Mode choice analysis is considered as the third step in the four-step transportation forecasting model which allows the modeler to replicate what mode of transport would be used, and what is the resulting modal share. The aim of this research is to develop a transportation mode choice model to predict the utility function for transportation modes used in Palestinian universities, considering the New Campus of An-Najah National University in Nablus City, which is the largest university in Palestine, for this study case.

Analyses were conducted for the current situation of university students' mode choice concerning the three main used transportations modes: the private car, the shared taxi and the bus. A survey of primary information on mode choice was conducted, through questionnaires, distributed on a sample of the students.

Using TransCAD software and conducting the relevant the statistical tests on the estimated model (including sign of parameters, t-test of parameter value and rho-squares (ρ2)), the final developed model exhibits a good fit, as the adjusted goodness-of-fit measure statistics (ρ2) for the model is 0.504.

The variables that mostly affected the mode choice are gender, car ownership, per capita family income, shared taxi travel cost, and bus travel time. The results show that as bus travel time and shared taxi travel cost increase; the use of the related utilities decrease, and that females choose buses and shared taxis more than males. Also, students prefer to choose private cars over buses and shared taxis. The results are proposed to be considered for the future transportation planning for the campus, encouraging mass public transport, for their envisaged impacts to improve traffic flow and reduce delays, and enhance the environmental quality, compared with the current modal share favoring shared taxis.

Conference Title

2nd Palestinian International Graduate Conference on Natural, Medical and Health Sciences and Humanities

Conference Country

Palestine

Conference Date

April 20, 2017 - April 20, 2017

Conference Sponsor

An-Najah National University