Factors Affecting Mode Choice of Work Trips in Developing Cities—Gaza as a Case Study

Abstract

The lack of efficient application of transportation planning process in developing cities, such as Gaza, leads to deficiency in adopting the suitable transport policies to mitigate the transportation problems resulting from urbanization and rapid increase of population. The mode choice model is probably the most important element in transportation planning and policy making. The aim of this study is to develop mode choice model for work trips in Gaza city and therefore investigating the factors that affect the employed people's choice for transport modes. The model was developed using about two thirds of 552 questionnaires distributed for this purpose. The rest remaining third of questionnaires were used to validate the chosen models. The results of this research show that the factors that significantly affect the choice of transport modes are: total travel time, total cost divided by personal income, ownership of means of transport, distance, age, and average family monthly income. The developed model is able to predict the choice behavior of employed people in Gaza city as it is valid at 95% confidence level. This study can be used by transportation planners to predict the employed people's behavior and travel demand analysis. The developed model can be used for predicting the future modal split by inputting predicted future value of exploratory variables.

A Critical Appraisal of Mode Choice Model of Work Trips

“…Gaza city work trips mode choice was studied byEssamAlmasri and SadiAlraee [1] .Their main concentration was on the effect of socio elements on mode choice model such as income, vehicle ownership, distance, age as significant factors and their developed model had 95% confidence level validity. Theyindicatedthat the transport system in Gaza city is classified into private and public transport.…”

“…The public transport serves effectively around the city and satisfies the majority of the population mobility.The public transport has three modes which are taxi, shared taxi and buses. They used logit model based on utility theory.Thevalidation of model was tested by likelihood ratio test and formulated the null hypothesis [1].The authors presented six stages for theirresearch paper completion .Literature review was considered in first stage .The second stagewas the selection of travel attributes that involved designing of initial questionnaire and analysis of data to determine the attributes. The third stage was to design the final questionnaire and conducting of survey to select the sample size and attributes.…”

“…The fifth stage was to validate the models by Likelihood Ratio Test (LRTS) and null hypothesis formulation. They applied the Likelihood Ratio Test and chi-square testwith a specific degrees of freedom named k.IfLikelihood Ration Testresult became less than critical chi square valueat the rate of 95% confidence level and degree of freedom equals to k than for that case the null hypothesis (H0: βi = βj)can be accepted otherwise it is rejected [1].The last stage of their paperwas findings and conclusions. They calibratedthe model based on the descriptive statistical analysis of data; alsoconsidered six modes for modeling.The modeswere private car, shared taxi, taxi, motorcycle, bicycle, and walking.…”

“…If in case one variable increases one unit that has the same impact on the entire model utility of modes available. Moreover,the distance variable was consideredas a specific variable for bicycle and walking modes and the private car mode was considered as a base mode when adding constants for the mode utilities.The following utility formulations used for different modes while developing the models for each mode [1]. Ling Ding and NingZhange presented a research paper the title of mode choice model using individual grouping based on cluster analysis in Nanjing cityinChain [3].…”

Signal Coordination for Saving Energy and Reducing Congestion Using TRANSYT-7F Model and Its Application in Gaza City

“…This road is a principal arterial road connecting the southern part of Gaza city with the northern part. The congestion appears clearly in the segment which consists of 5 consecutive signalized intersections ([3] [4]).…”