerably higher provision of international brands. This research also found the presence of a much greater resident population living within 600metres radius of suburban transit malls. Survey findings exhibited ‘for meals’ and ‘running errands’ as the top two purposes for visiting suburban transit malls. Hence, suburban transit malls are required in terms of fulfillment of needs for people in the neighbourhood. On the contrary, town transit malls are able to fulfill individual’s wants and caters to the entire population.