Study of travel factors through structural equation modeling and market segmentation approach in Bangkok | |
| Author | Shrestha, Pradeep Kumar |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.TE-04-12 |
| Subject(s) | Transportation--Thailand--Bangkok Travel time (Traffic engineering)--Thailand--Bangkok |
| Note | thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Civil Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. TE-04-12 |
| Abstract | Today, traffic engineers and planners came to the conclusion that traffic congestion can be alleviated by transportation demand management. Improvement of public transportation system by reducing private vehicle usage is one of the low cost transportation demand management measures. However, private vehicle users are not attracted toward the public transport system. It was observed that decision on travel mode choice is strongly affected by travel behavior of the commuters. The travel behavior is a result of complex decision making process affected by individuals socio-economic characteristics, modal characteristics and trip characteristics. Likewise, the unobserved factors called latent variables such as safety, reliability, comfort, convenience, flexibility, efficiency etc also affect travel decision of individuals. The focus of this research was to identify the unobserved variables influencing individuals preference on mode selection. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to identify latent variables to describe commuter attitudes and behavior. Six latent variables called travel factors were identified. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to identify causal relationship between socio-economic profile and travel factors. It was noted that SEM cannot predict the travel demand but it has capability to express relationships between unobserved variables and observed variables. Furthermore, SEM approach was employed to develop the travelers satisfaction measurement model. This model was used to determine individuals indices of three factors namely road side facilities/vehicle condition, mobility, and comfort and convenience. Finally, the travel factors were applied in discrete choice model to consider and control individual preferences and unobservable variables. It was found that the model with travel factors perform superior than model without travel factor. Travel time, cost, car ownership, income and travel factors such as reliability and accessibility, sensitive cost, efficient service, need of time saving were found to be important in the model with travel factors. Safety and comfort were statistically insignificant but it does not imply that they are not important. These factors can be used in different forms to measure their effect fully in the model formulation. |
| Year | 2005 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. TE-04-12 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Civil Engineering |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Transportation Engineering (TE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Yordphol Tanaboriboon; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Hanaoka, Shinya;Pannapa Herabat; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Government of Japan; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005 |