Investigating the Strategies for Reducing Motorcycle Mode Choice in Urban Trips: Case Study of Tehran City

Abstract

Motorcycles in Iran, especially in metropolises such as Tehran, are used extensively for various reasons such as low maintenance costs, high maneuverability, and the possibility of entering congestion priced zones without paying a toll. Nevertheless, motorcycles are involved in 25% of accidents and produce almost 30% of air and 50% of noise pollution in Tehran. Current research aims to investigate possible scenarios for reducing the use of motorcycles in Tehran’s traffic and transportation master plan strategies. After designing the scenarios, a stated preference method is used for gathering the required data from various groups of motorcycle riders in Tehran. More than 2,000 questionnaires were completed of which 1,766 were deemed acceptable for data entering and further analysis. Increasing the price of motorcycle maintenance and charging motorcycles to enter the congestion priced zone of Tehran (CPZT) were two main scenarios which were considered in this research. Multinomial and nested logit models were applied to analyze the trip choice behavior of motorcycle riders who had participated in the survey. Results indicated that strategies such as increasing motorcycle maintenance costs could be effective in reducing the use of motorcycles. For instance, increasing motorcycle maintenance costs by 4.7 times and imposing a 70,000 IRR toll price to enter the CP zone resulted in a 66% reduction in motorcycle mode choice by motorcycle riders.