Analysis of Socio-spatial Differentiation in Transport Mode Choice Preferences

Geran-Marko Miletić
Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar

Slaven Gašparović
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science, Department of Geography

Tonči Carić

Abstract

Starting from the fact that the transport mode choice is one of those aspects of travel behaviour that, to a great extent, affects the efficiency of the transport system, this paper analyses the factors that contribute to the use of public and car transport. The goals of the analysis were to obtain insight into the preferences for using these two modes of transport in Croatia and find out to which extent the basic demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents affect the usage of car and public transport and the possibility of taking trips by these transport modes. The paper analyses the data collected by surveys on a representative national sample. The results show that in Croatia, the number of people who frequently use public transport is far fewer than the number of frequent users of passenger car transport. However, the comparison has found that the number of frequent public transport users varies significantly among certain categories of respondents. Using binary logistic regression analysis has determined that the preferences towards the frequent use of car or public transport are significantly influenced by the age of the respondents, size of the settlement, accessibility of the destinations by public transport, the number of vehicles in the household and whether the respondent is the main car user in the household.