Travel behaviour in urban China

Abstract

Over the last few decades, transport has played an important role in causing various problems including environmental destruction, resource depletion, global warming, social segregation, congestion and inequality in cities around the world. The situation could be even serious in urban China. As a country in transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, China has been experiencing unprecedentedly fast motorisation, which has resulted in a decline in non-motorised and public transport, increasing traffic congestions, air pollution and fatal casualties. Unfortunately, the trend is more than likely to continue in the future. Therefore, knowledge of changing travel behaviour in China is urgently needed. This is especially so considering that existing literature draws disproportionally on data from North American, North-western Europe, Australia and Japan and little is knew about travel behaviour outside the western world, including China. Given that the context of urban China is different in several respects-socio-cultural norms, institutional setting, built environment, and special development stage-from western countries, an empirical study into travel behaviour in China could thus have important practical relevance in helping to adjust transport-planning practices to the Chinese context as well as significant scientific relevance to understand the importance of urban China’s different contexts for transport behaviour and get a deeper, more complete understanding of travel behaviour and its determinants in general. In this research, an empirical analysis is carried out to demonstrate the situations of travel behaviour of Nanjing residents and its determinants. Using the dataset of Nanjing Resident Travel Survey (NRTS), the research examines travel behaviour in Nanjing Metropolitan Area by employing various regression models including OLS model, logistic model, ordered probit model and changing parameter model. This research finds that the characteristics of travel behaviour and its determinants in Nanjing display a number of similarities with travel behaviour in western cities but at the same time, there are some important differences. More importantly, the empirical analyses in the dissertation show that the specific Chinese context-socio-cultural norms, institutional setting, built environment, and special development stage-matters. The research also delivers some implications for transport policies. The results in this dissertation confirm that that land use can influence travel behaviour significantly. This proved link between land use and travel behaviour gives the premise for implementing land use policy initiatives to reduce private car use. However, the analysis also shows that compactness alone serves as a necessary but not as a sufficient condition for diminished car use. To reduce car use, Chinese governments should also provide alternatives to private cars. Based on the research results of the dissertation, for short distances, it is highly recommended that urban China should preserve as much as possible the configurations of compact land use to stimulate walking and cycling as the main transport modes to limit car use. In the meanwhile, to replace car use for long distances, the governments should heavily invest in fast public transport to promote public transport as the major mode.