Travel Behaviour Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Studies have shown that attitude and society’s influence are one of the major influential factors for people’s travel behaviour and behvioural change. Hence, this thesis research is focused on achieving the findings of people’s attitudes towards bicycle commuting, followed by their travel behaviour and their current stage of travel behavioural change in the context of Kathmandu and Lalitpur; the two densely urbanized cities of Nepal. Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) and Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC) both recently are promoting the programs to become bicycle-friendly cities. However, there is an uncertainty among people’s perceptions towards bicycle as a daily transport mode. A hypothesis belief of negative attitude towards bicycle as a commuting means and similar belief in society’s perception still exists in these two cities. Although being a significant topic, there is a lack of research study in this matter. Therefore, this thesis research attempted to identify and analyze the psychosocial factors of people concerning bicycles in KMC and LMC. Besides, this thesis research also made an effort to identify the current situation of existing bicycle infrastructure in Kathmandu and Lalitpur, and study the changing scenario of Kathmandu and Lalitpur regarding the ongoing activities for bicycle infrastructure development. It also attempted to understand the citizens’ role and participation in ongoing activities. The study also aimed to identify and analyze the motives and challenges of bicycle commuting through the perception of regular bicycle commuters in these two cities.
Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were conducted to find the results. For the findings of psychosocial factors, closed-ended survey questionnaires with a 7 Likert scale were constructed under the theoretical framework of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Transtheoretical Model of Change (TMC). The questionnaires were constructed, referring to personal interest, environment, health, safety concerns, topography, and infrastructure regarding bicycle use as a mode of daily transport. The calculations were expressed in average mean and standard deviation. Also, multiple-choice questionnaires and Likert scale were used to identify the demographic figure and travel behaviour of the people. The survey questionnaires were distributed through emails, social media, and field surveys. 392 completed forms with the majority of non- cyclists were coded, and final results were obtained.
Interestingly, the survey results with the majority of non- cyclists showed a positive attitude of people towards bicycle as a daily transport mode. Overall, 44% of people possessed a positive attitude towards bicycles, followed by 34% of the population having neutral belief. In contrast, 13% of the people were negative about it. Similarly, more than 50% of respondents believed that society’s perception of the bicycle is positive. However, the family influence to make decisions turned out to be significant in decision making to choose the bicycle as commuting means. Surprisingly, more than 50% of respondents’ value expressed that infrastructure is not the primary reason for them not to commute by bicycle. The result of travel behavioural change, on the other hand, showed that only 18% of respondents are entirely against shifting the transport mode to bicycle.
In a conclusion, the overall results of people’s attitudes somehow disprove the stereotypical contextual statement of people’s negative perception towards bicycle commuting, which also can be an excellent motivation for current programs. However, the travel behaviour findings of respondents where 82% of participants still choose cars or motorcycles over any other transport mode, shows a definite challenge on promoting these cities to bicycle-friendly cities. To increase the number of bicycle commuters and to encourage the current bicycle commuters in Kathmandu and Lalitpur, these findings explicate that along with infrastructure development, the cities need to create and operate more effective plans, policies, and programs to fill the gap. The major driving forces to choose private motorized vehicles such as road safety, air pollution, and social influence should be accounted. Not to forget, inclusiveness in all the plans and policies should be mandatory.