Abstract
Mobility patterns and travel behavior aspects of students traveling to universities, are gaining attention, as the completion of such every day trips are rather complicated. University students form a social group, essentially autonomous in terms of mode choice decision making. Understanding the mode choice decision process, may reveal the most appropriate interventions for achieving sustainable transport goals. The current study aims to examine various aspects of university students’ travel bahaviour such as travel distance, travel time, comfort and safety in the city of Xanthi, Greece. Moving a step forward, the paper provides a better understanding of students’ travel patterns in two different environments due to the University relocation from an urban environment to a more isolated one. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey is conducted where students describe their travel habits before and after the relocation. In addition, students are given a choice set comprised of eight different factors hypothesized to internalize the effect of the relocation on mode choice for the trips to and from the University and they are asked to prioritize them ranking them from the most significant one to the least important. For the analysis two Multinomial Logit models are developed. The results verify initial considerations; distance and time are the most important factors for both cases while the use of public transport instead of walking increases the importance of economy and safety.
Highlights
1 Introduction Mobility patterns and travel behavior aspects of students traveling to universities, colleges and institutions have garnered increasing attention, as the completion of such every day trips are rather complicated
The objective of the current study is to investigate the behavioral change of students traveling to and from the University in the city of Xanthi, northeastern Greece, taking into account the location of the University
5 Results of the research Regarding the travel modes students used for their daily trips to and from the University, these can be classified in three groups: a) Active transportation: walking and bicycling. b) Public transit: local public transportation system. c) Motorized cars: private car, motorbike, taxi, private car passenger
Summary
Mobility patterns and travel behavior aspects of students traveling to universities, colleges and institutions have garnered increasing attention, as the completion of such every day trips are rather complicated. University students form a social group, essentially autonomous in terms of mode choice decision making, while representing a vast percentage of the total travel demand. Their mobility habits are considered as basic elements which need to be recorded and analyzed, in a comprehensible way for local authorities, urban, spatial, transport and university planners. The difference between the two cases is that underage students are entirely depended on their parents’ decision regarding the transport mode they will use in order to complete a school trip (Ferreira et al, 2007), while university students decide on their own in most cases. The number of universities is significantly low in comparison to schools, which means that the concentration of travelers is higher and the impact of the use of private cars stronger
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