Gender based travel choice behavior analysis of non-local university students of less developed regions

Abstract

Students constitute a major portion of travel demand of a local transportation industry. This phenomena is very much true for certain cities of the Sindh province of Pakistan. Despite less developed and relatively remote locations, each of these cities1 hold three to four major universities, which not only accommodates 70% of the provincial higher education capacity, but also holds students from other provinces and countries. These universities have become major sources of trip generation towards multiple domestic, national and even international destinations. Commuters produced by these universities include both genders, i.e., male and female. Open research literature on the topic, both international and local, has shown that both genders, subjected to a variety of factors, differ significantly in their behavior of choosing travel modes. Majority of the previous studies have based their analysis on samples collected among students of advanced or developed economies; and very less attention has been given to less developed and developing regions. This study is motivated by such persisting research gaps. This study has focused less developed areas of Sindh province. The data has been collected through a questionnaire survey, which has been administered through trained surveyors at four different universities located at four different cities. A total of 352 responses are collected and analyzed. The results have shown that geographical factors tend to influence more than socio-economic realities for both genders.