IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i10p3528-d173106.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding the Effects of Improving Transportation on Pilgrim Travel Behavior: Evidence from the Lhasa, Tibet, China

Author

Listed:
  • Gang Cheng

    (College of Transportation, Jilin University, Changchun 130000, China
    College of Engineering, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China)

  • Shuzhi Zhao

    (College of Transportation, Jilin University, Changchun 130000, China)

  • Di Huang

    (Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Urban ITS, Jiangsu Province Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Urban Traffic Technologies, School of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing 210000, China)

Abstract

Effective travel demand management measures provide the opportunity to fully utilize limited transportation resources, especially in underdeveloped areas. It is increasingly recognized that the improvement in existing transportation infrastructure and the optimization of traffic demand management method would result in a complicated urban transportation system with multiple travel modes. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between transportation improvements (e.g., pedestrian flow, free bus for the elderly, and parking space planning) and the mode choice behavior of pilgrimages in the Lhasa of Tibet, China. This study employed a distinctive survey conducted among pilgrims in Lhasa, including both individual questionnaires and interviews from 2010 to 2016. The analysis was undertaken using a multinomial logit model to identify the extent to which transportation improvements could affect the pilgrim’s travel mode choice behavior. The results show that transportation improvements, as an operational method in underdeveloped areas, play an important role in motivating the pilgrimage to travel that can increase the attractiveness of private car use, and make pedestrian traffic more prominent. However, improvements in the public transport need to be conducted to attract more travelers. These results confirm that increasing the attractiveness of low-carbon transportation (e.g., buses, walking, and cycling) to the public can reduce the usage on private vehicles and maintain the development of sustainable transportation in underdeveloped areas with limited transportation resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Gang Cheng & Shuzhi Zhao & Di Huang, 2018. "Understanding the Effects of Improving Transportation on Pilgrim Travel Behavior: Evidence from the Lhasa, Tibet, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-13, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:10:p:3528-:d:173106
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3528/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3528/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Börjesson, Maria & Eliasson, Jonas & Hugosson, Muriel B. & Brundell-Freij, Karin, 2012. "The Stockholm congestion charges—5 years on. Effects, acceptability and lessons learnt," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Parinya Tanadtang & Dongjoo Park & Shinya Hanaoka, 2005. "Incorporating Uncertain and Incomplete Subjective Judgments into the Evaluation Procedure of Transportation Demand Management Alternatives," Transportation, Springer, vol. 32(6), pages 603-626, November.
    3. Bueno, Paola Carolina & Gomez, Juan & Peters, Jonathan R. & Vassallo, Jose Manuel, 2017. "Understanding the effects of transit benefits on employees’ travel behavior: Evidence from the New York-New Jersey region," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-13.
    4. Börjesson, Maria & Eliasson, Jonas & Hugosson, Muriel & Brundell-Freij, Karin, 2012. "The Stockholm congestion charges – five years on. Effects, acceptability and lessons learnt," Working papers in Transport Economics 2012:3, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI).
    5. Feng, Jianxi & Dijst, Martin & Wissink, Bart & Prillwitz, Jan, 2017. "Changing travel behaviour in urban China: Evidence from Nanjing 2008–2011," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-10.
    6. V. Joseph Hotz & Robert A. Miller & Seth Sanders & Jeffrey Smith, 1994. "A Simulation Estimator for Dynamic Models of Discrete Choice," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(2), pages 265-289.
    7. Xiaoquan Wang & Chunfu Shao & Chaoying Yin & Chengxiang Zhuge & Wenjun Li, 2018. "Application of Bayesian Multilevel Models Using Small and Medium Size City in China: The Case of Changchun," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, February.
    8. Allen Blackman & Francisco Alpízar & Fredrik Carlsson & Marisol Rivera Planter, 2018. "A Contingent Valuation Approach to Estimating Regulatory Costs: Mexico’s Day without Driving Program," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(3), pages 607-641.
    9. Morey, Edward R. & Shaw, W. Douglass & Rowe, Robert D., 1991. "A discrete-choice model of recreational participation, site choice, and activity valuation when complete trip data are not available," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 181-201, March.
    10. Gulipalli, Pradeep K. & Kockelman, Kara M., 2008. "Credit-based congestion pricing: A Dallas-Fort Worth application," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 23-32, January.
    11. Bristow, Abigail L. & Tight, Miles & Pridmore, Alison & May, Anthony D., 2008. "Developing pathways to low carbon land-based passenger transport in Great Britain by 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3427-3435, September.
    12. Manoj, M. & Verma, Ashish, 2015. "Activity–travel behaviour of non-workers from Bangalore City in India," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 400-424.
    13. Rotaris, Lucia & Danielis, Romeo, 2015. "Commuting to college: The effectiveness and social efficiency of transportation demand management policies," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 158-168.
    14. Kwoka, Gregory J. & Boschmann, E. Eric & Goetz, Andrew R., 2015. "The impact of transit station areas on the travel behaviors of workers in Denver, Colorado," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 277-287.
    15. Paat Rusmevichientong & David Shmoys & Chaoxu Tong & Huseyin Topaloglu, 2014. "Assortment Optimization under the Multinomial Logit Model with Random Choice Parameters," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 23(11), pages 2023-2039, November.
    16. Gärling, Tommy & Eek, Daniel & Loukopoulos, Peter & Fujii, Satoshi & Johansson-Stenman, Olof & Kitamura, Ryuichi & Pendyala, Ram & Vilhelmson, Bertil, 2002. "A conceptual analysis of the impact of travel demand management on private car use," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 59-70, January.
    17. George Leckie, 2009. "Handbook of Multilevel Analysis," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 172(3), pages 694-695, June.
    18. Klein, Nicholas J. & Smart, Michael J., 2016. "Travel mode choice among same-sex couples," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1-13.
    19. Dill, Jennifer & Weinstein, Asha, 2007. "How to pay for transportation? A survey of public preferences in California," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 346-356, July.
    20. Lisa Schweitzer & Brian Taylor, 2008. "Just pricing: the distributional effects of congestion pricing and sales taxes," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(6), pages 797-812, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gang Cheng & Shuzhi Zhao & Jin Li, 2019. "The Effects of Latent Attitudinal Variables and Sociodemographic Differences on Travel Behavior in Two Small, Underdeveloped Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Gang Cheng & Leishan Guo & Tao Zhang, 2022. "Spatial Equity Assessment of Bus Travel Behavior for Pilgrimage: Evidence from Lhasa, Tibet, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-15, August.
    3. Thowayeb H. Hassan & Ahmed Hassan Abdou & Shaimaa Taha & Mostafa A. Abdelmoaty & Amany E. Salem, 2022. "Religious Tourists’ Satisfaction with Services and Their Impacts on Spirituality in the Post-COVID-19 Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Hongyou Lu & Yunchan Zhu & Yu Qi & Jinliang Yu, 2018. "Do Urban Subway Openings Reduce PM 2.5 Concentrations? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-24, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bueno, Paola Carolina & Gomez, Juan & Peters, Jonathan R. & Vassallo, Jose Manuel, 2017. "Understanding the effects of transit benefits on employees’ travel behavior: Evidence from the New York-New Jersey region," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-13.
    2. Bastian, Anne & Börjesson, Maria, 2014. "It's the economy, stupid: increasing fuel price is enough to explain Peak Car in Sweden," Working papers in Transport Economics 2014:15, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI).
    3. Andrea Baranzini & Stefano Carattini & Linda Tesauro, 2021. "Designing Effective and Acceptable Road Pricing Schemes: Evidence from the Geneva Congestion Charge," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 79(3), pages 417-482, July.
    4. Eliasson, Jonas, 2016. "Is congestion pricing fair? Consumer and citizen perspectives on equity effects," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-15.
    5. Lana Krehic, 2022. "How do increases in electric vehicle use affect urban toll ring prices?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 193(3), pages 187-209, December.
    6. Milenković, Marina & Glavić, Draženko & Maričić, Milica, 2019. "Determining factors affecting congestion pricing acceptability," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 58-74.
    7. Soto, Jose J. & Macea, Luis F. & Cantillo, Victor, 2023. "Analysing a license plate-based vehicle restriction policy with optional exemption charge: The case in Cali, Colombia," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    8. De Vos, Jonas, 2016. "Road pricing in a polycentric urban region: Analysing a pilot project in Belgium," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 134-142.
    9. Eliasson, Jonas, 2017. "Congestion pricing," MPRA Paper 88224, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Jens West & Maria Börjesson, 2020. "The Gothenburg congestion charges: cost–benefit analysis and distribution effects," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 145-174, February.
    11. Nicholas Janusch & Stephan Kroll & Christopher Goemans & Todd L. Cherry & Steffen Kallbekken, 2021. "Learning to accept welfare-enhancing policies: an experimental investigation of congestion pricing," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 24(1), pages 59-86, March.
    12. Miroslaw Smieszek & Magdalena Dobrzanska & Pawel Dobrzanski, 2019. "Rzeszow as a City Taking Steps Towards Developing Sustainable Public Transport," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, January.
    13. Helena Strömberg & I. C. MariAnne Karlsson & Jana Sochor, 2018. "Inviting travelers to the smorgasbord of sustainable urban transport: evidence from a MaaS field trial," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 1655-1670, November.
    14. Nelson, Sarah & Allwood, Julian M., 2021. "The technological and social timelines of climate mitigation: Lessons from 12 past transitions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    15. Stefano Carattini & Maria Carvalho & Sam Fankhauser, 2018. "Overcoming public resistance to carbon taxes," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(5), September.
    16. Eliasson, Jonas, 2014. "The role of attitude structures, direct experience and reframing for the success of congestion pricing," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 81-95.
    17. Velaga, Nagendra R. & Pangbourne, Kate, 2014. "Achieving genuinely dynamic road user charging: issues with a GNSS-based approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 243-253.
    18. Ding, Hongliang & Sze, N.N. & Li, Haojie & Guo, Yanyong, 2021. "Affected area and residual period of London Congestion Charging scheme on road safety," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 120-128.
    19. Farokhi, Farhad & Johansson, Karl H., 2015. "A piecewise-constant congestion taxing policy for repeated routing games," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 123-143.
    20. Whitehead, Jake & Franklin, Joel P. & Washington, Simon, 2015. "Transitioning to energy efficient vehicles: An analysis of the potential rebound effects and subsequent impact upon emissions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 250-267.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:10:p:3528-:d:173106. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.