Is JP contributors to low ridership?

I was thrown a question on this and was also told the reason for low ridership. I am curious about it when it does not make sense to me. The two reasons shared to me are:
1. Ridership goes down because there is no Journey Planner
2. The customer doesn't need real-time data. They just want to have information about the services. It can be 3 minutes ago of information as long as we stated that the information is true 3 minutes ago.


It actually raised a few questions in my mind.
1. Was it really because of JP? or there are different factors.
2. If the information true 3 minutes ago, and I was standing in from of station or stops getting information that was updated saying that the bus or train is at 1 km away 3 minutes ago, will there be bus now (after 3 minutes) or has the bus pass through me 1 minutes ago because the information I get is delay 3 minutes. If I'm doing the planning right now, how can I plan with previous 3 minutes data? Should I add 3 minutes and assume the location of the bus upon receiving the info?

So, to answer my question, I do a quick review of many studies done earlier as listed below.

1. https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/documents/RoadsTraffic/transit_factors_ridership.pdf
2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282656951_Factors_Affecting_to_Public_Bus_Transport_Ridership_A_Case_of_Capital_Colombo
3. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d3f0/63f546d97e676029dc1267ae1c09d9d298c3.pdf
4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298371532_Factors_Affecting_Bus_Ridership_With_Respect_to_Passenger_Demography_A_Case_Study_of_Seberang_Perai_Pulau_Pinang_Malaysia
5. http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/ridersipfactors.pdf
6. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.683.858&rep=rep1&type=pdf
7. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45144.pdf
8. http://www.ncarpo.org/uploads/1/3/8/1/13819061/factorsaffectingridership_20181004.pdf
9. https://la.streetsblog.org/2016/01/29/what-factors-are-causing-metros-declining-ridership-what-next/

Findings:
1. From all papers, only 2 mentioned about information availability as one of the factors impacting ridership.
2. From the two papers, 1 mentioned real-time info is required but it is not one of the key factors. It is 1 out of many factors.
3. On the other papers (studies on bus ridership in Penang) - the author stated that the availability of information only accounts for 12% of the total factors contributing to low ridership.
4. The biggest factors contributed to low ridership are:
4.1 Service availability & reliability
4.2 Drivers behavior
4.3 Fare
4.4 Access to the services
4.5 Disruptor - e-hailing services

Further review on trip planning in new york based on the following two papers revive a few interesting facts.

1. https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2811271.2811272
2. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.888.1033&rep=rep1&type=pdf

1. Despite was told that in new york, the information display shown is updated 3 minutes ago, I found out that it is actually a real-time update. Just that it stated updated 3 minutes ago because there is no new information at that time of the query.
2. The above two papers clearly state the importance of real-time information and it must be reliable info.

Conclusions:
1. JP is not the main key factors contributing to low ridership but JP availability can affect the decision of the public to use available services.
2. Service availability & reliability is the biggest contributor. If the OTR is reduced, definitely there will be a reduction of riders compared before OTR reduced.
3. e-Hailing has played a significant role in low ridership too. I believed, if Gojek successfully landed here in Malaysia, it will play a vital role in lowering the ridership too.
4. Real-time information and real-time update of information is the key to provide reliable info.

Recommendation:
1. JP is something needed but the information displayed in it shall be reliable and trustworthy. Thus improving the information relay process shall be the main focus.
2. Service availability and reliability shall be improved.
3. Implementation of BOS to complement each other for the benefit of the public.


* it is updated with a recommendation as many have shared their opinion on the post.