A n a l y z i n g R el a t i o n s h i p B e t w e e n C o m m u t e r A t t i t u d e s a n d C h o i c e s
675
ANALYZING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUTER ATTITUDES
AND CHOICES FOR THE MODE OF TRANSPORT
Akash Deep
1
1
Asso. for dev. & , Sustainable Habitat Division, The Energy & Resource Institute(TERI), India,
ABSTRACT
The ecological balance of earth is changing rapidly and it is affected by excessive
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO
2
) that contribute to global warming.
Transportation is one of the major contributors to negative urban climatic change.
Segregation between residence and work place might increase the travelling distance and
elevate the need and/or desire for the use of private cars. As a result, urban centres which
serve as the hub of business operations tend to experience heavy traffic congestion on road
during the peak hours. The mode of transport being used particularly for commuting is
derived partially from the user attitude and decision making. Accordingly, this paper is aimed
at analyzing the relationship between the commuters’ attitude and their choice made for the
mode of transport. It identified some key influential factors such as privacy, health, cost and
education. The manipulation of these factors may lead to the shift of the commuters’ attitude
and decision-making towards the use of environmentally-friendly transport that helps reduce
the related CO
2
emissions.
Keywords:
Transportation, human tendencies, attitude, modes of transport, user
participation, sustainable development, privacy.
INTRODUCTION
The mode of transport has been there since Stone Ages only the fuel, time, speed and
distance covered by the transport has changed. Due to the expansion of the cities the
real need of high speed transport system was felt or it may be said due to the invention
of high speed transport the cities grew in size. As the needs of people grew so the fast
transportation systems were required. In present times and cities the mode of transport
have not just remain the tool for conveyance but a lot more. Probably one can easily
judge with the mode of transport selected by a person his ideology about life.
Transport system have always been the back bone of human settlements from past and
will be for seen future. With these transport systems we use non-renewable energy
resources which are ending at an alarming rate. We also produce toxic gases polluting
the environment and producing induced catastrophic effects. With the producing and use
of more millions of vehicles per day the congestion on the roads, in air is also increasing
and making it more stress full. There is a problem with our transport system and that
there is something wrong in it.
Now, every Problem has 2 barriers. First is the physical barriers (as it effects physically
to something) and other is mental barriers (as it will be effecting someone). If applying
the same theory in context to the current research problem. Now let’s find the physical
and mental barriers in this problem. In this system the physical barriers are the modes,
fuel, and mediums etc. as for the mental barriers are concern, it solely depends on the
human mind and heart (human tendencies) because we are the sole users for this
commodity. there are many researches done on physical topics and many researches
still require finding a solution on these physical barriers which we face regarding our
transport industry. However, this research mainly focuses on the mental barriers. Some
researchers have already done a great deal of work on some of the mental aspects
