Mode Choice of Commuter Students in a College Town: An Exploratory Study from the United States

Jiangping Zhou, Yin Wang and Jiangyue Wu
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Jiangping Zhou: Department of Urban Planning and Design, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Yin Wang: School of Public Economics and Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai 200433, China
Jiangyue Wu: Department of City and Regional Planning, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-18

Abstract: Research of travel behaviors of university students is of theoretical and empirical importance. The literature, however, has paid little attention to mode choice of students at college towns. This study aims to specifically explore influence factors of the mode choice of college town students. After conducting a survey of commuter students at Iowa State University, a college-town university in the United States, the study uses both simple statistics and advanced statistical models (e.g., multinomial logit and nested logit models) to analyze the data and produces findings to confirm and test existing knowledge and to gain new insights. Firstly, students at a college town are more likely to adopt greener (non-driving-alone) modes, especially walking, to commute compared to their counterparts at urban universities; this is as revealed in the literature. Secondly, students may use “bundled services” to fulfill their travel needs. The students who prioritized rent affordability in housing choice tend to live in proximity to bus stops and are more likely to ride buses. Lastly, commuter students who do not drive alone to school tend to prefer a residence with transit proximity. Moreover, students who reside in proximity to transit and who reported “peer effects” would use non-driving modes more if commute time was shortened.

Keywords: college town; mode choice; influence factors; bundled services; survey data; travel demand management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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