Influential factors affecting travelers’ mode shift to public transportation : a case study of Bangkok metropolitan region | |
| Author | Phattarasuda Witchayaphong |
| Call Number | AIT Diss no.TE-20-02 |
| Subject(s) | Transportation--Thailand--Bangkok Choice of transportation--Thailand--Bangkok |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Transportation Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The research’s main purpose was to study as well as to analyze factors affecting traveler’s behavior towards and choice for choosing public modes of transportation in Bangkok, Thailand, to develop modelling of Thai people’s travel behavior, and provide effective guidelines and encouragement to use policy regarding the usage of public transportation. The research work was classified into three different studies whose results are concluded as: The first studied influential factors affecting travelers’ mode choice behavior on mass transit. This study identified an inversely proportional relationship of socio-economic and spatial attributes on public transport mode choice. The binary logit model was employed to compare the utility of private vehicles and mass transit modes. The results showed that gender, age, average income, auto ownership, total travel cost in private transport, total travel time in public transport, and distance range from home to mass transit station were the factors that influenced travelers’ mode choice behavior. Moreover, to ascertain the effects of explanatory variables which influence the likelihood of Thai travelers, another binary logit model analysis was utilized by the four distance ranges condition. The studied results showed that there were few significant differences in the propensity to use mass transit. Due to the longer distance of the station, total travel time in public transport was not affected by the Thai traveler’s mode choice. The second studied price sensitivity measurement and the effect of fuel price policies on one’s transportation mode choice. This study aims to assess the effects of Fuel charging in Bangkok, Thailand, determining the acceptable price range and the effects on mode choice and consumer tolerance. The scenario was assumed to increase the private user’s travel cost due to fuel price increase trade-off with travel time decrease. The result was analyzed using the Price Sensitivity Measurement method (PSM) to determine the optimal market price, and the impact of fuel charging was analyzed by the Logit model. The study found that Gasohol 91 is mostly used by respondents and the market price could be located within the range of 26.5 to 34.5 THB per liter, indicating that current retail prices could be charged higher due to the acceptable range of fuel prices from consumers. As a result of this fuel price increasing, this study also v revealed that there will be an expected decrease of private transport by 3.85 percent and an increase of public transport: by 2.41 percent increase in bus use, 0.40 percent increase in van use, and 1.05 percent increase in mass rapid transit use. In addition, this study looked at the effects of other socio-economical variables on mode choice and found that age, career, average income, gender, and car ownership impacted the likelihood of using public transportation in response to Fuel pricing policies. The third studied factors influencing intention to use mass transits through a comparison of accessibility functions. This study utilized the structural equation modelling (SEM) in order to analyze the multi-group SEM between High Accessibility (High Acc.) area and Low Accessibility (Low Acc.) area, with also applying an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the theory of habit to foresee behavioral intention (BI) for factors that enhance Thai commuter’s intention that uses mass transit. The considerable factors were Perceived Behavior Control, Subjective Norms, Attitude, Government Concerns, Environmental Concerns, Perceived Susceptibility, and Habit. The results found that behavior intention to use mass transit between High - Low Acc. area was significantly different. For the High Acc. Area, the main factors that greatly influenced BI were attitude, government concerns, and subjective norms; for Low Acc. area, environmental concerns produced the strongest effect followed by perceived susceptibility, government concerns, and perceived behavior control. However, the habit factor found no direct effect on BI for people who live in Bangkok. In reference to the 1st and 3rd studied, findings will provide a greater understanding of travel behaviors and imply the influence of these variables on mode choice decisions. These results will help transportation authorities and city planners by providing insight on public transportation users and the impact of socio-economic factors and spatial behavior on their mode choice. This insight can aid in the development of sustainable transport in Bangkok, Thailand. Also, transportation planners could target the promotion of public transport at these latent variables and implement policies that appropriately address each group according to their different attitudes and behaviors. According to the 2nd studied, will aid transport authorities and planners in understanding consumer behavior, price tolerance, socioeconomic characteristics, and their impact on mode choice which will be beneficial for the development of Thailand’s public transport system. |
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Transportation Engineering (TE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Kunnawee Kanitpong;Sano, Kasushi (Co-Chairperson) |
| Examination Committee(s) | Surachet Pravinvongvuth;Weerakorn Ongsakul |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Royal Thai Government;Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph. D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2021 |