Analyzing Public Transportation Competitiveness Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

This paper aims to improve the competitiveness of public transportation by exploring the psychological factors influencing public transport use behavior based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). TPB direct variables like intention, attitude, subjective norm, descriptive norm, perceived behavioral control, and indirect variables like behavioral beliefs are included in the questionnaires. First, the authors constructed an ordered logit model with dependent variable intention and other independent variables for the 282 questionnaires of which people who don't have private cars, finding that factors like attitude and subjective norm are significant, but descriptive norm and perceived behavioral control have not entered the model. It is indicated that changing people's attitude toward bus and guiding the residents to choose public transit through family guidance or policy of the country, public transportation competitiveness can be highly improved. Second, 111 questionnaires of people who have private cars were analyzed. The results reveal that only attitude is significant in the model, indicating that these people who own private cars are more influenced by subjective attitude instead of objective condition when using buses. Therefore, transferring these potential passengers to public transport by providing them better services is possible. According to the further analysis of behavior beliefs, the authors find that increasing public transport's punctuality, convenience, and speed instead of reducing costs are the key strategies to enhance public transportation competitiveness.