UIStudents’CommuteModeChoice.docVIP

UI Students’ Commute Mode Choice Introduction Commuting is an important part of city’s transportation; understanding the way people commute and how they choose their commute mode will be beneficial to the city’s transportation planning. The project will study several commute modes of UI students: Iowa City Bus, Cambus, bicycle, walking, driving alone, carpool and motorcycle. The project focuses on factors that affect students’ choices of the mentioned commute modes. Survey is the main research method of the project. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted. Because the research focuses on UI students, questionnaires were distributed to UI students only. To ensure a random sample, the survey was conducted in different locations within the campus. For example, international student center was a good place to have enough international students; also, to get the accessibility to both undergraduate and graduate students, the survey was done in different departments and classrooms such as graduate college and undergraduate departments. The survey obtained 35 responses finally. The research will test the following five hypothesis: UI students’ enthusiasm of physical activity is correlated with their commute mode choices; Students with bike or car ownership are less likely to use public transit than others; Students who come from State of Iowa are less likely to use public transit because they are more likely to have private vehicles; There are significant differences between bike usage of students having classes on different sides of the river; UI Students’ commute mode choice (in terms of travel speed of the mode) varies significantly across the distances from home to university. Data analysis and explanation The project received 35 responses in all: 16 male and 19 female; 17 international students, 9 Iowa City students, 5 students from other places in Iowa and 4 students from other states; 16 graduate students and 19 undergraduate students. The project studies