Land Use Mix and Intra-Urban Travel Pattern in Ogbomoso, a Nigerian Medium Sized Town

Abstract

Land use mix is a recognized factor of human travel behaviour in cities. It also relates to urban transport planning and management. It fact, it is often hypothesized that it can, within the context of current policy interest, reduce travel in cities and conserve energy and environmental impact relating to urban transport. This paper examines the relationship between land use mix and distribution of intra-urban trips among the town tracts of Ogbomoso. It was found that tracts with high land use mix generate and attract relatively large number of trips while tracts with low land use mix generate and attract relatively small number of trips. Similarly, tracts with high land use mix have high intra-zonal and inter-zonal trips and the tracts with low land use mix have relatively small intra-zonal and inter-zonal trips. The result is strange and different from empirical expectations and experiences of towns in developed countries. This may be due to the small size of the town in this study, the socio-economic and cultural background of the society or other variable of transport development. It calls for greater efforts in identifying more factors that influence urban transport and policy to solve urban transport problems, particularly in developing countries.