The Function of Individual Factors on Travel Behaviour: Comparative Studies on Perth and Shanghai

Abstract

Perth and Shanghai represent developed and developing cities, being diverse in urban development, population densities and economic development. Of significant interest is that as one city seeks to move away from car reliance by developing public transport as an alternative mode of travel, the other seek s to avoid increasing car use. No matter what “mobility life-stage” they are belonging to, public transport has received renewed attention in both cities as a sustainable and environmentally sensitive alternative to car travel. At the city level, it has been demonstrated that both Perth and Shanghai are pre-dominantly monocentric urban structures. Also the public transport planning in both cities likely downplays the importance of a user focus in public transport planning. Residents will not see public transport as favouring their needs. Similar underlying urban structures and planning approaches have made public transport solutions particularly challenging in both cities. To draw a research from a world perspective both of these two contexts should be considered. World wide a diverse range of transport and land use planning strategies support and promote public transport.However the outcome for travel behaviour change is still uncertain. The aim of this paper is to provide an understanding of the extent that personal travel behaviour is affected by individual factors such as socio-economic characteristics and travel attitudes rather than by external factors such as land use system and the transport system. Two neighbourhoods in Perth and Shanghai are chosen to be used as case studies for comparative analysis of res idents attitudes based on their good public transport accessibility within their own city context. Drawing secondary data from travel diaries and primary data from intercept surveys, the findings confirm the expected importance of socio-economic characteristics on motorisation and the traveller’s decision on travel mode choice.