An Appraisal of Intercity Commuting Pattern Using Railway Services in South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

Tracking the influence of service improvements on passengers particularly is an important component of transport management. This study examined the characteristics of intercity travellers in the Economy Class Units (ECU) and recently introduced Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) service within the Lagos District Nigeria Railway Corporation in southwestern Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was randomly administered to 1206 passengers traveling on these trains over two months with analysis in-volving the use of the regression model. The findings of the study indicate the socio-economic characteristics of passengers accounted for about 90.3% and 88.2% of the variation in volume trips made by passengers using DMU and ECU service respectively. Significant socio-economic predictors of trip volume on DMU train are Occupation (0.137), Vehicle Ownership (0.218), and Type of vehicle (0.218). On the other hand, significant socio-economic attributes of ECU passengers that affect trip volume are Age (0.274), Education (0.970), Occupation (-0.918), Income (0.435), Vehicle Ownership (0.249), and type of Vehicle (-0.165). The result further indicates Trip Purpose explained 83.5% and 86.7% of the variation in the trip volume of both services. The trip purpose that significantly influences the volume of trips on the ECU trains are Business (0.210), Shopping (0.447) Leisure (-0.463), and other trip purposes (0.775). For the DMU train, only Other-trip forms of purpose (0.753) is significant in explaining the volume of passengers using that service. The study shows similarities in the use of the two services while several useful recommendations on ways to improve both services of the corporation were proffered.