An exploration of vehicle ownership and mode choice behaviour in a mid-sized Asian city: a case study in Khon Kaen City, Thailand

Wholesale use of motorcycles is commonly found in most cities in Southeast Asia. It causes many serious transport issues when viewed in terms of sustainable transport and road safety perspectives. The importance attached to this concern is reflected by the increase of reported studies year by year. However, most previous studies have only considered the Asian megacities. This paper provides a preliminary analysis of the nature of mode choice and vehicle ownership in these mid-sized cities, using Khon Kaen City, Thailand, as the principal study area. Potentially important factors are examined using an econometric method based on the Khon Kaen Daily Travel Survey 2007 (KKDTS07) database. Regarding the models estimated in the study, several household and socio-demographic characteristics and trip characteristics were found to influence travel demand in the study area. Trade-off between private cars and motorcycles is also captured in both vehicle ownership and mode choice models. It is also found that, in the study area, predictions of travel demand associated with cars seem to be much less complicated and more likely to provide a reliable outcome than those related to motorcycles. (a) For the covering record of the conference, please refer to ITRD no. E218380.