Examining commercial vehicle fleet ownership decisions and the mediating role of freight generation: A structural equation modeling assessment

Abstract

Commercial Vehicle (CV) ownership is a variable of interest in planning interventions and policy instruments for sustainable transportation, but the decision-making process to own a vehicle fleet is not well understood in the context of freight transportation. The necessity to understand the heterogeneity in CV type ownership arises from the need to mitigate externalities associated with them. We argue that the need to own CVs is a derived demand arising out of the demand to move goods and is influenced by freight handling requirements of businesses. To this end, this paper examines the dual role (mediation) of freight generation variables while modelling CV ownership, which is an underexplored area of research in freight transportation planning. Establishment-based freight survey data from seven cities in Kerala, India, are used to develop structural equation models. The CV ownership is analysed through freight generation variables as mediators, apart from the direct influence of business size indicators and commodity characteristics. The study findings confirm the intermediatory role of freight generation and show the consequences of neglecting such a dual role in the overall CV ownership modelling paradigm. The model estimates offer insights into the causal structure of the decision-making process of establishments to own different levels of fleet ownership and composition. Understanding the business managers’ decisions to own CVs in their fleet can be used for freight traffic management using urban consolidation centre (UCC). The statistical findings also provide the total effects between fleet and employment size and how freight generation mediates this relationship. The path diagrams representing the CV ownership patterns can be useful to policy makers while implementing policies like low-emission zones.