Travel behaviour of Indian students and their attitude towards shared mobility services

Abstract

Efficient transport systems offer better accessibility to markets, employment and additional investments. Travel time is an important attribute of any transportation system. Travel time savings are found to be the greatest benefit of transport projects. A study on Value of Travel Time (VOT) conducted by Atheera et. al. revealed that married people choose the new fast alternative even though it is more expensive because of their family responsibilities and aged persons stick to the present mode of transportations due to trust and safety concerns [1]. This study also concluded that VOT is also a function of gender, age and occupation. However, the data is restricted to the city of Calicut. Though it is a good representative of India, but the results could vary in Tier I metropolitan cities. The major goal of urban transportation systems is to connect people with various activities. The change in the location of these activities will change travel behaviour. There are several theories which explain the choice of travel mode by an individual. Rational Choice Theory proposes that consumers do a cost benefit analysis of the alternatives available to them [2]. The word rationality can be used for the process or the outcome. Prospect Theory suggests people try to avoid outcomes which they are uncertain about when making decisions. It shows that loss aversion is triggered once gains and losses are associated with alternatives [3]. Garling et. al. in 2001 proposed a transfer from deliberation to automatic behaviour. If a positive outcome results from the enactment of the preference-based choice, the process gets codified as a script which the individual can retrieve in future when confronted with the same dilemma. After repetitions, it becomes a habit [4]. Habit formation theories have received increasing attention in travel behaviour studies over the past decade. Some authors argue habits developed in past behaviour are a better predictor of behaviour than attitudes [5]. Such theories can predict the travel behaviour of a particular citizen or a change in his/her travel behaviour with respect to changes in the environment.