People's behavioral intentions towards public transport in Lahore: Role of situational constraints, mobility restrictions and incentives

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the relationships between people's attitudes on service quality attributes of private car and public transport, and intentions to use public transport under situational constraints, mobility restrictions on car use, public transport incentives and moral obligation. A questionnaire survey was conducted in Lahore and 354 usable samples obtained. Results revealed that people's intentions to use public transport vary under different situations and mobility restrictions. The fiscal restrictions and policy of car entry restriction have significant influence on changing people's intentions. Modeling results revealed that social/aesthetic, personal and instrumental attitudinal aspects of private car and public transport are underlying factors in determining the people's intentions towards public transport under stated conditions. It is argued that social/aesthetic and personal dimensions of public transport should have equal importance in making improvements along with instrumental dimensions. This study implicates that improvement in service quality of public transport need to integrate with mobility restrictions on car use for effective change of travel behavior. The findings of this study would be helpful for concerned authorities in considering the appropriate attributes of public transport for improvement, and other related policy measures to make significant promotion from car to public transport.