# Modeling Public Transportation Use Among Short-Term Rental Guests in Madrid
## 4 Discussion and Conclusions  
This study examined the level of public transport (PT) usage among short-term rental (STR) tourists using data obtained through surveys and analyzed via an ordered logistic regression model. The study presents a twofold contribution to the existing literature. First, previous research on PT usage has generally not focused on STR tourists, an increasingly significant segment of urban tourism that tends to disperse more widely across cities compared to conventional hotel-based tourists. Second, PT usage was measured on a three-level ordinal scale: low, medium, and high use. In contrast, most studies categorize PT use dichotomously as users versus non-users. However, in the context of a major urban destination such as Madrid, the complete non-use of PT is rare (roughly 2% of tourists in our sample reported not using PT). Therefore, a binary classification may obscure meaningful variation within the group of PT users and hinder the identification of factors that influence the intensity of PT use. Furthermore, this study introduces an innovative methodological approach in the STR analysis by relying on primary survey data rather than secondary sources such as occupancy rates, listing characteristics, or proximity to transit stops. This allowed for the inclusion of motivational and perceptual variables, such as the importance of PT access when choosing accommodation. The use of an ordinal dependent variable reflects a gradient of PT usage and enables a more nuanced understanding of tourist behavior within the city. Together, these methodological choices not only strengthen the explanatory power of the model but also validate the innovation of the study relative to existing frameworks in the literature. This research has shown that international tourists, defined as those visiting from outside of Spain, exhibited lower levels of PT usage compared to domestic tourists, who served as the baseline category in the analysis. This difference may be attributed to language or informational barriers that make navigating the city's PT system more challenging for international visitors. These findings are consistent with the results reported by [19; 24]. Additionally, tourists originating from countries with limited walkability may be more inclined to explore the city on foot, thereby reducing their reliance on PT. First-time visitors were more likely to exhibit low or medium levels of PT usage and less likely to demonstrate high usage when compared to repeat visitors. In other words, repeaters tend to use PT more frequently than those visiting the city for the first time. This pattern may be explained by the greater familiarity of repeat visitors with the city's PT network and ticketing system, both of which have been identified as potential barriers to PT use [32; 33]. Furthermore, first-time visitors may prefer to experience the city in a more immersive and exploratory manner, opting to walk more extensively rather than relying on PT. Given Madrid's high walkability, first-time tourists might be particularly inclined to explore the urban environment on foot beyond their planned visits. In contrast, repeat visitors may focus on specific destinations and choose more direct modes of travel. Similar results were found by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [16]. The mode of transport used to access the city was also found to be a significant factor in explaining the level of PT usage. Tourists who arrived in Madrid by private vehicle were less likely to belong to the high-PT-usage group. Notably, this effect was not statistically significant for the low- and medium-PT-usage categories, suggesting that vehicle ownership does not entirely preclude PT use. This result is in line with those found by [23], who found that arriving in the city by private car leads to less sustainable transport modes once at the destination. This may be due to the location of major tourist attractions in the city center, where parking is both limited and expensive.