1

POSSIBILITY OF MOBILITY

MANAGEMENT IN ASIAN COUNTRIES

Authors:

H. Tan VAN, Kasem CHOOCHARUKUL and Satoshi FUJII*

Tokyo Institute of Technology - Department of Civil Engineering

JSPS-DOST 3rd Symposium – March, 2009

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Research Group 2

Target problems = environmental problem due to traffic, traffic congestion, quality of public transport, traffic safety etc…

measures = urban development management

coercive traffic measures

investment to public transport system

mobility management (=communication)

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Background - Mobility management (MM)

MM is an effective strategy with promising results for promoting sustainable transport use.

(e.g. TFP in Japan, TravelSmart in Australia & UK, MOST in EU countries)

If MM is properly combined with structural measures, the effectiveness would be achieved at a highest level.

Economic benefit: costs much less than ‘hard’ measures such as infrastructure building.

Important to Asian developing cities with low budget.

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• Car and public transport generally possess three functions: symbolic, instrumental, and affective

+Symbolic status is the expression of personal identity.

+Instrumental aspects are mainly related to functional attributes.

+Affective motives can be considered as emotional feelings.

Steg (2003), Elleway et al. (2003), Hiscock et al. (2002) etc.

• Van & Fujii (2006) found 3 basic aspects of attitudes toward car and public transport in 6 Asian countries: Symbolic-affective, instrumental and social orderliness.

Attitudinal factors of travel mode use

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0.48

0.790.58

1.141.00 0.95

-0.72 -0.79

-1.00

-0.52

-0.90-1.01

-1.50

-1.00

-0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

Jap

an

Th

aila

nd

Ch

ina

Vie

tnam

Ind

on

esia

the

Ph

ilip

pin

es

-1.23

0.33

-0.53

-0.29

0.11

-0.05

0.50

0.00

0.24

-0.21

0.16

-0.05

-1.50

-1.00

-0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

Jap

an

Th

aila

nd

Ch

ina

Vie

tnam

Ind

on

esia

the

Ph

ilip

pin

es

-1.11

0.360.27

0.66

0.37

0.67

0.26

0.00

-0.26 -0.26

-0.02

-0.42

-1.50

-1.00

-0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

Jap

an

Th

aila

nd

Ch

ina

Vie

tnam

Ind

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Ph

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3 basic aspects found in Asian countries

Symbolic-affective Instrumental Social orderliness

Public transportCar

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• In developed countries, attitudes are among the determinants of the decision of commuting mode choice.

(Kuppam et al., 1999).

Possibility of MM in Asian countries

How do attitudinal factors affect mode choice in Asian countries?

Whether we can use MM to impact attitudes for inducing changes in travel mode choice?

Research questions:

We test the relationships between the 3 attitudinal variables found in 6 Asian countries and intention of mode choice.

Constant_car

Symbolic affective_

car

Instrumental_car

Social orderliness

_carSex License

Car ownership

B 0.64 0.62 0.50 0.78 -0.50 0.08 0.81t 3.16** 5.01*** 6.22*** 8.89*** -2.48* 0.42 2.56*

Constant_PT

Symbolic affective_

PT

Instrumental_PT

Social orderliness

_PTSex License

Car ownership

B 0.14 0.32 0.24 0.60 -0.34 0.18 0.62t 0.60 2.31* 3.09** 6.57*** -1.49 0.90 1.76

2 (d.f.) 314.4 (12) 0.131

CAR

PT

MNL Model using the entire sample from 6 countries

• All the attitudinal factors were significant determinants of behavioral intention of commuting mode choice.

• The effects of attitudinal variables for car were larger than for public transport.

# p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

MNL Models using separate sample of each country - CAR

Explanatory variable

Japanese (N=400)

Thai (N=92)

Chinese (N=100)

Vietnamese (N=209)

Indonesian (N=122)

Filipinos (N=172)

Constant_car -1.76* 1.63 0.40 -0.80 0.66 2.73***Symbolic affective_car

0.93*** 0.08 0.68# 0.46# 0.33 0.71

Instrumental_car 0.81*** 0.37 0.84* 0.69*** 0.35 0.65

Social orderliness_car

0.19 0.53 0.76* 0.51* 0.22 -0.13

Sex 0.51 0.21 -0.42 0.9# - -0.79

License 0.19 1.95# - - -0.15 -0.51

Car ownership -0.03 -1.45 - - - -0.12 # p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

• Symbolic affective and instrumental aspects of attitudes toward car were significant determinants of behavioral intention to commute by car in Japan, China, Vietnam.

• Social orderliness aspect of attitude toward car was important in China and Vietnam.

Explanatory variable

Japanese (N=400)

Thai (N=92)

Chinese (N=100)

Vietnamese (N=209)

Indonesian (N=122)

Filipinos (N=172)

Constant_PT 1.21** -0.39 0.45 -0.71 -1.48* 1.32Symbolic affective_PT

0.35 -1.43* 1.11 0.40 -0.58 1.38

Instrumental_PT 0.34** -0.64 0.25 0.56** 0.33 0.30

Social orderliness_PT

0.16 1.93** 0.79# 0.48* 1.29* 0.21

Sex -0.72# -0.28 -1.26# -0.14 - -1.05

License -0.08 0.96 - - -0.15 -0.15

Car ownership 0.32 -2.00 - - - 0.362 (d.f.) 64.9 (12) 23.3 (12) 40.1 (8) 56.1 (8) 17.0 (8) 9.0 (12)

0.061 0.111 0.153 0.111 0.037 0.034

MNL Models using separate sample of each country - PT

• The social orderliness aspect of public transport was significant to all developing countries, except for Japan.

• In country such as the Philippines, where there is a strong bias desire for

car, all psychological factors were insignificant for both car and PT.

# p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

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Conclusions

1) All attitudinal factors were significantly related to the behavioral intention regarding commuting mode choice

2) Attitudinal factors affected travel behavior in developing Asian countries less than in Japan. Psychological measures, such as mobility management, might not be as effective as in Japan.

3) Still, some attitudinal factors significantly affect travel behavior even in Asian countries (except for the Philippines). We would be able to develop effective psychological measures for behavioral change even in Asian countries.