How vehicle ownership affect time utilization on study,leisure, social activities,and academic performance of university students? A case study of engineering freshmen in a rural university in Thailand

This study aims to investigate how the ownership of a private vehicle influences time utilization of university students, and whether it impacts their academic performance. This research analyzes travel/activity patterns of 130 engineering freshman students at a rural university in Thailand. An analysis of travel/activity data shows that vehicle ownership seems to play an important role in university student’s time utilization on various activities. It was found that those students who own a vehicle tend to spend less time for academic purposes, and more on leisure and social activities than non-owner students. Nevertheless, a further study using regression analysis on academic performance shows that the ownership of a vehicle does not seem to have a significant impact on the grade point average of students, once the cognitive ability and gender are accounted for. The findings imply that campus policies/measures that restrict the ownership or usage of a private vehicle in rural universities would improve the campus learning environment by influencing university students to put more attention on school-related activities, but such policies do not seem to impact on the academic performance of the college students.     

Non-motorized transport and university populations: an analysis of connectivity and network perceptions

This research examines local bicycle and pedestrian networks in the vicinity of the University of Alabama campus to assess the utility of these networks for travel to the university by students and employees. Network connectivity is examined using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the results compared to a survey of 3731 university students and employees. Results indicate that areas within one mile of the University of Alabama’s campus have the highest levels of bicycle and pedestrian network connectivity and accessibility. The survey results show that an individual’s positive perception of the bicycle and pedestrian networks is related to their travel behavior, and that this knowledge decreases within an increase in commute distance to campus. Increases in connectivity can be expected to lead to an increase in non-motorized travel, but it is also clear that lack of knowledge of driving and cycling laws is a deterrent to many.     

The structure of joint leisure trips: analyzing two-person leisure trips of Dutch students

This paper investigates the spatial structure of students’ leisure trips and to what extent locational characteristics of social network partners influence decisions about their joint leisure activities and travel. To this end a survey was held among university students asking them about details of their last leisure trip made with a friend. Cluster analysis suggests that four typical leisure trip patterns can be derived. Three clusters seem to be determined by the residential locations of ego and alter. Depending on the residential distance between ego and alter, leisure trip distances are either short for ego and alter (if residential distance is very short), somewhat longer for both (if residential distance is slightly longer) or long for at least one partner (if residential distance is large). A fourth cluster includes cases with long leisure trips for both partners, independent of residential distance, representing cases where specific destinations are visited. A more detailed analysis of travel distance suggests that travel distance depends on size of the residential municipality, residential distance and objective and perceived quality of leisure facilities such as cafés, bars and restaurants. Overall, our study provides support for the idea that leisure trip decisions should be understood on the level of social network ties (i.e. ego and alter) rather than based on individual characteristics only. Also, it provides support for the idea that a focus on single ties, rather than on the structure of social networks as a whole, increases our insight in leisure trip decision making.Keywords: Social network links, Social-recreational travel, Spatial context, Students     

Sustainable transport challenges in a suburban university: The case of the Autonomous University of Barcelona

This paper provides detailed accounts of the transport patterns at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), including its motivations, barriers and user preferences, and explores the main transport challenges faced by the UAB campus. This suburban university is an important transport activity generator in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region, which is committed to achieving sustainable transportation. Results have been obtained through a personal survey (n=5525) of members of the university community. These show that the main limitations for changing travel mode from private means to non-motorised or public modes of transport are: the lack of adequate infrastructure, the marginal role of walking and cycling as a means of transport, and the longer time involved using public transport.     

Determinants of distance traveled with a focus on the elderly: a multilevel analysis in the Hamilton CMA,Canada

The objective of this study is to investigate the determinants of mean trip distance traveled by different mode types. The study uses data from the Hamilton CMA in Canada, and multilevel models to investigate the variables that impact distance traveled, with a specific focus on demographic aging factors. The results of the study validate previous findings regarding the decline in distance traveled as age advances. In addition, it is found that: (1) while this effect of age is present for all modes analyzed (car driving, car passenger, and bus) it is considerably more marked for car driving; (2) there are significant effects compounded by the interrelated factors of gender, employment constraints, household contextual factors; and (3) neighbourhoods with high commercial and residential mix showed a negative relation with distance traveled only in the case of car driver.     

Built environment effects on leisure travel for children: Trip generation and travel mode

This study empirically analyzed the effects of built environment on leisure travel among children. Students of three elementary schools, namely Yangmingshan, Sanyu and Shilin, all located in the Shilin District of Taipei, were chosen to provide sample data. The negative binomial regression model and multinomial logit model were used to analyze trip generation and travel mode, respectively. This study reached the following empirical findings: (1) mixed land use, employment density, walkway quality, leisure facility supply and leisure travel distance encouraged generation of leisure trips for children; (2) intersection density, building density, employment density and walkway quality encouraged a child to use transit systems or non-motorized travel modes for leisure travel; and (3) vehicle density and leisure travel distance discouraged walking and biking but encouraged the use of transit systems for leisure travel involving children. Local government can use the empirical findings of this study to develop urban planning strategies to encourage children to perform leisure activities outside the home using transit systems or non-motorized travel modes.     

Millennials,built form,and travel insights from a nationwide typology of U.S. neighborhoods

We examine the relationship between the built environment and the travel of Millennials in the United States. We develop a neighborhood typology to characterize the built environment and transportation networks in almost every U.S. census tract, allowing us to identify possible synergistic and/or threshold effects on travel. We measure travel behavior in two ways: (1) using a multi-faceted traveler typology created using latent class analysis, and (2) by measuring the vehicle miles of travel among people in each of these traveler types. This dual approach allows us to distinguish between the built environment changes needed to encourage travel by modes other than driving, and those needed to reduce vehicle miles traveled among drivers. Using a multinomial logistic regression, we find that travel patterns are relatively stable along much of the urban-rural continuum, everything else equal. Driving was substantially lower only in “Old Urban” neighborhoods, where densities, job access, and transit service are dramatically higher than in all other neighborhood types. This finding implies that dramatic changes in the built environment—doubling or even tripling development density or transit service—may do little to get young people out of their cars when initial densities or transit services are low, as they are in most of the U.S. Conversely, reducing vehicle miles traveled among drivers appears to require more modest built form changes, a finding that offers some room for optimism among those concerned with auto dependence.     

Impacts of diaspora travel on ethnic identity development among 1.5 generation Korean-American college students

This research project was designed to explore the impacts of the most recent trip to Korea on ethnic identity development among 1.5 generation Korean-American college students. The study employed 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Korean-American college students at a major university in the Midwest, USA. The data collection was conducted between December 2010 and February 2011. The findings of the study revealed that Korean-American college students exhibited different levels of ethnic identity prior to their most recent trip to Korea and described themselves as either Koreans, Korean-Americans, or Americans. Travel to Korea played important roles in (re)developing their ethnic identity. Those who identified themselves as Korean prior to the trip either confirmed their ethnic identity or changed their identity to Korean-American. Those who considered themselves Korean-American retained their ethnic identity, while those who thought of themselves as American altered their identity to Korean as a result of the travel.     

Active commuting in a university setting: Assessing commuting habits and potential for modal change

This paper describes the results of an online survey that examined commuting patterns, potential for change and barriers and motivators affecting transport decisions in a University population (n=1040 students, n=1170 staff). Overall, 21.5% of staff and 46.8% of students at The University of Western Australia regularly used active modes, and potentially an additional 30% of staff and students would switch to active modes. The results suggested that reducing barriers to using active modes, in particular reducing actual and perceived travel time by bus and bicycle would have the greatest impact on commuting patterns. Some policy applications appeared to hold particular promise, including an implementation of a subsidised public transport pass (U-Pass), increased student housing on or near campus, increased cost of parking, and improved bus services and cycle networks.     

Examining circuity of urban transit networks from an equity perspective

Circuity of transit networks, defined as the ratio of network to Euclidean distance traveled from origin to destination stop, has been known to influence travel behavior. In addition to the longer time spent in travel, for networks where fare is based on distance traveled, higher circuity also means higher fare for the same Euclidean distance. This makes circuity relevant from an equity perspective. Using a case study of the urban transit network of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, this study explores the role of transit circuity on the disparity in distance traveled by travelers' income profile and its implications on travel times and costs for networks with distance-based fares. The analysis is based on travel patterns from smart card data for bus, tram, and metro modes, combined with neighborhood level income data. Results reveal that in Amsterdam, the higher the share of high income people living in proximity to a transit stop, the lower the circuity of journeys from the stop, when controlled for the Euclidean distance covered and spatial auto-correlation. The uneven distribution of circuity exacerbates the disparity in distance traveled, and hence fare paid between the income groups. However, the travel time per Euclidean distance favors the low income group, possibly due to the circuitous routes serving these areas being compensated by higher travel speeds. This study highlights the role of transit network design in determining its equity outcomes and emphasizes the importance of considering equity during route and fare planning. The process followed can be adapted to examine equity for other urban networks.     

International university students’ travel risk perceptions: an exploratory study

Tourism researchers have identified the impact of perceived risk on destination choice and travel behaviour, and differences in general traveller risk perceptions based on both traveller and trip characteristics. However, such research has neglected the travel of international university students, despite the expansion and economic importance of this market. This paper outlines an exploratory study conducted on international university students studying at an Australian university. A total of 407 valid responses from the sample were achieved. Factor analysis identified four main risk factors which were labelled ‘human-induced risk’, ‘social–psychological risk’, ‘financial risk’, and ‘health risk’. Student origins were found to influence risk perceptions. In particular, Asian students perceived higher levels of human-induced and social–psychological risks compared with students primarily from America and Europe. Travel experience and repeat visitation significantly reduced risk factors apart from health risks. Financial risks were higher for students planning to travel in Australia compared with Asia and America. The implications for destination marketing are considered, and future research avenues based on the results are outlined.     

Employment centers and travel behavior: exploring the work commute of Mumbai’s rapidly motorizing middle class

In the Greater Mumbai Region (GMR), jobs and housing are agglomerating in nodes in the periphery of Mumbai City. However, current transportation investments focus on strengthening connections within Mumbai City, while these outlying nodes have received less attention. As housing and jobs move out, given limited travel choices, the need for mobility nudges many middle class Indian households into owning private vehicles. Using household travel survey data from the GMR, this paper develops an understanding of how worker’s trips are different for those who commute to the city versus the exurbs. Socio-economic and transportation indicators for middle class workers going to the city versus the exurbs show that these populations are quite similar demographically. However, those traveling to the exurbs, on average, tend to be at a socio-economic disadvantage with respect to income, education and out-of-pocket travel burdens. Those traveling to exurban work locations have shorter travel times and trip distances, and make much higher use of walking, biking, rickshaws, and motorized two-wheelers compared to commuters to Mumbai City. Across the GMR, car users travel longer and farther compared to motorized two-wheeler users. On average, traveling by a private vehicle is faster than bus or rickshaw travel revealing advantages of private vehicle use. These mode choices in the middle class have resulted in rapid motorization and negative externalities such as traffic congestion and emissions. Evidence of large increases in motorized two-wheelers and cars in India suggests that these modes will likely keep growing, unless competing efficient travel options are supplied.     

Effects of parking and cordon charge policies on tourist's modal shift in central business district of Mashhad city,Iran

The second largest holy city of the world, Mashhad, attracts high volumes of tourists and pilgrims every year. Most visitors travel by private car and are a source of considerable funds for the local economy. Among road users, tourists as one of the major traveller categories in Mashhad city behave differently due to the particular trip purpose. The aim of this research is to model tourist's shifting modes of travel behaviour when policy measures, such as the parking and cordon fares, are implemented. The tourists’ preferences were examined using binary logit analysis when different options of travel cost and time scenarios were provided. Results indicate that travel time, parking cost, cordon cost, education level and vehicle price influence tourist's modal choice. In addition, the finding shows that congestion pricing will be more effective than a parking pricing strategy in encouraging switching of modes.     

The path and time efficiency of residents' trips of different purposes with different travel modes: An empirical study in Guangzhou,China

Improving residents' travel efficiency and reducing carbon emissions from travel are the key issues for sustainable development of urban transportation. This study first employed a circuity index to measure the path efficiency of residents' trips based on 2015 survey data in Guangzhou and developed a generalized additive model (GAM) to investigate the relationship between the path efficiency and travel distance for different purposes of trip and different travel modes. On this basis, it further evaluated the time efficiency of different travel modes for each trip. The results showed that there is a complex and nonlinear relationship between the path efficiency and travel distance, which differs between different purposes of trips and different travel modes. In general, trips by non-motorized transport have a lower circuity index and higher path efficiency than those by cars or public transport. Moreover, non-motorized transport is the time-efficiency optimal mode for almost half of the trips, especially for daily shopping trips. However, people prefer to choose public transport on their trips even though public transport is not the time-efficiency optimal mode for these trips. Generally, only about half of the residents chose the time-efficiency optimal mode for their trips. Those who did not choose the time-efficiency optimal mode tended to choose the modes with higher carbon-intensity. The conclusions of this study indicate that for improving travel efficiency and reducing carbon emissions from transport, more efforts should be focused on the non-motorized travel environment and developing relevant policies to encourage more walking and cycling.     

Spatial and socio-demographic determinants of South East Queensland students’ school cycling

The low prevalence of Australian students’ utilitarian school cycling could be attributed to the varied and context specific demographic, socio-economic and spatial school travel mode choice determinants. Travel distance is universally important for school cycling and is reliant amongst related home and school spatial proximity factors on a student’s choice of schools. This paper, primarily based on school students’ travel data extracted from the 2009 South East Queensland Household Travel Survey (SEQHTS), examines comparative school cycling travel patterns, school catchment choices and the significant analytical determinants of cycling mode choices from within an urban regional Australian context. Students’ choice of a school external to that located within their designated State school catchment zone was associated with household attributes of parent/guardian employment location, number of income earners and ownership of private vehicles coupled with State school and catchment attributes. Noteworthy variations in school travel distances and modal splits were allied with school catchment choices. Adolescent male students from two parent households owning fewer than two cars and more than two bicycles, with parents/guardians commuting using non-motorised travel modes and resident in Census Collection Districts with conducive cycling environments, contributed largely to the one-way bi-directional primary and secondary school cycling mode shares. This prevalent student cyclist profile indicates the need for enhancements in student school cycling participation, through policies addressing both the spatial (built) and social environment which impact students’ personal and traffic safety coupled with utilitarian cycling image enhancements. Concerted efforts to bolster cycling amongst student segments with current low cycling participation inclusive of females, students from single parent households and those with adequate access to private motorised travel modes may be necessary to further enhance school cycling mode shares. The paper makes a case for individualised targeted travel interventions informed by segregated mode choice determinant analysis for respective primary and secondary school types and directions of school travel.     

Investigating household vehicle ownership,mode choice and trip sharing decisions using a combined revealed preference/stated preference Nested Logit model: case study in Bangkok Metropolitan Region

This study proposes a Nested Logit model to investigate household travel behaviour in respect to vehicle ownership, mode choice and trip sharing decisions. The model is analysed using revealed preference (RP) and stated preference (SP) data since a combined estimation of RP/SP data is an effective method of expressing complex travel behaviour and forecasting travel demand for new transport services. In the proposed model, the nesting structure has two levels. The upper level shows car ownership, motorcycle ownership, and no vehicle-ownership choices, and the lower level shows the mode choice combinations for two-traveller households. Trip sharing is considered as one of the mode-choice options in the model. The proposed model is analysed using data from the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. The analysis conducted informs that Central Business District (CBD) travel, long distance travel, household income, job status, age of travellers and presence of school children in households are key aspects in household travel decisions. Based on these aspects, households make important decisions on vehicle ownership, mode choice and trip sharing. In addition, this study reveals commuters’ hidden preferences for modes that are not in existence, in particular the Mass Rapid Transit System in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region due to be fully implemented in 2010.     

Micromobility evolution and expansion: Understanding how docked and dockless bikesharing models complement and compete – A case study of San Francisco

Shared micromobility – the shared use of bicycles, scooters, or other low-speed modes – is an innovative transportation strategy growing across the United States that includes various service models such as docked, dockless, and e-bike service models. This research focuses on understanding how docked bikesharing and dockless e-bikesharing models complement and compete with respect to user travel behaviors. To inform our analysis, we used two datasets from February 2018 of Ford GoBike (docked) and JUMP (dockless electric) bikesharing trips in San Francisco. We employed three methodological approaches: 1) travel behavior analysis, 2) discrete choice analysis with a destination choice model, and 3) geospatial suitability analysis based on the Spatial Temporal Economic Physiological Social (STEPS) to Transportation Equity framework. We found that dockless e-bikesharing trips were longer in distance and duration than docked trips. The average JUMP trip was about a third longer in distance and about twice as long in duration than the average GoBike trip. JUMP users were far less sensitive to estimated total elevation gain than were GoBike users, making trips with total elevation gain about three times larger than those of GoBike users, on average. The JUMP system achieved greater usage rates than GoBike, with 0.8 more daily trips per bike and 2.3 more miles traveled on each bike per day, on average. The destination choice model results suggest that JUMP users traveled to lower-density destinations, and GoBike users were largely traveling to dense employment areas. Bike rack density was a significant positive factor for JUMP users. The location of GoBike docking stations may attract users and/or be well-placed to the destination preferences of users. The STEPS-based bikeability analysis revealed opportunities for the expansion of both bikesharing systems in areas of the city where high-job density and bike facility availability converge with older resident populations.     

The built environment and vehicle ownership modeling: Evidence from 32 diverse regions in the U.S.

Vehicle ownership is an important determinant of the travel demand forecasting process. Vehicle ownership models are used by policy makers to identify factors that affect vehicle miles traveled, and therefore address problems related to energy consumption, air pollution, and traffic congestion. For the conventional travel demand forecasting, it logically follows land use forecasting, before trip generation, which is commonly treated as step one. The most critical limitation of the vehicle ownership models, especially in the conventional process, is that they are often related mainly to sociodemographic variables, not so much to built environmental variables. In this study, by pooling regional household travel survey data from 32 diverse regions (almost 92,000 households) of the U.S., and by controlling for socio-demographic and the built environmental variables, we estimated a vehicle ownership model that contributes to the understanding of vehicle ownership and improves the accuracy of travel demand forecasts. Two main findings of this research are: 1) The number of vehicles owned by a household increases with socio-demographic variables and decreases with almost all of the built environmental variables. For the urban planning and design practices, this finding suggests that car shedding occurs as built environments become more dense, mixed, connected, and transit-served. 2) We used both count regression and discrete choice models, and the results suggest that count regression models have better predictive accuracy. The model developed in this study can be directly used for travel demand modeling and forecasting by metropolitan planning organizations.