Modelling Mode Choice at Sharjah University City, United Arab Emirates

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, U.A.E.

^a Corresponding author: lobaid@sharjah.ac.ae

Abstract

A growing interest in the behaviour of travelers to university campuses has recently emerged whether by university administrators or transport officials. Understanding the modal choice determinants of university travellers increases the opportunity for finding appropriate policies and solutions to reduce traffic congestion and parking needs as well as to encourage active transportation hence achieving more sustainable mobility. This research study investigates the differences in mode choice habits among the various groups of travellers to Sharjah University City (SUC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including students, staff, faculty, and university visitors. A revealed preference survey was distributed randomly throughout SUC. Using information collected from this survey, multinomial discrete logit choice models were developed to evaluate the SUC travellers’ mode-choice likelihood for the following modes: car, private bus, public bus, taxi, and active transport (walking and biking). It was found that travel time, travel distance, trip makers’ characteristics (gender, citizenship, car ownership, car sharing, and the number of cars per household), and other contributing factors ( Weathers conditions, Infrastructure adequacy, and bus services quality) are the main factors that affect significantly the mode choice at SUC. Further, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to study how the considered factors influence the mode choice. The developed model can be used in future studies to predict travel demand at SUC in response to new policies and solutions set by university administrators or transport officials.