“Effects of Intermittent and Continuous Token Reinforcement on Bus Ridership.”

Abstract

The following conditions were successively instituted on the Experimental Bus (the 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. daily operation of a campus bus): baseline, Variable Ratio 3 token reinforcement (every third passenger, on the average, received a token worth about 10found for boarding the bus), continuous token reinforcement (every passenger received a token), Variable Ratio 3 token reinforcement, and baseline. Compared to the experimental controls, Experimental Bus ridership increased significantly during token reinforcement manipulations. There was no difference in the effects of Variable Ratio 3 and continuous token reinforcement. The results suggest that compared to continuous token reinforcement, intermittent token reinforcement may provide a viable and economical approach to increasing bus ridership. /Author/