Promoting Sustainable Transport in Developing Countries: A Case Study of University Students in Tehran

Abstract

One of the ways to address the modern traffic-related problems is to encourage people to use sustainable travel modes more regularly. Transportation planners need to find the factors that affect people’s opinions toward using these modes. In this study, we investigated these factors using a case study of a developing country by distributing an online survey among the students of four universities in Tehran. The number of complete responses received was 134 from SUT, 63 for UT, 31 from AUT, and 204 from IUST, summing up to 432 responses. A binomial logistic regression model was used to find the paramount factors affecting the selection of cycling and public transportation. Our model found five and four statistically significant factors affecting preferences toward using bicycle and public transport, respectively. Several novel outcomes resulted from our study. First, expressing prestige to others resulted in the reduction of the preference of students toward cycling by 80%. Second, while a high number of the respondents are not currently using bikes to commute, a noticeable number of them are amongst the ones that will cycle in their daily commutes in an ideal condition. Third, in Iran, a religious approach is present in the society, which results in lower rates of public transport usage among females. Finally, while long commuting distance is the main barrier to cycling, travel time plays a bigger role in the preferences toward using public transportation. In the end, some practical solutions are suggested to encourage the usage of these modes. They include providing safe bicycle lanes and more space in the public transportation systems.