Abstract
Vehicle Kilometers Travelled (VKT) represents number of kilometers travelled by vehicles during a specific period of time in a specific area of concern. Transportation planners, policy makers, urban planners, and estimators of vehicle emission, energy consumption and fuel-price encourage the calculation of VKT for various analytical purposes. However, in most of the developing countries VKT is not estimated due to data challenges. This study aimed at proposing a household travel survey method for estimating VKT in developing countries where timely VKT data are not available. Also, estimating Personal Kilometers Travelled (PKT) seems important in developing countries, since the majority is using public and non-motorized transport modes rather than personal vehicles in those countries. This proposed method allows to collect data that are needed for estimating both VKT and PKT together with socio demographic information. A case study was conducted in three different regions; Northern, Eastern and Southern areas of Sri Lanka, which is a developing country. Questions were asked regarding to trips in a typical week, trips in holidays, special seasons or vacations, number of passengers travelled, travel modes and, socio demography of the respondent. Pilot surveys were conducted prior to the actual surveys to verify the efficiency of developed questionnaire. Samples were taken satisfying all the selected socio demographic categories within the community. Collected data through surveys were aggregated to annual level and, weighted using relevant census and population data. Weighted VKT and PKT estimates were obtained under each selected socio demographic category. Also, VKT estimates were statistically compared for studying the travel behavior of people across different regions. ANOVA and Post Hoc tests were employed for statistical comparisons. These findings can efficiently be used for transport planning, policy making activities, emission calculations, energy consumption estimations etc. by transport and environmental agencies of the country. The case study revealed the experience of utilizing the household travel survey method in Sri Lanka, making it possible to be replicated in other developing countries as well.
Highlights
The sum of distance travelled by all vehicles on a road network is referred to as Vehicle Kilometers Travelled (VKT) or Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT), depending on the system of units that is being used
A questionnaire – based household survey was proposed for collecting data necessary for timely estimation of VKT/Personal Kilometers Travelled (PKT) in developing countries
A case study was conducted in three different areas of Sri Lanka
Summary
The sum of distance travelled by all vehicles on a road network is referred to as Vehicle Kilometers Travelled (VKT) or Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT), depending on the system of units that is being used. VKT is a key metric in transportation planning since it provides a measure of total travel, how travel changes over time and, differences in travel among regions and states (Williams, Chigoy, Borowies, & Glover, 2016). Both personal and commercial travel demand are mainly indicated using VKT, which is highly useful for developing countries. VKT is capable of identifying the regions that are travelled more frequently and, makes it possible to allocate resources to these congested regions for maximizing traveller benefits Another benefit of estimating VKT in developing countries is that, VKT can be utilized in calculating fuel prices/taxes. VKT directly reflects the extent of spatial interaction within society and economy (Bäumer, Hautzinger, Kuhnimhof, & Pfeiffer, 2018)
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