Analysis of the influences of attitudinal factors on car ownership decisions among urban young adults in a developing country like India

Meghna Verma, M. Manoj, Ashish Verma, 2016, in Transportation Research Part F

doi:10.1016/j.trf.2016.06.024

Location	Bangalore, India
Population	Students
Sample size	646
Factor analysis type	confirmatory factor analysis, unknown rotation
Stepwise regression	yes
Removal of insignificant variables	no
Reviewed by	NAH

Abstract

Young adults’ travel behaviour is highly volatile and sensitive to the changes in socio-demographics, land use, and transportation systems. Thus, young adults’ mobility-related decisions, especially car ownership, are relevant to future transportation planning and policy for any country. Developing countries like India has a significant share of young adults, but case studies exploring the factors influencing the future car ownership decisions of young populace are very limited. Particularly, studies examining the influences of attitudinal factors on young adults’ car ownership decision are very few. The present study contributes to the discussion on young adults’ car ownership behaviour by presenting the results of an attitudinal survey conducted in Bangalore city, India. The survey gathered individuals’ perception about status, peer influence, transport policies, car ownership, etc., apart from the usual set of personal and household socio-demographic information. Descriptive analysis followed by Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is employed for exploring the car ownership decisions of young adults. The analysis suggest that those who do not intend to buy a car in next 5 years are significantly more likely to agree that an individual does not have to buy a car if he/she gets job near home, if public transport is good, if bicycle infrastructure is good, and also that people do not have to buy car if car ownership and other taxes are high. The statistical model reveals that individuals who come from car owning families are more likely to buy a car than who do not, and the effect is mediated by the factor related to comfort. That is the ‘club effect’ of car ownership appears to be due to the comfort-oriented outlook of individuals belonging to car owning families. Further, young adults who have a pro-sustainability mentality are less likely to own a car in future. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd

Factors

Variable	Pattern loading
Traffic fumes are the major contributor to the environmental problems in India ( v 11) (Environmentalism)	0.714
Traffic is increasing so fast that the existing roads will not be able to cope by the year 2020 ( v 12) (Environmentalism)	0.861

Variable	Pattern loading
Car is the safest mode of transport ( v 8) (Safety)	0.525
Travel by car is less tiring ( v 9) (Comfort)	0.552
In India owning a car is a necessity ( v 10) (Convenience)	0.371

Variable	Pattern loading
People would have given me more importance if I had a car ( v 13) (Social norms)	0.778
I would be happier if I had a car ( v 14) (Mode-liking)	0.421

Variable	Pattern loading
People do not have to use a car if they get a job near their house (Convenience)	0.609
People do not have to use a car if Public transport is very good (Convenience)	0.848
People do not have to use a car if bicycle infrastructure is world class (Convenience)	0.76
People do not have to use a car if Pedestrian infrastructure is world class (Convenience)	0.728

Variable	Pattern loading
Car a status symbol ( v 15) (Social norms)	0.965
Car is the best way to change social image ( v 16) (Social norms)	0.83

Variable	Pattern loading
People may not use a car if fuel taxes are high ( v 5) (Transport policy)	0.878
People may not use a car if they have to pay heavy parking charges ( v 6) (Cost)	0.794
People may not buy a car if car ownership and other taxes are high ( v 7) (Transport policy)	0.715

Source variable	Target variable	Effect	p-value	Effect type
Educational qualification	Car Ownership	0.389	nan	standardized_direct_effect
Family owns a car (1 = yes)	Car Ownership	0.167	nan	standardized_direct_effect
Pro-sustainability	Car Ownership	-0.225	nan	standardized_direct_effect
Tax-conscious	Car Ownership	-0.018	nan	standardized_direct_effect
Comfort-oriented	Car Ownership	0.213	nan	standardized_direct_effect
Status-seeker	Car Ownership	0.15	nan	standardized_direct_effect
happiness-oriented	Car Ownership	0.01	nan	correlation
city-conscious	Car Ownership	-0.007	nan	correlation
Family owns a car (1 = yes)	Comfort-oriented	0.15	nan	standardized_direct_effect