Travel mode preference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: empirical observations

ABSTRACTThis research paper analyzes urban travel mode preference in Addis Ababa using a survey distributed to 457 public transit users. The article highlights the details of individual travel and then discusses the implications of the travel patterns for transport policy in the city. The study employed percentages and run multinomial logistic regression to analyze the relationship between mode choice, travel characteristics and socio-economic features of individuals. In terms of mode choice and the influential factors, the analysis shows that income, age, travel expenditure and distance are the determining factors that affect mode choice. It was also found that the privately owned public transport, Taxi (mini-bus) and Higer (midi-bus) form the dominant mode of transport used by closely half percent (41.3%) of the survey respondents. On the basis of our analysis, we suggest that policies have to be devised to make government owned public transport service better in order to support a shift from using low occupancy vehicles to high occupancy vehicles which ultimately solve the problem of congestion and environmental pollution.