Developing Mode Choice Models for Work and Education Trips in Budhanilkantha Municipality, Nepal

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and increasing travel demand have created significant transportation challenges in Budhanilkantha municipality including traffic congestion and an inefficient public transportation system. This study aimed to develop and analyze transport mode choice models for work and education based trips using the Multinomial Logit (MNL) modeling approach to identify the influence of socio-economic variables and trip characteristics on commuter's mode choice. A Revealed Preference (RP) survey was conducted to collect 1,043 responses through a multistage stratified sampling technique. The results showed that two-wheelers were the dominant mode for work-based trips while buses were the most preferred mode for education-based trips. For work- based trips, gender, monthly income, travel time, trip distance and travel cost were found to be significant in influencing mode choice, whereas for education-based trips, gender, age, travel time and trip distance were the significant determinants. The developed work and education based trip models achieved overall prediction accuracies of 93.2% and 69.2% respectively, and provide evidence-based support for urban transport planning within the municipality.