Commuters' Characteristics and Opportunities for Policy Interventions

Abstract

Higher educational institutions (HEIs) traffic has been acknowledged as an important contributor to traffic and its externalities. In Nigeria, HEIs are mostly located in city outskirts and are mostly non-residential, thus becoming high traffic generators. This study attempted to understand the characteristics of commuters in HEIs settings in Nigeria. Two HEIs in a medium sized city were considered. Using a questionnaire survey targeted at 10% of staff population, respondents provided information about their regular commute mode, commute time, and socio-economic background. Data extracted from the survey were analysed using SPSS. ANOVA, Chi-square, t-test and descriptive analyses were done. The study found that for these HEIs, socio-economic and the four commute characteristics considered were similar across gender. It also found that a very high proportion of respondents (67.1%) used private vehicles as their regular commute mode against 13% who used public transport. Moreover, respondents who joined other staff to work in their vehicles (a form of carpooling) were more than those who used public transport, being 19.4%. This study concluded that these HEIs were contributing significantly to traffic. Therefore, policy makers would need to consider the adoption of mitigating measures to minimize possible externalities that might result from increased traffic in this city and other similar ones.