Mode Shift Behavior of Commuters Toward Islamabad Metro Bus Service

[Purpose] Transportation is considered the fundamental factor for mobility as every individual is highly dependent on transportation so that they can access work, goods, and other services. Increasing demand for motorization will bring up a congestion issue, especially in growing urban communities. Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, along with its neighboring city Rawalpindi has initiated a metro bus service to ease its traffic congestion problem and reduce atmospheric pollution. This study aimed to analyze the mode shift behavior of commuters from public transport, own transport, and taxi after the implementation of the metro bus service. [Design/methodology/approach] We employ logistic regression in our study because mode shift behavior is binary in nature. [Findings] The results of our study indicated that, in general, commuters are more willing to shift towards metro buses for job and education purposes, and female travelers are more willing to use the metro bus service as compared to males. Income shows no effect on mode shift behavior. We also find that the metro bus has the potential to reduce travel costs by PKR 2369 on average for own transport and PKR 800 for public transport users. Lastly, our findings include that the metro bus service has the potential to clean the environment by reducing carbon emissions, as it replaced approximately 700 public vehicles from the route, resulting in the reduction of around 8000 metric tons of carbon emissions from the region. [Originality/value] All our findings are original and new in the literature. [Implications] Our findings imply that many commuters are willing to shift towards metro buses for job and education purposes, especially for female travelers, regardless of their income levels. Our findings are useful not only for commuters, but also for metro companies for their plan for the development of their companies and for Governments to carry out more policies to encourage more commuters to shift towards metro service to reduce traffic jams and pollution and useful in their city planning.