Influential factors in the choice of public transportation or cars as the mode of transportation in habitual commutes

Abstract

The goal of this study is to analyse the differences in attitudes towards habitual modes of transportation among users of public and private transportation. The explanatory capacity of attitudes when determining the mode choice, along with the structural and sociodemographic factors, are also verified. The study was performed in three Spanish cities with 742 participants. The results revealed that cars are better rated than public modes of transportation in the attributes associated with immediate advantages (i.e., speed and availability) and convenience. Subways are highly rated in both immediate and deferred advantages (environment, safety, cost and health). Buses are the mode rated the lowest of the three. Using logistic regression, it was verified that the variance explained by a model that includes attitudes (R2 = .639) is higher than the variance explained by a model based solely on variables related to infrastructures (R2 = .489). The discussion of these results includes proposals aimed at decreasing car use.