ASSESSING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION OPTION AS A POTENTIAL SOLUTION TO
THE TRANSPORTATION CHALLENGES IN THE STATE OF KUWAIT
by
Esraa’ Ali Jamal
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF SCIENCE
in
THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
(Environmental Sciences)
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
(Okanagan)
June 2015
© Esraa’ Ali Jamal, 2015 Abstract
Transportation congestion is an increasingly important issue in modern urban planning. A sustainable transportation system should assure people’s safety, environmental protection, economic support, social justice, and accessibility for both people and goods. Kuwait is no exception to this challenge because rapid growth has increased the pressure on its existing transportation system. The objectives of this study are to understand the people’s awareness of transportation problems and the impact associated with them in Kuwait, to examine people’s perceptions of daily traffic congestion and how it affects them emotionally and physically in
Kuwait, and to study the attitude of Kuwaiti citizens and residents towards using the public bus service. An online survey was used to examine these factors and a sample of five hundred users was obtained. Balance adjusting technique was applied to correct and match the sample proportions with the population proportions. The study questions have been investigated by using the chi-square test for independence. The primary findings showed significant associations between use of the public bus and the users’ nationality, gender, age, education and income level. In relation to the existing public bus service, men are 2.6 times more likely to use it than are women, and non-Kuwaiti residents are 6.4 times more likely to use it than are Kuwaitis. In addition, the perception of daily traffic congestion varied among different nationalities. Kuwaitis perceptions of the daily commuting trips indicate that it consumes a large sum of time. Non-
Kuwaitis use of public transit is affected by the number of years they have been living in Kuwait.
The results of this study fill a gap in the knowledge of socioeconomic and cultural factors that may influence the success of potential sustainable solutions to the transportation challenges in the State of Kuwait.
ii Preface
This study has been reviewed by the University of British Columbia’s Research Ethics Board
(REB) and approved under the certificate number H14-00152.
iii Table of Contents Abstract ...... ii
Preface ...... iii
Table of Contents ...... iv
List of Tables ...... vii
List of Figures ...... viii
List of Graphs ...... x
Acknowledgment ...... xi
Chapter 1 Introduction ...... 1
1.1 Aims and Objectives ...... 3
1.2 Background: characteristics of the study area ...... 5
1.2.1 History of urbanization in Kuwait ...... 5
1.2.2 Topographic, demographic and economic features that support sustainable transportation
...... 9
1.2.3 Climate and economic barriers to a sustainable transportation system in Kuwait ...... 12
1.2.4 Cultural considerations affecting the transportation system ...... 14
1.3 Thesis Layout ...... 17
Chapter 2 Literature Review / Public transportation in Developing World and Kuwait ... 18
2.1 Traffic congestion in developing countries with special reference to Kuwait ...... 18
2.1.1 Public bus service in Kuwait ...... 24
2.2 Examples of congestion management in developing cities ...... 26
2.2.1 Jakarta, Indonesia ...... 26
iv 2.2.3 Istanbul, Turkey ...... 27
2.2.4 Dubai, United Arad Emirates ...... 27
2.3 Investigating drivers for choice of transportation mode ...... 28
2.4 Considerations for sustainable congestion management ...... 29
2.5 Theory of public surveying ...... 31
2.6 Theory of balancing survey data ...... 35
Chapter 3 Methodology ...... 36
3.1 Research methodology and Design ...... 36
3.2 Data analysis and validation of significance ...... 39
3.3 Ethical consideration ...... 40
Chapter 4 Results ...... 41
4.1 Demographics ...... 41
4.2 Vehicles ownership and mode choice ...... 44
4.3 Attitude towards using public transportation ...... 47
4.4 Attitudes towards future public transportation projects ...... 51
4.5 Additional opinion ...... 54
4.6 Cross-classification display ...... 59
4.6.1 Mode choice, nationality, and gender ...... 59
4.6.2 Current and Future public transportation use ...... 61
4.6.3 Perception of daily traffic congestion ...... 67
4.7 Test of research hypotheses ...... 69
4.8 Test of research hypothesis after weight adjustment ...... 74
4.8.2 Test of the research hypothesis using the above weight factors: ...... 74
v 4.8.3 Compare the results of the weighted and un-weighted tests ...... 80
Chapter 5 Discussion ...... 82
5.1 Interpretation and implication of the results ...... 83
5.1.1 Non-significant factors ...... 83
5.1.2 Significant factors ...... 84
5.1.3 Cultural factors ...... 86
5.2 Limitations ...... 87
5.3 Future research ...... 88
5.4. Recommendations ...... 89
5.4.1 Other considerations ...... 91
Chapter 6 Conclusion ...... 93
References ...... 95
Appendices ...... 110
Appendix A: Questionnaire form ...... 110
Appendix B: Test of hypotheses ...... 130
Appendix C: Test of hypotheses after weight balancing ...... 147
vi List of Tables
TABLE 1: NATIONALITY AND PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATION OF NON-KUWAITIS ...... 17
TABLE 2: TRAVEL TIME WITH/WITHOUT CONGESTION FOR SOME POPULAR AREA IN KUWAIT ...... 22
TABLE 3: THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE DISTRIBUTION METHODS ...... 34
TABLE 4: SURVEY SAMPLE WEIGHTING CALCULATION ...... 35
TABLE 5: COMMUTING TRIP MODE SPLIT BY NATIONALITY AND GENDER ...... 60
TABLE 6: COMMUTING TRIP SPLIT BY MODE OF TRANSPORTATION ...... 60
TABLE 7: PUBLIC BUS RIDERSHIP SPLIT BY NATIONALITY AND GENDER ...... 61
TABLE 8: THE FREQUENCY OF USING THE PUBLIC BUS SPLIT BY NATIONALITY AND GENDER ...... 63
TABLE 9: SPSS OUTPUT FOR KMT AND NATIONALITY CROSS TABULATION ...... 69
TABLE 10: SPSS OUTPUT FOR CHI-SQUARE TEST ...... 70
TABLE 11: SPSS OUTPUT FOR THE AWARENESS ABOUT KMT PROJECT AND NATIONALITY ...... 75
TABLE 12: SPSS OUTPUT FOR CHI-SQUARE TEST ...... 75
TABLE 13: THE TEST STATISTICS RESULTS OF BALANCED AND UNBALANCED DATA ...... 81
vii List of Figures
FIGURE 1: MAP OF THE STATE OF KUWAIT...... 3
FIGURE 2: THE LOCATION OF THE THREE WALLS THAT SURROUNDED THE OLD CITY OF KUWAIT. .... 7
FIGURE 3: EVERYDAY TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN KUWAIT ON THE FOURTH RING ROAD ...... 9
FIGURE 4: THE WORLD MAP SHOWING A MAGNIFIED-SECTION OF KUWAIT ...... 10
FIGURE 5: A GENERAL MAP OF THE STATE OF KUWAIT SHOWING THE URBAN AREA ...... 11
FIGURE 6: POPULATION TREND IN KUWAIT 1960- 1998 ...... 16
FIGURE 7: THE SPACE USED BY THE SAME NUMBER OF PASSENGERS OF BUSES, BIKES, AND CARS. . 24
FIGURE 8: PARTICIPANTS GENDER IN RELATION TO THEIR NATIONALITY ...... 42
FIGURE 9: THE AGE OF PARTICIPANTS...... 43
FIGURE 10: THE INCOME LEVEL OF PARTICIPANTS...... 43
FIGURE 11: THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF PARTICIPANTS ...... 43
FIGURE 12: NUMBER OF FAMILY MEMBERS WITH A DRIVER LICENSE...... 44
FIGURE 13: NUMBER OF CARS OWNED BY THE FAMILY OF RESPONDENT...... 45
FIGURE 14: THE TIME CONSUMED DURING THE TRIP TO WORK/SCHOOL FROM PARTICIPANTS...... 45
FIGURE 15: THE DISTANCE FROM HOME TO WORK/SCHOOL FOR PARTICIPANTS...... 46
FIGURE 16: FEELINGS TOWARD DRIVING/ RIDING FOR THE PURPOSE OF COMMUTING...... 47
FIGURE 17: FEELING TOWARD DRIVING/ RIDING FOR NON-COMMUTING PURPOSES...... 47
FIGURE 18: TOP THREE REASONS FOR NOT USING THE PUBLIC BUS IN KUWAIT...... 49
FIGURE 19: PARTICIPANTS’ OPINION ON WHY THEY WOULD NOT USE PUBLIC BUSES...... 50
FIGURE 20: PATTERN OF USING THE AVAILABLE PUBLIC BUS IN KUWAIT...... 50
FIGURE 21: STUDENTS RESPONDENTS’ OPINION ON USING FREE BUS TRANSPORT ...... 51
FIGURE 22: PARTICIPANTS OPINION ON THE FUTURE USE OF THE KMRT PROJECT...... 52
viii FIGURE 23: PARTICIPANTS OPINION ON WHY NOT TO USE THE KMRT SYSTEM IF APPLIED...... 53
FIGURE 24: OPINION ON WHY THEY HAD USED A PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ABROAD ...... 54
FIGURE 25: PARTICIPANTS OPINION ON THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT LOCAL ISSUES ...... 55
FIGURE 26: PARTICIPANTS OPINIONS ON THE THREE TRANSPORTATION ISSUES ...... 56
FIGURE 27: PARTICIPANTS OPINION ON THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT CONGESTION ISSUES ...... 56
FIGURE 28: OPINION ON HOW TO SOLVE THE CONGESTION PROBLEMS OF PARTICIPANTS...... 57
FIGURE 29: PUBLIC BUS USERS BY NATIONALITY ...... 62
FIGURE 30: PUBLIC BUS USERS BY GENDER...... 62
FIGURE 31: PUBLIC BUS USERS IN RELATION TO THEIR INCOME LEVEL...... 64
FIGURE 32: PUBLIC BUS USERS IN RELATION WITH THEIR EDUCATION LEVEL...... 65
FIGURE 33: OPINION OF PARTICIPANTS ABOUT USING THE PUBLIC BUS SERVICE ...... 66
FIGURE 34: FUTURE USE OF THE PROPOSED METRO PROJECT SPLIT BY NATIONALITY...... 66
FIGURE 35: FEELINGS ABOUT THE MORNING COMMUTING TRIPS AND THE TIME SPENT ...... 68
FIGURE 36: TIME SPENT IN MORNING COMMUTING TRIPS IN COMPARISON TO THE DISTANCE ...... 68
ix List of Graphs
Graph 1: Monthly mean high and low temperature (C°) in the State of Kuwait….….. 13
Graph 2: Average rainfall (mm) for the State of Kuwait………………………….….. 13
x Acknowledgment
This thesis would never come to an end without the assistance of many people.
I thank Kuwait University for the financial support that made my graduate studies possible.
I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my supervisor Dr. David Scott, for his excellent guidance, constant help and compassionate. His teaching technique of “self-depending” will have a very lasting effect in my academic life. I thank my committee members, Dr. Gordon
Lovegrove and Dr. Kevin Hanna, for guiding my studies for the past years specially in developing the methodological part of this thesis. Special thanks, to Dr. Jason Pither for expanding my statistical background and patiently answering my many questions. I thank Dr.
Mark Holder for his insights on developing and launching my online survey. I thank Dr. Sylvia
Esterby for her statistical consultation. I am extremely grateful to Amanda Brobbel for her valuable advices about the overall structure of the thesis and specific directions on editing.
I also thank Dr. Abdirashid Elmi from Kuwait University for his patience, hours of brain storming, and his unconditional support. I also want to thank Dr. Meshari Al-Harbi from Kuwait
University for his administrative, academic, and personal support.
Special thanks to my colleagues Husnain Haider, Holli-Anne Passmore, and Ellen Morrison... without your help this work would be the impossible mission.
Thanks to my friends Manal, Lamesse, Mefatije Dougolli, Walaa and their families… You are a home away from home.
xi
Mother, Father, Sisters, Brother and in-laws… One list is never enough to include everything I wish to thank you for but I shall thank you for your prayers that I am sure it ended things differ and better.
Abdullah, Taibah, Zainah, Mohammad, and my future children… Thank you for being my biggest motivation.
xii
Chapter 1 Introduction
Modern urban transportation1 has been proven to cause many environmental and socio- economic problems (Banister et al., 2011; Creighton, 1980; Elmi & Al-Rifai, 2011;
Gakenheimer, 1999; Gwilliam, 2003; Litman, 2013; Masood et al., 2011; Moskvitch, 2014;
Pucher et al., 2005 Rodrigue, 2013; Verma & Dash, 2011). More problems have emerged with the growth in demand for transport and the reduction in prices of private vehicles.
Environmental problems associated with transportation include noise, air pollution, water pollution from road drainage, impacts on biodiversity, soil quality and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Gwilliam, 2003; Pucher et al., 2005; Litman, 2013; Verma & Dash, 2011). Other socio-economic issues include traffic congestion, socio-economic impacts (Elmi & Al-Rifai,
2011; Moskvitch, 2014; Pucher et al., 2005), traffic safety, and human health risk (Banister et al.,
2011; Moskvitch, 2014; Pucher et al., 2005; Rodrigue, 2013).
Kuwait is no exception to this problem. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the
Arabian Gulf region. It is expected to continue to experience rapid growth in the near future as a result of the new government vision aimed at transforming Kuwait into a financial and commercial global hub attracting investment (ADAA, 2013; Elmi & Al-Rifai, 2011). Rapid growth has already increased the pressure on the existing transportation system. Traffic congestion has risen to unacceptable levels leading to degradation of the quality of life and the environment. Therefore, there is a need for appropriate policies, plans, and projects to provide a safe, affordable, and efficient transportation system (i.e. means and equipment necessary for the
1The term “Modern Urban Transportation” will be replaced by “transportation” in the remaining of the document for simplicity.
1 movement of both people and goods) to attain sustainable environmental development objectives in Kuwait.
Public transportation projects are typically one of the best options for solving transportation challenges. These projects are important because they are considered to be relatively convenient, efficient, time saving, and environmentally friendly means of transport.
The development and application of new public transportation projects has changed the rhythm of life in large cities around the globe for example Yogyakarta/Indonesia, Singapore,
Istanbul/Turkey, Berlin, Germany, Copenhagen/ Denmark, Hong Kong/China, New York
City/United State, Seoul/Korea, London/England, Taipei/Taiwan, Tokyo/Japan, and
Moscow/Russia. Such cities seek to keep up with the requirements of development not only by reducing traffic congestion, but also by creating new cultural activities, communities, and tourism (Dirgahayani, 2013; Girnau and Blennemann, 1989; Lam and Toan, 2006). Modern cities cannot dispense with public transport networks because this service, for a large segment of the population, is the artery of their lives and conduit for daily movements. Demand for public transportation services is increasing with the rapid expansion of Kuwait City2 sprawl (Figure 1) accompanied by more population attracted to live in the city. The absence of such services halts business activity and paralyses the lives of large numbers of people.
2 In this document Kuwait city is referring to the old and first urban cluster in the country, which is the capital of Kuwait.
2
Figure 1: Map of the State of Kuwait. The star shows the location of the capital city. (Source: © World Atlas, 2014. http://www.worldatlas.com)
1.1 Aims and Objectives
The intention of this study is to concentrate on the user perspectives, to provide a comprehensive and a sustainable solution to the transportation problems in the State of Kuwait.
Kuwait has used and continues to use foreign consulting companies to conduct its master and transport plans. Those consultants recommend solutions and plans from their home countries that are successful for a population with completely different characteristics and situation than
Kuwait (Hutchinson, 1990). Also current studies focus on maximizing road capacity (UNDP,
2009), whereas sustainable solutions should consider many interrelated factors including environmental, social, cultural, and economic. I intend to fill the gaps in knowledge surrounding the socioeconomic aspects for a future, comprehensive and sustainable solution. The results of this study will aid to have a better understanding of the present public transportation system status in Kuwait and the drivers behind users’ choice. By this it will provide a primary database
3 that can be used to implement more efficient and cost-effective public transportation planning solutions across the State of Kuwait. The main objectives of this study are to:
1. Understand the people’s awareness of transportation problems and the impact associated
to these problems in Kuwait.
2. Examine people’s perceptions of daily traffic congestion and how it affects them
emotionally and physically in Kuwait.
3. Study the attitude of Kuwaiti citizens and residents towards using the public bus service.
The main research hypotheses are:
1. Is awareness of future transportation projects (i.e., KMRT) different between Kuwaitis &
non-Kuwaitis?
2. Does the use of public transportation abroad, affect peoples’ use of Public Transit in
Kuwait?
3. Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Kuwait different between Kuwaitis &
non-Kuwaitis?
4. Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Kuwait different between male &
female?
5. Does the use of public transit differ between Kuwaitis & non-Kuwaitis?
6. Does the use of the public transit differ between males and females?
7. Does the use of the public transit differ between different income levels?
8. Does the use of the public transit differ between different education levels?
9. Does the use of the public transit differ between different age categories?
4 10. Does the use of public transit affected by the number of years non-Kuwaiti participants
have been living in Kuwait?
1.2 Background: characteristics of the study area
This section gives the reader a wider picture of Kuwait’s history, city design, climate, topography, demography and other aspects that can help to explain the socioeconomic situation, environmental consideration, and the current transportation system. It demonstrates the historical background of the emergence of Kuwait city in the 1700s, its design, and features of
Kuwait that are supportive of or barriers to the application of a sustainable transportation system.
Finally, the cultural and social aspects, which are having a great influence on the people’s attitude, are discussed.
1.2.1 History of urbanization in Kuwait
The focus of this historical account will be on the experience of planning Kuwait’s metropolitan area and its master plans through time. In this regard, the history of Kuwait is described in two parts, i.e. before and after the discovery of crude oil in the country.
Before the discovery of oil and according to historical studies, there are many dates regarding the formation of Kuwait. Most of the sources refer to the formation as occurring during the pre-oil discovery period of 1669 – 1710, where the first settlement appeared (Al-Atiqi,
2009; Al Azmi, 2000; Haywood, 1989; Kuwait National Assembly [KNA], 2014). For their livelihoods, the early inhabitants relied on the sea, for fishing, pearling and trading, and on the
5 desert to graze their animals. This stage extends from the establishment of Kuwait until the beginning of the 1950s.
Periodically and repeatedly, Kuwait was subject to raiders who came to plunder its resources and control strategic location on the corner of the Arabian Gulf. Kuwaitis maintained the protection of their city by building walls around it. The old Kuwait City looks like many other Arabic and Islamic cities of that time. These include defensive walls to protect it from external attacks; irregular narrow roads to provide natural air circulation and shade for pedestrians; compact housing to lower the effect of sandstorms, increase the sense of community and improve security. The main feature of that period, regarding city planning, is that the government, local institutions and seniors planned the urban area (Planning, at that time, was mainly about identifying the location of new facilities and extend of the urban development, and facilitating everyday life’s affairs) (Al Azmi, 2000). It also included the establishment of the
Municipal Council in 1930 (Kuwait Municipality, 2009).
The development of modern Kuwait can be dated back to the discovery of oil in 1914.
The discovery of oil and the growth of the petroleum industry transformed Kuwait from a poor pearl-fishing community into a rich oil-production country (Stanton et al., 2012). Since that time, the political life and the oil production have been influenced by many international crises and local events, such as the formation of the Kuwait Oil Company in 1914, the Ibn Saud attack in 1920, independence from Britain in 1961, the cessation of the investment in oil by the second world war in 1942, and the resumption of the exportation of oil in 1946 (Haywood, 1989). In the early fifties, Kuwait experienced political stability and economic prosperity, which encouraged the Amir (Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah) to aspire to build the modern State of Kuwait; he called
6 for development of a master plan for Kuwait’s urban area in 1951 (Alabd-Alrazag, 2002). The proposed scheme suggested removing the walls surrounding the city and the construction of three major ring roads to replace the walls (Figure 2) (Al-Azmi, 2000; Haywood, 1989).
Figure 2: A map showing the location of the three walls that surrounded the old City of Kuwait which become major ring roads after the first Master Plan (Retrieved from .(الكويت-بوابات-http://www.archofkuwait.com/kuwait-gates
In 1952, the Amir approved the proposed plan and the city walls were demolished in
1954 (Al-Azmi, 2000; Haywood, 1989). Although the walls have been removed and the city developments expanded, Kuwait continued to have “city-state” characteristics; for example, the old city center contains most of the development from which it spreads without recognizable physical or natural obstacles (Al-Azmi, 2000; Al-Marzog, 1977). The demolishing project is considered to have been the first highway development in the State of Kuwait (Hutchinson,
1990). The urban area and the population continued to grow beyond the expected levels of the
1951 Master Plan resulting in the need for the Second Master Plan in 1971. Unfortunately, the
7 growth kept exceeding expectations leading to two major revisions of the Second Plan in 1977 and 1983. The focus of the two-revised plans and the second master plan were on expanding the urban development and the transportation network of radial roads and ring roads (Haywood,
1989; Kuwait Municipality, 2009). In 1997, the third master plan was developed in order to cover the deficiencies of the previous plans, however it did not achieve many of its objectives
(Al-Azmi, 2000). Currently the fourth Master Plan is under development by the Kuwait
Municipality Council (Kuwait Municipality, 2009).
This period has been characterized by moving from the random pattern of planning in the pre-oil period based on local elders’ suggestion towards a systematic planning by contracts with western planning companies to conduct Master plans. This has caused significant differences in the form and elements within the old city. Moreover, the spread of the new urban areas, which were planned by foreigners from English architecture schools, has transformed the social life and the environment of Kuwait (Al-Azmi, 2000). Although the objectives of the first and second master plan were intended to accompany the rapid population growth by encouraging the development of new cities, this did not occur. To date, the proposed new suburbs are either under-development or were never developed. As such, the vas majority of economic and transportation activity remains focused on the old city, meaning heavy congestion in the old city, central city area. To sum up, these historical stages point to the need for a better infrastructure and transportation system to accommodate the population growth of Kuwait’s urban area, and to reduce the impacts on the environment associated with the urban sprawl (Figure 3).
8
Figure 3: Everyday traffic congestion in Kuwait on the fourth ring road, which is one of the main routes to schools, workplaces and the capital of Kuwait (retrieved from http://www.bananaq8.com/tag/).
1.2.2 Topographic, demographic and economic features that support a sustainable transportation system in Kuwait
Kuwait is a small constitutional monarchy that has an elected parliament and six main administrative districts known locally as governorates (Al Jahra, Al Asmimah, Al Farwaniya,
Hawalli, Mubarak Al Kabeer, and Al Ahmadi). Kuwait is located in the northwestern corner of the Arabian Gulf, and is bordered by Iraq to the north and northwest, Saudi Arabia to the south and southwest, and the Arabian Gulf to the west (Figure 4). It is famous for its flat topography and slightly uneven desert. The land slopes gradually up from the sea level at the eastern coast of the Arabian Gulf to the west and the southwest. The height of the southwestern corner reaches 300 meters above the sea level (Al-Yagout et al., 2012; KGO, 2013; United Nation
Development Program [UNDP], 2009). This topography supports the urban development to
9 grow easily, but the emergence of new obstacles (such as oil-reservoir areas) has restricted the inward urban growth trends and associates it with the coastline (Figure 5) (Al Azmi, 2000). In general, flat topography can make transportation projects easier to construct and/or to improve and more efficient to operate.
Figure 4: The world map showing a magnified-section (on the bottom) of the state of Kuwait’s location (source: Google map, 2014)
10
Figure 5: A general map of the State of Kuwait showing the urban area with a magnified-section (on the right) of the economic and residential center (source: KOG, 2013).
Kuwait’s population reached over 3.4 million in 2013 (including approximately 30.16%
Kuwaiti citizens, 67% non-Kuwaiti nationals/ permanent residents, and 2.84% stateless persons)
(KOG, 2013; World Bank, 2014). The economic activities of Kuwait are mainly located in the urban area and 99% of the population lives there as well (Figure 5). This concentration occupies only 8 to 10% of the total area of the country (Total area of Kuwait is 17,818 km²) (Al-Yagout et al., 2012; Al-Ziyab and Akhtar, 2011). The concentration and mixed land use characteristics provide an ideal environment for an efficient public transportation operation because it incorporates features to encourage ridership.
Kuwait is characterized as a small, rich, open economy with an abundance of crude oil that is exclusively owned by the state. The economy depends heavily on oil exports. Oil returns account for 90% of government income, 95% of exports and 50% of the state Gross Domestic
Product GDP (The composition of the other GDP’s half is from agriculture 0.3% industries 0.6% and services 49.1%) Kuwait’s GDP reached 183.2 $ billion in 2012 with a yearly average increase of 3.73% from 1963 to 2012 (Ramadhan et al., 2013; World Bank, 2014). With this
11 strong economy, Kuwait has no concern regarding the necessary financing for efficient transportation systems. It has been noted that the government should take greater concerns towards sustainable planning and development (Al-Kulaib et al., 2009; El Mallakh, 1966).
1.2.3 Climate and economic barriers to a sustainable transportation system in Kuwait
Due to the location of Kuwait in a desert region, its continental climate consists of hot, dry and long summers with strong winds blowing, causing dust storms that cover the city with sand. Summer extends from May to November with average daily high temperatures ranging from 42 to 48 ℃ (Graph 1); a temperature of 53.8 ℃ was recorded in July 2012. In contrast
Kuwait has massive variances between winter and summer. The winter seasons are cool and short with temperature varying from -6 ℃ in the night to 17 ℃ in the daytime (Graph: 1). The winter rains are irregular and vary from year to year, with an average of 114 millimeters a year accompanied with brief yet strong thunderstorms (KOG, 2013; Ramadhan et al., 2013; US,
1961) (Graph 2). Essentially, these special climatic conditions should be considered in planning any future transportation projects in order for it to be successful.
12 Month
Graph 1: Monthly mean high and low temperature (C°) in the State of Kuwait. Source
http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Kuwait-City-weather-averages/Al-
Kuwayt/KW.aspx
Graph 2: Average rainfall (mm) for the State of Kuwait. Source
http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Kuwait-City-weather-averages/Al-
Kuwayt/KW.aspx
13 The economic situation also should be considered for future planning. While constant budget excesses from the oil industry, as discussed in the previous section, underlines Kuwait’s strong economic position, it also brings out the weakness of the government in spending within the domestic economy (El Mallakh, 1966). Vital facilities and services in the country such as health, education, housing, transportation and power generation are suffering from ageing and are unable to cover the current demand (After disappointments, 2015; KCCI, 2012; Mohammad,
2014). This situation is the result of the government corruption and the carry on political conflicts associated with that in the country (KCCI, 2012). There is a need to direct more spending toward the infrastructure development projects and renovating the present infrastructure (Ramadhan et al., 2013).
1.2.4 Cultural considerations affecting the transportation system
In order to have a complete picture of the situation, an important matter has to be discussed which is neither a supportive factor nor a barrier, but rather a neutral element to consider; understanding the psychological and behavioral aspects of people living in Kuwait, including residents, are key elements to the success of any public transportation system in the country.
After the oil boom period and with the rapid economic development and the approval of the first Master Plan, an urgent need has appeared for more specialists and professionals in all areas in order for Kuwait to flourish. More and more foreign workers have been attracted to seek job opportunities, leading to a rapid population growth (Al-Kanderi, 1986; El Mallakh, 1966;
Ghabra, 1997). On the other hand, Kuwaitis have become more attracted to government work due to its expansion of institutions and civil services. These new positions do not require a great
14 effort, but are profitable, encouraging them to leave their old jobs and crafts (Al-Marzog, 1977).
Kuwaitis are increasingly becoming a minority in their own country with 67% of the total population comprised of non-Kuwaitis, who are considered to be temporary residents
(Hutchinson, 1990; KOG, 2013; Stanton et al., 2012; World Bank, 2014).
The population growth and rise of economic standards were accompanied with a growth in the private vehicle ownership rate (Elmi & Al Rifai, 2011). The number of vehicles is increasing on roads that were constructed to handle a much smaller population in the 1950s (first
Master Plan). In a study to evaluate the capacity of Kuwait’s streets, Al Trajee in his 2012 study, showed that the average length of all the vehicles on the roads (if lined up) is longer than the total length of roads in Kuwait (Figure 3). The roads were designed to accommodate 700,000 cars and there have been few significant increases in their capacity (Traffic in Kuwait, 2012).
Today, there are nearly two million vehicles (i.e., about three times greater than the design capacity) with a yearly increase of 120,000 cars (KUNA 2007) (unfortunately, there are no data about who actually owns and/or drives cars in Kuwait, but with simple calculations and using the
2011 Kuwait Census, we can estimate roughly the percentage of the drivers’ nationality. By dividing the total population to Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti, and then excluding the younger population under the legal age of driving in both populations, we can say that the drivers’ nationality split is 25% Kuwaitis and 75% non-Kuwaitis). This growth in demand is constantly challenging officials to supply convenient services. The imbalance between supply and demand led to the emergence of transportation problems and has increased the need to improve both the transport infrastructure and public transportation sector in Kuwait.
This rapid increase in the population (from foreign workers) is affecting the transportation system, not only by vehicle numbers and congestion rate, but also by the users’ behavioral patterns (i.e. habit to use a certain mode, trips purpose, past experiences, attitudes,
15 personality traits, etc.). A quick look at the population growth rates (Figure 6; Table 1) clearly shows the great strain on the transportation system in the country as well as the diverse backgrounds of non-Kuwaitis in the national population (Hutchinson, 1990). This should bring our attention to the fact that there are important differences, socially and economically, between the two populations (Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti). My study aims to understand these differences in order to outline the users’ behavior in relation to the transportation system and the elements that affect their choices, in order to create a more sustainable transportation system and community.
Count
Year
Figure 6: Population trend in Kuwait 1960- 1998 (We can notice a low peak in the population of 1991, especially from non-Kuwaitis, due to the Iraqi invasion’s effects. Source: http://www.linz.jp/GulfPop/gulfpopeng.html
16 Table 1: Nationality and percentage of the population of non-Kuwaitis living in Kuwait
Continent of origin Number* % Within non- %Within Kuwaiti General population population Asia 1,157,214 61.7 37.7 Arab 620,132 33 20.2 Africa 57,245 3 1.8 Europe 17,457 0.9 0.5 South America 5,314 0.2 0.1 Australia 1,323 0.07 0.04 Total 1,874,618 100 61 *Source: Kuwait Census (2011).
1.3 Thesis Layout
This study is organized in six chapters. The First Chapter gives the reader the necessary information to understand the development of the transportation sector and the current situation in the State of Kuwait, which will provide the contextual framework for the study. Chapter Two consists of the Literature Review divided in five subsections which are the traffic congestion in the developing world and Kuwait, examples of developing cities that have implemented public transit network, drivers behind mode choice, consideration for sustainable solution of the congestion problem, and finally theory of the used methodology. Chapter Three presents the process of the methodology and the design of the online-survey. Chapter Four includes a descriptive analysis of the data, test of research hypotheses and presentation of findings. Chapter
Five will discuss interpretation and implications of the findings, research limitations, and future research. Chapter six presents the conclusion.
17 Chapter 2 Literature Review / Public transportation in Developing World and
Kuwait
This Chapter is divided into five main sections. The first section will discuss traffic congestion in developing countries, with a summary of some common features of their transportation systems, and including more details about the transportation system in Kuwait in relation to the common features discussed in developing countries. Also it elaborates on the development of the current public transit system in Kuwait and its current status. The second section presents some examples for cities in the developing world that have solved their transportation problems by applying public transportation projects. Also it will discuss the state of the current public bus system in Kuwait. The third section explores the aspects behind the users’ mode choice process. The fourth section reviews some other possible solutions for transportation problems. Finally, the last section will investigate the theory of using surveys in qualitative and social studies, including data balancing technique.
2.1 Traffic congestion in developing countries with special reference to Kuwait
A major crisis is facing today's cities in developing countries3. The problem of transportation has become more complex over time and needs urgent solutions. The movement of both people and goods is slow, costly, unpleasant, and unsafe (Creighton, 1980; Gakenheimer,
1999; Masood et al., 2011; Verma & Dash, 2011). Congestion is not only complicated from the
3 According to the World Bank (2014) classifications, developing countries are “countries with low or middle levels of gross national product per capita as well as the five high-income developing economies Hong Kong (China), Israel, Singapore, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. These five economies are classified as developing despite their high per capita income because of their economic structure or the official opinion of their governments.”
18 users’ point of view but also contributes to air pollution, poor health, and economic cost
(Moskvitch, 2014; Pucher et al., 2005). The main conflict is arising between those responsible for transportation planning and those responsible for making political decisions (Creighton,
1980; Gakenheimer, 1999; Vasconcellos, 2000). The conflict could be raised from the high budget planners allocate to their projects and the un-clarity of plans, purposes, and benefits to politicians. Developing countries vary in their transport and traffic characteristics, which make it difficult to explain each region within developing countries separately. But, there are some similarities among those countries that can help in understanding current transportation and congestion situations. Some common features of the transportation sector in developing countries include:
• Rapid increase of urban population in most developing countries (Coast, 2002;
Preston, 1979). Currently, there are about four hundred millionaire cities around
the world; 70% of the millionaire cities are within developing countries (Cohen,
2015).
• Rapid increase in vehicle ownership and income level. The average growth rate
in vehicle ownership is 15-20 % per year in most developing countries (Dargay et
al., 2007; Pucher et al., 2005; Kutzbach, 2009).
• Mobility (number of trips made per person per day) and accessibility (the ability
to reach daily needs and destinations) in developing countries is less than found in
developed ones. (Dargay et al., 2007; Koizumia et al., 2013; Zegras, &
Gakenheimer, 2006).
19 • Usage of road infrastructure by all different modes of transportation from
motorized to non-motorized, including animal carts and cycle rickshaws in some
Asian cities. (Pucher et al., 2005; Vasconcellos, 2000/2014).
• Poor road infrastructure conditions for pedestrian traffic (Briceño et al., 2004;
Transport, communications, 2012; Pucher et al., 2005; Vasconcellos, 2000/2014)
and lack of maintenance (Gwilliam, 2003).
• Poor mass transport network (Transport and communications, 2012; Pucher et al.,
2005; Verma and Dash, 2011).
• Deterioration of the environmental conditions. These include high levels of Lead
(PB), Particular Matter (PM), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2),
and Sulfates (SO4) (Gwilliam, 2003; Pucher et al., 2005) as well as high levels of
noise (Pucher et al., 2005).
• In developing countries, roads are of limited capacity compared to those in
developed countries (Pucher et al., 2005; Vasconcellos, 2014).
• Developing countries have the worst record for transport-related crashes and
injuries. The rate of injuries is increasing at twice the rate in developed countries
(WHO, 2013)
• Lack of transportation expertise, including proper agencies and planners. There is
also conflict in duties among responsible institutions (Mzee et al., 2012;
Vasconcellos, 2000/2014).
• Lack of traffic controls and enforcement of the traffic laws such as stop at
crosswalk, stop at red lights, parking on sidewalks, speed limits, obey lane lines
and annual car testing (Gwilliam, 2003; Masood, 2011).
20 All of the above factors point to the importance of better planning for transportation, traffic, and public transportation in order to increase safety, accessibility, and mobility as well as to reduce any related effects on the environment, economy, and social life.
As is the case in most developing countries, many of the previous features apply to the case of Kuwait. But to be mentioned, that being a rich oil producer country with relatively small population facilitate in providing a high quality infrastructure, which make the situation in
Kuwait is much better than most poor crowded developing countries. Otherwise, the first similarity of Kuwait to developing countries that can be mentioned is the rapidly increasing number of vehicles and the levels traffic congestion (“Traffic in Kuwait”, 2012), as noted in section 1.1.4. Moreover, bad weather conditions (i.e. high temperatures, sandstorms and dust), the use of foreign companies to plan the urban area (Hutchinson, 1990; Koushki et al., 2002), rapid population increases, and high per capita income (Elmi & Al Rifai, 2011; Hutchinson,
1990; Koushki et al., 2002) have resulted in the predominance of the private vehicles. Other factors that encourage the use of private vehicles include the affordability of vehicles, low petroleum prices (Elmi & Al Rifai, 2011), low operational quality of buses, the door-to-door feature of private vehicles, and the status aspects of owning a vehicle.
The second main similarity of Kuwait to developing countries is an increase in the rate of road accidents. In 2012, the total number of accidents was 86,542, with 459 persons killed and
9,959 persons injured (Kuwait Central Statistical Bureau, 2012) which is a 31.4 % rise over 2 years. Al-Rukaibi et al. (2007) found strong shortcomings in the driver’s traffic education in
Kuwait and they concluded that most accidents occur because of traffic violations, especially speeding and running a red light. Injuries from traffic crashes are an enormous social and economic burden, with global estimates that economic impact approaches 5% of GDP.
21 A major economic problems related to congestion is travel time. The massive congestion
of roads in Kuwait affects many facets of Kuwaiti lives. A recent study measured the average
travel time from Shuwaikh city to some popular destinations in Kuwait with and without
congestion (Al Qabas newspaper, 2012) (Table 2). Not surprisingly, the results showed longer
travel times during congestion ranging from 267% to a peak of 600% for the trip from Shuwaikh
to the Ministries Complex (6.3 km) during congestion. No study was found that could provide
understanding of how the congestion in Kuwait affects the people emotionally and physically
which the current literature neglected pointing to.
Table 2: Travel time calculation with/without congestion for some popular area in Kuwait
Destination Distance Travel time Increase
(Km) Without congestion With congestion in travel
(Normal hours)* (rush hours)* time (%)
Fahaheel - Shuwaikh 34.09 30- 35 min 130 min 400%
Sha’ab Seaside – Shuwaikh 13.2 12 min 60 min 500%
Sheraton Kuwait – Shuwaikh 3.78 8 min 45 min 562.5%
Al Jabriya – Shuwaikh 7.88 20-30 min 90 min 360%
Salwa – Shuwaikh 13.9 30 min 80 min 266.7%
Al Salmiya – Shuwaikh 12.65 25-30 min 120 min 436.4%
Ministries Complex – Shuwaikh 6.3 15 min 90 min 600%
* Source: Al Qabas newspaper (2012).
In addition to the above-mentioned socioeconomic issues, congestion causes significant
environmental impacts. Global emissions of Green House Gases (GHGs) have increased by
22 about 70% since 1990 (Kyoto Protocol 2004). Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the largest source of
GHG’s, accounting for about 80% of the total GHG emissions. Internationally, the largest growth in CO2 emissions has come from power generation and road transport (Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], 2007). This fact makes the transportation sector a vital aspect to reduce Carbon emissions and to address the climate change challenge (Verma & Dash, 2011).
In Kuwait, transportation is the main source of air pollution and CO2 emissions (Al-Mutairi &
Koushki, 2009; Al-Rifai et al., 2012; Al-Salem & Khan, 2010). In 2010, CO2 emissions in
Kuwait reached 31.3 metric tons (MT) per capita compared to 17.6 MT and 14.7 MT in the
United State and Canada (The World Bank, 2010). In the same year, the transportation sector in
Kuwait was responsible for more than the third of that value (11.67 million metric tons) (IEA statistics, 2011).
The Government of Kuwait has signed several international agreements, such as the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 1992 and Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol 1998. In this regard, the Government of Kuwait should be working towards making major improvements in Kuwait’s environment by addressing the challenges of climate change and air pollution. A key opportunity for mitigating the GHG emissions associated with transportation is to reduce the numbers of vehicles on the road. This can be approached with a shift from the use of private vehicles to public transport (Litman, 2011) (Figure 7), and/or changes in land use planning to promote less use of private vehicles (Grammenos & Lovegrove,
2015). Of these two, this thesis will focus on public transport strategies. The efficient use of mass transport would contribute not only to minimizing congestion in Kuwait but also would reduce air pollution, health risk, and the threat to the economy of Kuwait (Mohammed, 2012) and other cities (Laffel, 2006).
23
Figure 7: Comparison between the space used by the same number of passengers when riding buses, bikes, and driving cars. Source: (CPF, 2013).
2.1.1 Public bus service in Kuwait
Although Kuwait has had a public bus system since 1962, people continue to rely on privately owned vehicles, leaving the bus fleet with limited users, which increases the number of cars on the roads (Al-Kulaib et al., 2009; Koushki et al., 2002). Basel Al-Loughani, the author of “Car history in Kuwait”, says that car publicity increased in Kuwait earlier in the thirties, about thirty years before the introduction of public buses (Personal communication, May 12,
2015). Moreover, the public bus system is affected by the fact that Kuwait is a car-oriented city
(i.e. movement of people is impractical without a car, because destinations are not easy to reach by walking, cycling or public transit, including poor accessibility to bus stations). The Kuwait
Public Transport Company KPTC was the exclusive provider of transit services for buses and limited ferries trips to some islands until 2002, when a private company (City Bus) started its services (City group, 2014; KOG, 2014). In 2005, another private company named Kuwait Gulf
Link KGL started its operation (KGL, 2014; KOG, 2014). In 2009, the Kuwait Chamber of
24 Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the official consultative institution for all economic affairs in the State of Kuwait, participated in a meeting organized by the Ministry of Interior to discuss a draft of the comprehensive national strategy for traffic in Kuwait. Following the meeting, a memorandum prepared by the KCCI included observations about the draft and presented some suggestions to be considered by the Ministry of Interior. One of the main observations was the problem of having multiple public transit companies in the country- the state has allowed two private companies along with the state official one to conduct transport services- using the same routs, bus stops, and stations. In addition the three companies compete to get a larger number of passengers, causing traffic disruption and increased congestion (KCCI, 2009). Another study by
Al-hajeeh (2012) analyzed traffic problems in Kuwait using Analytic Hierarchy Process, and found that efficient monitoring systems, strict enforcement of traffic rules and regulations, and encouraging public transportation use will contribute to minimizing the traffic problem, especially in reducing fatalities and injuries.
While the public transportation network in Kuwait consists almost entirely of bus routes, the idea of using trains as a mean of public transport is not new. A study by the Ministry of
Public Works (1978) indicated the need for a better public transit system than the existing one.
From time-to-time, announcements have been made about the development of a metro and a railway network project that will join the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members (Kuwait,
Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates), but to date no action has been taken.
25 2.2 Examples of congestion management in developing cities
Public transport options include buses, trolleybuses, trams and trains, rapid transit (above ground, at grade, and underground) and ferries. There is no single best option as each city is a unique case requiring context-sensitive solutions. In this section I present some examples from cities in developing regions that were experiencing rapid economic and population growth, and that had provided public transportation system solutions to solve their related problems of congestion.
2.2.1 Jakarta, Indonesia
Indonesia, located to the southeast of Asia, has experienced a rapid urbanization in its big cities such as Jakarta. Jakarta has grown to be one of the Asian’s mega cities (Ernst, 2006).
With the lack of facilities and job opportunities in rural areas, more people have moved to
Jakarta in a short period of time. In 2006, the density within each square kilometer was 13,526 comparable with 13,333 in Tokyo and 10,292 in New York. In the absence of proper public transit system people have switched toward owning private vehicles, leading to a serious congestion problem (Susilo, et al., 2007). Car and motorcycle ownership increased about three times from 1985 to 2002 in Jakarta alone. The government has used many traffic management policies to reduce the traffic congestion (such as high occupation vehicle policy) but none have had brought significant results except of the implementation of a bus rapid transit (BRT) system.
The BRT system started its operation in 2004 and has been a great success, as defined by: reduction in travel times, reduction in emissions levels, and increases in passengers and transit mode shares (Ernst, 2006; Susilo, Y et al., 2007).
26 2.2.3 Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul is the capital city as well as the largest urban settlement in Turkey. As in all growing cities in the developing world, traffic congestion is one of the major problems in
Istanbul. The population growth is 4.3%, annually and 31% of all private cars in Turkey are registered in Istanbul (Gercek et al., 2004). The Municipality of Istanbul faced a very difficult situation of serious congestion within the city. It worked on a big project to produce a master plan for the city of Istanbul that encouraged public participation and public transportation. The final product was the implementation of a suite of very successful public transportation services in the city, including: buses, minibuses, sea bus, metro, light rail rapid transit, funiculars, trams, suburban trains, and ferryboats (Bilisik et al., 2013; Gercek et al., 2004). Currently, 43% of the working force in Istanbul is using the public transit on a regular base (Celik et al., 2013).
2.2.4 Dubai, United Arad Emirates
In discussing transportation issues in Kuwait and the developing world, one has to mention Dubai’s experience in developing a high quality metro-system. Dubai city, located in the United Arab Emirates and one of the GCC countries, has also experienced rapid growth in its population and economy, resulting in increasing road traffic congestion. The metro system started as an idea in 1997, moved from initial studies in 2002 to infrastructure in 2004, which resulted in the first phase of an intra-city metro line in 2009 (Anthony et al., 2012). In an evaluation study conducted three weeks after the opening of Dubai’s Metro, a daily reduction of twenty thousand cars was observed. Since its launch, the number of metro users has risen from
1.8 million passengers to 3.3 million passengers in 2010, a growth rate of 183% (GDM, 2011).
27 The similarities between Dubai and Kuwait in cultural, climatic, road infrastructure, and other features, make it a good model for Kuwait’s planners to learn from.
2.3 Investigating drivers for choice of transportation mode
Travelers’ needs and decisions are affected by rapidly changing societal and lifestyle patterns (Beirao, & Cabral, 2007; Van, 2014). Therefore, understanding individuals’ behavior related to mode choice is one of the key elements for planning any transportation system (Jiang,
2011). In this section, factors that affect the users’ decisions toward transportation modes are reviewed.
Understanding the motivations behind users’ choices will assure successful and sustainable cities and transportation planning schemes. Mode choice is not only a function of socioeconomic factors (Beirao & Cabral, 2007; Idris, 2013; Popuri et al., 2011) and land use characteristics (Schwanen & Mokhtarian, 2004), but it is also affected by the users’ attitudes and perceptions (Beirao & Cabral, 2007; Idris, 2013; Popuri et al., 2011; Schwanen & Mokhtarian,
2004). Although researchers have indicated clear factors for mode choice, the process of modelling users’ choices is not a checklist process. The number of factors in the mode choice prediction model makes the process complex. The main factors in the choice of transportation mode are:
• Demographic factors: household size, age, gender, education level, race (Jiang, 2011;
Xia, 2009; Yun, 2011).
• Socio-economic factors: income level, worker status, vehicle ownership (Yun, 2001;
Jiang, 2011), availability of driving license (Xia, 2009).
28 • Socio-physiological factors: trip purpose (Guo & Shi, 2007), individual’s habit to use a
certain mode, past experiences, attitudes and personality traits (Idris, 2013), social
acceptance, individual’s emotional feelings, and benefits to the system user (Van, 2014).
• Level-of-service attributes: mode of transport, distance to destination, travel cost, travel
time (Sarker et al., 2002), and number of stops (Yun, 2011), travel speed, comfort, and
safety (Guo & Shi, 2007).
• Characteristic of the area: transit oriented development, vehicle oriented development,
neo-traditional development, mixed used compact city, rural area, urban area, suburban
sprawl, and the size of the area (Sarker et al., 2002).
2.4 Considerations for sustainable congestion management
There are many different ways to manage the traffic congestion problem. Solving the problem of traffic jams by expanding the traffic network (the western trend of planners in the
1960s) serves only to postpone the problem. More roads lead to increased costs in the long term, damage to the environment, more crashes and injuries, and more and more congested streets over time (Grammenos & Lovegrove, 2015; Elmi & Al-Rifai, 2011; Moskvitch, 2014; Tamin &
Prayudyanto, 307-316; Teodorovic & Orco, 2008). A traffic study in California showed that ninety percent of new highway capacity would be filled within the first five years of operation
(Moskvitch, 2014). Any solution should consider the concept of sustainability in order to comprehend all the aspects of the problem. A sustainable solution requires cooperation between transportation planners, land use planners, and traffic managers. So, what is sustainable development? The most widely used definition for sustainable development is that of
Brundtland’s (WCED, 1987) “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of
29 the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Researchers, urban planners, architects, and engineers, have been working to present new and sustainable solutions to address the transportation problem (Grammenos & Lovegrove, 2015).
The requirements of the communities have changed the way decision makers deal with the problem and force them to develop more practical solutions (Litman, 2013). One of the changes suggested by Jeon (2007) is to add a pillar to the three main pillars of sustainability (social, environmental, and economic) for transportation analysis, which is “System Effectiveness”. He also indicated the factors under each pillar as the following:
• System effectiveness factors for sustainability include system performance for
multimodal transportation systems such as regional highways and public transit systems.
• Environmental factors for sustainability include resource preservation (such as fossil
fuels and land), air and noise pollution prevention, and the greenhouse effect.
• Economic factors for sustainability include economic efficiency, financial affordability,
and regional economic development.
• Social factors for sustainability include social equity related to income and minority
groups, public health, safety and security, and accessibility to various services.
Addressing all the above factors will, certainly, improve the overall quality of life. Also Shiftan et al. (2003) suggested five individual factors that will determine whether progress in any transportation project will be sustainable or not:
30 • Spatial and land use patterns: the demand for travel is influenced by the size of the urban
area, building density, and the spread of activities within the urban area.
• Economic forces: transportation projects are sensitive to economic changes since many
transportation projects involve large capital investment.
• Technology: the technological aspects could contribute to sustainable transportation in
two ways. The first is by improving waste treatments and thus reducing pollution and
reduce travel through different method of communication. The second is through
investments in technological development for transportation.
• Government policy: The development of transportation projects and policies are strongly
related. Governments are involved through funding and planning those projects. So,
transportation projects will be directed through governments’ political priorities.
• Social and behavioural trends: human behaviour reflects a combination of habits,
practices and emotions. Personal values and norms affect directly the transportation
decision.
2.5 Theory of public surveying
A survey is a research mechanism designed to obtain information regarding how certain people feel, believe, or act on specific issues, products or services (Kazi, 2012). Sir Francis
Galton invented this technique in the 19th century. Since then, researchers, marketers, and government officials have used surveys frequently to efficiently collect comprehensive information. Surveys are one of the most widely used techniques to collect data in quantitative and qualitative research (Bryman et al., 2012; Kazi, 2012). Likewise, transportation planners have been using surveys in their transportation projects as a tool to collect needed data (Beirao &
31 Cabral, 2007; economic justice program, 2004; Idris, 2013; Leeuw, 2005; Popuri et al., 2011;
Schwanen & Mokhtarian, 2004; Talpur, 2012; Tyrinopoulos & Antoniou, 2013).
Transportation surveys are considered to be the best method for collecting data when little information is available (Leeuw, 2005; Talpur, et al., 2012) to support policy makers’ decisions (Talpur et al., 2012) and media’s campaigns (Economic justice program, 2004). A survey is thus appropriate for this study where there is limited information related to the public’s attitude toward the use of public transit, their awareness, and their perception of daily traffic congestion. Surveying the Kuwaiti community was considered to be the most accurate method to reflect public’s opinion to reach the stated objectives of the present study.
Like all other scientific methods and techniques, questionnaires have different design features; all of them possess their specific advantages and disadvantages. The design of the questionnaire needs to take into account how the questionnaire will be distributed, for example by mail, phone, web, or e-mail (Hay, 2010). After reviewing the literature for the advantages and disadvantages of each distribution method (Table 3), the most appropriate survey method for this study is thought to be a web-based questionnaire.
The main advantages of using a web-based questionnaire are (Bryman et al., 2012; Hay, 2010):
a) An ability to cover a large sample size,
b) An absence of effects of the interviewer on the interviewee,
c) No missing data,
d) The privacy of the participant is protected,
e) It is more time efficient, and
f) It is less costly.
32 The main disadvantages of using a web-based questionnaire are (Bethlehem, & Biffignandi,
2012):
a) The population of Internet users are not identified or registered, so it is not an
easy process to draw a sample of them.
b) The population of non-Internet users (individuals who either do not have access to
the internet at the study time or do not have access to the internet at all) might be eliminated.
33 Table 3: The advantages and disadvantages of the distribution methods of questionnaires
Method of
distribution
Cost replay to Time time to related size Sample Interviewereffect data Missing question of Number questions all read to Ability privacy Participant format Design/
Mail High Long Larger Yes Yes Flexible Yes Affected Less
sample options
needs
more time
Phone Mid Long Larger Yes Yes Flexible Yes Affected No
sample option
needs
more time
Web No Immediately Size None No Should be No Protected More
cost doesn’t minimized options
affect time
E-mail No Long Size None No Flexible Mana- Affected More
cost doesn’t geable options
affect time
34
2.6 Theory of balancing survey data
According to Bethlehem and Biffignandi (2012), errors during the process of collecting data cannot be prevented but minimized. Therefore, a process of checking and correcting errors should follow the process of collecting data. The fact that participants do not reflect the general population may lead to representing the characteristics of the population imprecisely. This problem is fixed using weight adjustment technique in order to reduce the bias associated with it (Bethlehem, 2009; Bethlehem & Biffignandi, 2012). In this section, weighting adjustment factors are calculated to obtain a representative sample (the term representative could be misleading if only considering proportions representatives rather than characteristics representatives (Fricker, 2008)) with respect to gender and nationality variables of the general population. Calculations for the weight factors are found in table 4.
Later, the weight factors will be assigned to each corresponding participant in the spreadsheet.
Table 4: Survey sample weighting calculation
Population* (P) Sample (S) Weight factor =
% % P/S
Kuwaiti / Male 12.07 27.49 0.43
Kuwaiti / Female 15.50 50.45 0.30
Non Kuwaiti / Male 44.10 9.66 4.56
Non Kuwaiti / Female 28.31 21.38 2.28
*Source: Kuwait Census (2011).
35 Chapter 3 Methodology
In this chapter the process of designing the questionnaire is described. Secondly, the validation of the significance of the statistical analysis is discussed. Finally, the third section reportes on the ethical approval certificate provided by the university Research Ethics Board
(REB).
3.1 Research methodology and Design
The main objective in designing the questionnaire is to make the process of responding as easy and comfortable as possible for participants. Latest studies suggest that a web-based questionnaire allows flexibility in its design. Moreover, collecting data via the
Internet can reduce the biases found in other sampling methodologies related to the interviewer effect (Buhrmester, 2011). Due to this flexibility in web-based questionnaire, participants will conduct the survey on their own and at their preferred time, which may increase the risk of not completing the questionnaire (Bryman et al., 2012). In order to take advantage of these features the questionnaire will be designed in an efficient way that motivates participants to respond to all the questions and reduce bias.
A common disadvantage in conducting any type of questionnaire is “the question- order-effect” (Bryman et al., 2012). This effect develops when the respondents have opportunity to read the questions before answering them, which may influence their responses. In this study, the order effect issue is resolved by featuring transitions between sections. The transition to the next section is conditional upon completion of the current section.
36 Another disadvantage is the uncertainty of getting a representative sample with respect to some variables in the target population. Although the Internet and the smart phones are widely used in Kuwait (79.2% of the population in Kuwait use the Internet (ITU,
2013)), but there are possibilities for the unintentional exclusion of individuals with low income who might not have smart phones and access to the internet, as well as older people who might not be familiar with the technology. However, this is a small proportion of the population, but to overcome this problem I used “Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk)".
MTurk is a workplace via Amazon in which “workers” complete online jobs (Human
Intelligence Tasks, or HITs) posted by “requesters” (e.g., companies or researchers) (Simons,
2012). The service is provided with two types of accounts on the MTurk website. The first is the worker account; a worker can choose from a variety of HITs, for monetary rewards.
These HITs consist of tasks that are complex to be computerized. The use of MTurk will encourage low-income residents to participate in the research and minimize any unintentional exclusion of them.
MTurk was originally developed for commercial use, but a growing number of HITs are dedicated to academic research. While few of the studies that used it have been published but there have been multiple studies examining the efficiency of the outcome data, and the results have largely been promising (Barger et al., 2014; Buhrmester, 2011; Holden,
2013; Simons, 2012). The findings of these studies showed either slightly higher data quality in the MTurk samples or firming results when compared with other distribution methods, along with more diverse samples and higher attraction to conduct the experiment (Barger et al., 2014; Buhrmester, 2011). The final distribution method used was a combination of the
MTurk tool and snow balling techniques. The snowball rolling started by distributing the
37 survey invitation on some social media networks, family members and friends.
Confidentiality is generally an issue when sending questionnaires through regular mail, phone, or emails because it is associated with individual identification. Although snowball distribution is used in this research, participants’ privacy was protected by giving each questionnaire a unique ID number, and by separating the answers from any personal information.
The tool used to implement the design of the questionnaire was a web-based company that provides online survey services named “Survey Monkey”. For the MTurk users, their
HIT is a direct link to the questionnaire page at Survey Monkey. Before starting the online questionnaire, participants had the option to conduct it in either Arabic or English and they will read and agreed to term on the consent form (Appendix A). Participants had the choice of quitting at any time during conducting the questionnaire. It consisted of forty five questions for any adult citizen or resident living in the State of Kuwait of legal driving age
(18 and older). The questionnaire is provided in Appendix A. The sample size was determined after choosing a 95% confidence level, 0.5 standard deviation, +/- 5% margin of error, and using the following equation (Moore et al., 2009; Smith, 2013):
Sample Size = (Z value) ² – Std. Dev.* (1-Std. Dev.) / (margin of error) ²
After doing the math, the needed sample size was found to be 385 respondents. For the purpose of having a better representative sample and a normal distribution of the sample, a target of three hundred to five hundred respondents was set (recent studies show that the sample size in this range does not affect the statistical power of the analysis (Nelson et al.,
2015)).
38 3.2 Data analysis and validation of significance
After closing the online survey, all the collected data was transferred into a spreadsheet for further analysis. For consistency of the results, the Arabic version of the questionnaire was translated into English. The preliminary analysis was mainly descriptive followed by advanced statistical analysis to test the research hypotheses using the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The collected data consist of categorical discontinuous variables and fell into one of two categories (binary or nominal). To evaluate the association between categorical data, the appropriate analysis carried out either Chi-
Squared Test for independence or the Fisher's Exact Test depending on the proportion of the tables. The hypothesis tests were followed by Phi and Cramer’s V tests to determine the strength of association between the tested variables (Bryman et al., 2012). The following were criteria is used to validate the significance of the statistical analysis:
• Test the significance of the test statistic alpha (α) will be set at 0.05. Any
probability less than 0.05 will be considered as significant.
• Fisher’s exact test was used to calculate the exact probability of the chi-square
statistic when one of the chi-square test assumptions was violated (no more than
20% of the expected counts are less than 5 and all individual expected counts are
1 or greater).
• In case the chi-square test assumption was violated and the Fisher’s exact test
cannot be applied because of its large number of iterations and the shortage in the
computer memory then, the Monte Carlo approach was used instead to calculate
the exact probability.
39 • To test the strength of the association between variables or the size effect, Phi and
Cramer's V tests were used. Phi test is suitable for two by two tables and Cramer’s
V for larger tables (0.1 small effect, 0.3 moderate effect, 0.5 large effect).
• To determine the exact cell that is statistically significant, the standardized
residual (i.e., difference between the observed frequency and the expected
frequency) was examined.
• The equivalent critical value for alpha of 0.05 is 1.96, any residual value equal to
or greater than (+/-) 1.96 will be considered a statistically significant result.
3.3 Ethical consideration
According to the University of British Columbia (UBC), any research conducted by faculty members or students at UBC and involves human subjects, animals or bio-hazardous materials must be reviewed and approved by the university Research Ethics Board REB
(Research Ethics Boards, 2014). This study has been reviewed and approved under the certificate number H14-00152. The consideration of the ethical issue was essential for the purpose of insuring privacy and safety of participants. In order to insure these requirements the research purpose, information as well as the consent form were presented before any participant can access the questionnaire.
40 Chapter 4 Results
Applying the descriptive methodology in Chapter three, an online survey was posted for the Kuwait community on July 17, 2014, and closed on September 17, 2014. There were five hundred responses, which exceeded the original target response. Of those, three hundred and thirty one questionnaires were completed (completion rate is 66.2%). Most of the respondents quit the survey at the last portion of the questionnaire specifically at the demographic questions part. Out of 45 questions 95% were completed by 500 respondents and 5% were completed by 331 respondents. In the following section, the participant’s responses to the survey are presented descriptively in graphs and tables followed by the statistical analysis.
4.1 Demographics
The demographic section of the questionnaire was intended to check that the sample represented the larger population of Kuwait with respect to age, gender, education, income, and nationality.
The majority of survey respondents were Kuwaiti (78%) compared with 20% percent non-Kuwaiti and 2% stateless. In reference to gender breakdown, the respondents were mostly female at 63% (compared to 44% in the base population (Kuwait Census, 2011)).
Figure 8 represents a combination of nationality and gender breakdown. The highest percentage of the respondents ranged between the ages of 30-40 (Figure 9). This peak was expected because in the general population of Kuwait, the age ranges from 30 to 44 represents the highest percentage of the total population (33.4%) (Kuwait Census, 2011).
The education level for respondents was mostly under-graduate degrees (Bachelor) and graduate degrees (Master and higher) with 62% and 31%, respectively. High school
41 respondents were 4%, middle school 2% and elementary 1% only. More than half of the respondents are working in the government sector followed by 25% in the private sector,
10% self-employed, 6% students and 5% unemployed. The highest family income level was
5700-11500 CD$ per month (approximately 750-1500 KD) (Figure10). The geographic distribution of the sample within the six governorates ranged from 8% in Al Jahrah
(compared to 13% in the base population (Kuwait Census, 2011) to a peak of 26% in Hawali
(compared to 21.9% in the base population (Kuwait Census, 2011) (Figure 11). In addition, the percentages of non-Kuwaiti respondents related to the number of years they have been residents are 34% for one to five years, 21% for less than a year and also more than 15 years,
16% for 6-10 years and 8% for 11-15 years.
90% 80% Female 70% Male 60% 50% 40%
Percentage 30% 20% 10% 0% Kuwaiti Stateless Non-Kuwaiti Nationality
Figure 8: Participants gender in relation to their nationality
42 Above 70 61-70 51-60 41-50 30-40 Age 24-29 18-23
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% Percentage
Figure 9: The age of participants.
More than 5000 3001-5000 1501-3000 751-1500 251-750
Monthly incmoe in KD 250 or less
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Percentage
Figure 10: The income level of participants.
Mubarak Al Kabeer Hawali Al Jahra Al Farwaniyah Al Asimah Al Ahmadi 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Percentage
Figure 11: The geographic distribution of participants (Governorate is the local name for the administrative districts of Kuwait)
43 4.2 Vehicles ownership and mode choice
The mode choice section asked respondents about the mode of transport used for their daily commute, ownership, commuting time, commuting distance and feelings. The preliminarily analysis indicates a strong car use within the study area; nearly 95% of respondents have a driving license and 23% of them have at least two members of the family with a driving license (Figure 12). The ownership rate varies between 7% for owning eight automobiles to 24% for owning two automobiles in the family. In total, 80% of respondents are living in houses with more than two cars, 3% does not own a private car (Figure 13).
Driving a car was the common mode choice for commuting among survey respondents at
65% and car passenger comes second at 22% followed by 4% for both bus users and biking,
1% for using motorcycle and 0.2% for walking. The distance between house and work or school is 4-10 km for 35% of respondents and the most selected response of respondent
(33%) was that these trips would consume 15-25min (Figure 14 and 15).
25%
20%
15%
10%
Percentage 5%
0% None 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 More Number of driver license in house than 8
Figure 12: Number of family members with a driver license and living in the same house as the respondent. The average family size for Kuwaitis family is 7.7 and for non- Kuwaitis family is 4.3 (Soliman, 2014).
44 25%
20%
15%
10%
Percentage 5%
0% None 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 More Number of cars owned by family than 8
Figure 13: Number of cars owned by the family of respondent.
Not applicable
More than 60 min
31-45 min
26-30 min 15-25 min Time consumed in commuting Less than 15 min
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Percentage
Figure 14: The time consumed during the trip to work/school from participants.
45 Distance More than 30 Km
21-30Km
11-20 Km
4-10 Km
Less than 3 Km
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% Percentage
Figure 15: The distance from home to work/school for participants.
On the question: “Does your commute make up more than 50% of all your travel time in a day?” The majority of participants (68%) stated “Yes” while 32% stated “No”. The largest number of participants of the sample selected “exhausting” for driving in Kuwait for commuting purposes and “stressful” for non-commuting purposes (Figure 16 and 17).
46 Feelings about commuting Valuable time for audio-education Time wasting Time for texting/ phone calls Stressful Relaxing Neutral Leads to health problem Happy/ Enjoyable Exhausting A good opprtunity to get some work
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Percentage
Figure 16: Feelings toward driving/ riding for the purpose of commuting.
Feelings about non-commuting trips Valuable time for audio-education Time wasting Time for texting/ phone calls Stressful Relaxing Neutral Leads to health problem Happy/ Enjoyable Exhausting A good opprtunity to get some work done
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% Perventage
Figure 17: Feeling toward driving/ riding for non-commuting purposes.
4.3 Attitude towards using public transportation
The available public transportation in Kuwait consists only of public buses. Only
17% of respondents use the public bus to get to their destinations. The majority of the survey
47 respondents are not using the public bus because it is socially not accepted4, poor quality of the bus, and driver’s professionalism (Figure 18). This research notes that respondents who are not using the transit felt that all the public bus system’s elements need improvements
(system elements include: bus stop design, quality of the service, pricing, personal security on the bus, drivers professional, accessibility and the overall bus quality). Despite all the issues with public bus, 64% of respondents are willing to use the bus if the recommended improvements are made. Respondents who will not use the public bus even after their recommendations are applied think that it is socially unacceptable (23%), they do not need it
(18%) and they own a private car (17%)(Figure 19).
On the other hand, the public transit users had approximately the same opinion of non-user respondents were they think that all the system elements in the public bus need to be improved. Nearly 30% of the public bus users use the system occasionally and only 5% of them use it on a regular basis (Figure 20). There are 181 student respondents in this sample and 71% of them reported their agreement to the statement “If free bus transport to school were available, would you use it?” (Figure 21).
4 Socially unacceptable is any behavior that is considered weird, odd, or simply inappropriate in a give situation and time depending on a particular society.
48 Reasons not to use the transit
Too expensive
The weather
Socially unacceptable
Service is not available nearby
Poor quality of the buses
Poor punctuality
Personal security
No gender segregation
I don't know how to use the system
Driver's professionalisom
Dizziness and motion sickness
Destination is close to home
Bus stop design
Frequency
Bus deaign
Accident risk
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% Percentage
Figure 18: Top three reasons for not using the public bus in Kuwait.
49 Reasons not to use the transit after improvments I don't need it I love driving my car Socially unacceptable I don't trust the system I don't knnow how to use the system I/family have a private car I/family have a private driver The weather Gender segregation Family size Family decision/ opinion effect Dizziness and motion sickness c
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% Percentage
Figure 19: Participants’ opinion on why they would still not use public buses even after improvements were to be made.
How often do you use the public transit/ bus :
On aregular basis
Frequently
Occasionally
Rarely
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% Percentage
Figure 20: Pattern of using the available public bus in Kuwait.
50 If free bus transport to school were available, would you use it ?
non-student
I don't know
No
Yes
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Percentage
Figure 21: Students respondents’ opinion on using free bus transport to college/university.
4.4 Attitudes towards future public transportation projects
In the online questionnaire a short introduction to the rapid transit system proposed by the Kuwaiti government was displayed for participants. Although the announcements for this project were made many years ago, only 48% of participants are familiar with it. The majority of participants (85%) thought that the Kuwait Metropolitan Rapid Transit System
(KMRT) project (mentioned on page 19) would solve the transportation problems in Kuwait.
Surprisingly, only 20% of participants are willing to use the system for commuting although they believed it would solve Kuwait’s transportation problems (Figure 22). Based on the proposed map for the KMRT project that was included in the description, 56% of participants will consider using it, 37% don’t know if they will use it and 7% will not use it.
51 If the KMRT project is built, would you use it for :
Never use it
On a regular basis
Frequently
Occasionally
If no car is available
Non-commuting purpose
Commuting
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Percentage
Figure 22: Participants opinion on the future use of the KMRT project.
For those who would not consider using the KMRT system, the top three reasons are:
(i) the proposed routes for the metro are unsatisfactory (14%), (ii) the availability of a car
(10%), and (iii) attachment to driving their car (9%) (Figure 23).
52 Reasons not to use the KMRT Socially unacceptable No supporting system to connect the I love driving my car I/family have a private car I/family have a private driver I don't trust the system I don't need it I don't know how to use the system The weather Gender segregation Family size Family decision/opioion effect Dizziness and motion sickness Bad routes Bad design
0% 5% Percentage 10% 15%
Figure 23: Participants opinion on why not to use the KMRT system if applied.
Participants felt that the KMRT project is both important for themselves (87%) and
Kuwait (96%). A high percentage of participants (90%) have been abroad in a country that has a public transportation system and almost all of them (97%) had used the system there.
Respondent’s top three reasons for using the public transportation abroad were because using the system will make it easier to find destination (51%), convenience of the routes (48%), and the overall quality of the system (33%) (Figure 24).
53 Reasons to use public transportation abroad
The weather was comfortable Socially acceptable Novelty No social pressure from Kuwaiti Nearby service Most affordable option Modern design Good system For fun Easier to ind destination Destination is far Convenient routes
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Percentage
Figure 24: Participants opinion on why they had used a public transportation system while abroad.
4.5 Additional opinion
In the survey, respondents’ awareness of transportation problems in the State of
Kuwait was examined. In order to assure that respondents had a chance to voice any additional opinions or comments, an option of “Other” with an open space for comments was added to each question in this section. The most common and original respondents’ comments will be included.
Regarding local issues, respondents thought that the most important issues that need attention from the government are: education reform, government corruption, housing, and transportation and congestion in this order (Figure 25). Most of respondents who choose the option “Other” stressed on the poor health services issues and the increase number of non-
54 Kuwaiti residents. When asked about the most important transportation issues for attention from the government, the majority of respondents (67%) believe that congestion is one of the top three transportation problems in Kuwait (Figure 26), the second top two being
“inadequate public transit system” and “schools and universities locations”. Some respondents thought that there are more transportation problems beyond the provided list such as: Lack of zoning and parking infrastructure, Lack of education on how to use the bus system, no variety in public transportation, the increase number of non-Kuwaiti residents and old cars, lack of planning expertise and traffic management, a trend by non-Kuwaiti residents not to use the public transit, number of taxies, number of traffic lights, growth of private drivers number and lack of training for all different modes users.
Indicate the most importatnt local issues that need governmnet's priority : Other Water Pollution Unemployment Transporation and congestion Stock market bailout Rights for women Rights for immigrant workers Oil industry Limited natural fresh water Infrastructure Housing Gun control Government corruption Future generation funds Environmental issues Education reform Citizenship for stateless Air Quality 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Percentage
Figure 25: Participants opinion on the three most important local issues that need priority attention from the government.
55 Indicate the most importatnt local transportation issues that need the government's priority: Schools/Universities locations Roads infrastructre Roads design Unclear traf ic signs No pedestrian pathways No dedicated bus/taxi lane No bike lanes Narrow roads Inadequate public transit Congestion City design Aesthetic aspects 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Percentag e Figure 26: Participants opinions on the three transportation issues that need priority attention from the government.
Indicate the top three congestion issues: Other Waste of fuel Waste of time Traf ic violations Stress/road rage Safety Noise Lowered productivity at work/school Health problems Air pollution
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% Perecntage
Figure 27: Participants opinion on the three most important congestion issues that need priority attention from the government.
56 How to solve congestion: Other
Introduce a road tax )Stricter motor vehicle annual examination Stricter licensing test "Reduce number of drivers' licenses Decentralize urban development #Increase the traf ic police present Increase the fuel prices Improve the public transit Enforce the traf ic laws Change the traf ic laws
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 percentage
Figure 28: Opinion on how to solve the congestion problems of participants.
In relation to congestion problems, respondents have different opinions on the most important congestion related problems and issues that needs attention from the government
(Figure: 27). The top three issues were safety, stress/ road rage, and traffic violations. Some respondents gave a longer list of problems such as traffic laws, using the cell phone, number of non-Kuwaiti residents, schools time, traffic signs, and location of industrial investment. A significant number of respondents (34%) believed that improving the public bus system could solve the congestion problem; they also believe that the next two top solutions would be “Enforce the traffic laws” and “Increase the fuel prices” (Figure 28). Finally at the end of this section, the following original comments of respondents on the question of solving the congestion problems in the country are included:
57 • “Reduce number of schools in each residential area”
• “Insure that any new business will have reasonable parking facilities”
• “Force the students to use school buses”
• “Building a train network”
• “Reduce the number of non-Kuwaiti residents”
• “Only citizens should be able to have driver licenses”
• “Eliminate traffic light and ring roads”
• “Improve the public transit sector and encourage people to use it”
• “Reduce number of license for residents”
• “Strict laws for issuance of driving licenses for residents”
• “Re-plan the roads especially the highways”
• “Impossible to answer with one sentence! By analyzing the situation in Kuwait and
compare it with Germany, as German engineer. I send many ideas to the government
but they never responded, unfortunately”
• “Build a new public system such as a metro and reduce the driving license for
residents”
58 4.6 Cross-classification display
A cross-classification table is one of the common practices used for transportation planning (Zaworski et al., 2013). Put simply, the cross-classification procedures measure the changes in one variable when other variables are accounted for (Agresti, 2013; Bryman et al.,
2012; Zaworski et al., 2013). In this section, some of the questionnaire results will be displayed in cross-classification tables and figures to draw further conclusions from the previous section outcomes.
4.6.1 Mode choice, nationality, and gender
The dominant work trip mode used in Kuwait is driving private cars at 63.1%.
Combined with an additional 22.3% of trips made by cars as passengers, a total of 85.5% of all commuting trips are made by car. On the other hand, the combined percentage of commuters choosing public bus or active modes (walk and bike) is around 10.5% in Kuwait.
Females are less likely to use public transit, walk or bike options, and show some interests in telecommute. Tables 3, 4, and 5 provide a comprehensive breakdown of work/school commuting choice in Kuwait in relation to nationality and gender.
59 Table 5: Commuting trip mode split by nationality and gender
How do you usually commute?
Car, Car, Telecom- driver passenger Bus Walk Bike Motorcycle muting Grand Total 180 58 7 5 1 7 258 Kuwaiti (54.3%) (17.5%) (2.1%) 0 (1.5%) (0.3%) (2.1%) (77.95%) 62 19 6 3 1 91 Male (18.7%) (5.7%) (1.8%) 0 (0.9%) (0.3%) 0 (27.4%) 118 39 1 2 7 167 Female (35.6%) (11.7%) (0.3%) 0 (0.6%) 0 (2.1%) (50.4%) 3 1 1 1 1 1 8 Stateless (0.9%) (0.3%) (0.3%) 0 (0.3%) (0.3%) (0.3%) (2.4%) 2 1 1 1 5 Male (0.6%) (0.3%) 0 0 (0.3%) 0 (0.3%) (1.5%) 1 1 1 3 Female (0.3%) 0 (0.3%) 0 0 (0.3%) 0 (0.9%) Non- 26 15 10 1 10 3 65 Kuwaiti (7.8%) (4.5%) (3%) (0.3%) (3%) (0.9%) 0 (19.6%) 10 4 5 1 5 2 27 Male (3%) (1.2%) (1.5%) (0.3%) (1.5%) (0.6%) 0 (8.1%) 16 11 5 5 1 38 Female (4.8%) (3.3%) (1.5%) (1.5%) (0.3%) 0 (11.4%) 209 74 18 1 16 5 8 331 Total (63.1%) (22.3%) (5.4%) (0.3%) (4.8%) (1.5%) (2.4%) (100%)
Table 6: Commuting trip split by mode of transportation
Male Female Total 74 135 209 Car, driver (22.3%) (40.7%) (63.1%) 24 50 74 Car, passenger (7.2%) (15.1%) (22.3%) 11 7 18 Bus (3.3%) (2.1%) (5.4%) 1 1 Walk (0.3%) 0% (0.3%) 9 7 16 Bike (2.7%) (2.1%) (4.8%) 3 2 5 Motorcycle (0.9%) (0.6%) (1.5%) 1 7 8 Telecommuting (0.3%) (2.1%) (2.4%) 123 208 331 Total (37.1%) (62.8%) (100%)
60 4.6.2 Current and Future public transportation use
In the same way, I linked the public transit ridership outcomes with nationality and
gender. Only 19% of the entire sample population are public bus users regardless of the
purpose of the trip. In general, Kuwaitis (male and female) do not consider using of the bus
for their daily trips. Females, from all categories, showed a strong inclination to not use
public buses (Table: 5, Figure: 29 and 30). Recent studies show that public transit users tend
to switch to a different mode when the transit service is below satisfaction level (Zhao et al.,
2014). Similarly, it is possible low satisfaction levels with all the Kuwaiti bus system
elements (section 4.3, page 35) could be one reason behind the low percentage of bus users in
Kuwait. Furthermore, the public bus users seem to not be loyal riders, with only 7% of them
using the service on a regular basis (Table: 6).
Table 7: Public bus ridership split by nationality and gender
Use of the public bus in Kuwait?
Yes No Grand Total 29 226 255 Kuwaiti (8.8%) (68.9%) (77.7%) 25 64 89 Male (7.6%) (19.5%) (27.1%) 4 162 166 Female (1.2%) (49.3%) (50.6%) 6 2 8 Stateless (1.8%) (0.6%) (2.4%) 4 1 5 Male (1.2%) (0.3%) (1.5%) 2 1 3 Female (0.6%) (0.3%) (0.9%) 29 36 65 Non-Kuwaiti (8.8%) (10.9%) (19.8%) 14 13 27 Male (4.2%) (3.9%) (8.2%) 15 23 38 Female (4.5%) (7%) (11.5%) Total 19.5% 80.5% 100%
61 Do you use the available public bus service in Kuwait ?
80% 70% Yes 60% 50% No 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Kuwaiti Stateless Non- Kuwaiti Nationality
Figure 29: Public bus users by nationality
Do use the available public buse service in Kuwait ? 100% Male Female 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% Percentage 30% 20% 10% 0% No
Figure 30: Public bus users by gender.
62 Table 8: The frequency of using the public bus split by nationality and gender
Rarely Occasionally Frequently On a regular basis Grand Total
Kuwaiti 14% 24.5% 15.7% 3.5% 57.8%
Male 5.2% 15.7% 12.2% 3.5% 36.8%
Female 8.7% 8.7% 3.5% 0% 21%
Stateless 0% 1.7% 3.5% 0% 5.2%
Male 0% 1.7% 0% 0% 1.7%
Female 0% 0% 3.5% 0% 3.5%
Non-Kuwaiti 14% 17.5% 1.7% 3.5% 36.8%
Male 7% 8.7% 1.7% 1.7% 19.3%
Female 7% 8.7% 0% 1.7% 17.5%
Total 28% 43.8% 21% 7% 100%
63 The use of the public bus is also influenced by income and education level. On the one hand, there was an inverse relationship between respondent’s average income and the use of the bus; the higher the income, the lower the use of public transit (Figure: 31). On the other hand, there was a positive correlation between educational level and the use of the bus; the use of the public bus increases with higher education levels (Figure: 32).
Count Do you use the available public transit? 60 Yes 50 No 40
30
20
10
0 250 or less 251-750 751-1500 1501-3000 3001-5000 more than Monthly income level in KD 5000
Figure 31: Public bus users in relation to their income level.
64 Percenta Do you use the available public transit? 70% ge Yes No 60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% Under graduate Graduate degree Elementary Middle school High school degree Education level
Figure 32: Public bus users in relation with their education level.
Another interesting comparison is that of “Using the public bus after the suggested improvements to the system by respondents have been made” with using a comparable public transportation system in another country. For participants who had the chance to travel in a country with a public transportation system, the interesting finding is that they have a greater desire to use the public bus in Kuwait after improvements. And for those respondents who did not have that opportunity, they were neutral about using or not using the public bus after improvements (Figure: 33). On the other hand, the future of the KMRT proposal seems to be more promising than the public bus situation. The majority of respondents from all nationalities (56%) are willing to use KMRT if implemented, although Kuwaiti respondents are more hesitant (Figure: 34).
65 Are you willing to use the public bus if the improvments you propsed are Percentage applied ? 70% beeing abroad 60% not being abroad 50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% will use the transit will not use the transit
Figure 33: Opinion of participants about using the public bus service after improvements being made in relation with using the public transit abroad.
Percentage Based on the map of the propsed metro routes, will you be using it? 80% Kuwaiti 70% Stateless 60% Non-Kuwaiti 50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% Yes No I don't know
Figure 34: Future use of the proposed metro project split by Nationality.
66 4.6.3 Perception of daily traffic congestion
The preliminary analysis indicates a strong correlation between the time spent commuting and the feeling exhaustion related to the trip. The greater the time spent during morning commuting trips, the more participants indicated that it was “Exhausting”. All the other feelings (“Enjoyable”, “Relaxing”, “Neutral”, “Leads to health problems”, and
“Opportunity to do work”) seem not to have as clear a pattern with the decrease/increase in travel time as “Exhausting” (Figure: 35). On the other hand, when we combine answers from the “Time spent in commuting” question with the “Distance from home to work/school” question, there is no strong correlation found (Figure: 36). That is strongly related to the way the question was stated, which did not specify the location of the destination (work/school).
Determining the destination of respondents is essential to establishing a relationship between time and distance because all the main high ways in Kuwait are either directed to Kuwait
City (high congestion) or to the south of the state (no congestion). This is a potential area for future study and research.
67 50% Opportunity to do work 45% Enjoyable 40% Exhausting Relaxing 35% Leads to health problems 30%
25% 20% 15% Percentage of feeling 10% 5% 0% Less than 15 More than 50 min 15-25 min 26-30 min 31-45 min 45-60 min > 60 min min Time spent during commuting
Figure 35: Feelings about the morning commuting trips and the time spent on that trip.
70 less than 3 km
60 4-10 km 11-20 km 50 21-30 km more than 30 km 40
30
Percentage 20
10
0 less than 15 more than 60 min 15-25 min 26-30 min 31-45 min 46-60 min min Time spent in commuting
Figure 36: Time spent in driving/riding for morning commuting trips in comparison with the distance from home to work/ school.
68 4.7 Test of research hypotheses
The collected data were analyzed in relation to the central research questions posed in this thesis. Below, research questions are tested for their significance. Initially, the hypothesis is displayed accompanied with its complete SPSS outputs and a detailed report while subsequently, only the hypotheses and their final results are shown (The detailed reports, including the SPSS outputs for each test are given as Appendix B).
1. Is awareness of future transportation projects (i.e., KMRT) different between
Kuwaitis & non-Kuwaitis?
Hₒ: There is no difference in the awareness level between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis.
Ha: There is a difference in the awareness level between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis.
N: 331
Table 9: SPSS output for KMT and nationality cross tabulation
Nationality Non- Kuwaiti Kuwaiti Total
Heard Yes Count 119 41 160
about Expected Count 124.7 35.3 160
KMT No Count 139 32 171
Expected Count 133.3 37.7 171 Total Count 258 73 331
Expected Count 258 73 331
69 Table 10: SPSS output for Chi-square test
Asymp. Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (2- Value df sided) sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 2.297 1 .130 Continuity Correction 1.912 1 .167 Likelihood Ratio 2.299 1 .129 Fisher's Exact Test .145 Linear-by-Linear Association 2.290 1 .130 N of Valid Cases 331
There was no significant relationship between level of awareness of future transportation projects and the nationality (χ2 (1, N= 331) = 2.297, p = 0.130).
2. Does the use of public transportation abroad, affect peoples’ use of Public Transit in
Kuwait?
Hₒ: There is no effect of using the public transit abroad on using it locally.
Ha: There is an effect of using the public transit abroad on using it locally.
There was no significant relationship between the uses of public transit abroad on using the bus system in Kuwait (Fisher’s exact test p = 0.391).
3. Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Kuwait different between Kuwaitis
& non-Kuwaitis?
Hₒ: There is no difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between Kuwaitis and
non-Kuwaitis.
Ha: There is a difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between Kuwaitis and
non-Kuwaitis.
70 There is a significant relationship between the perception of the daily commuting trip and nationality (Fisher’s exact test = 32.152, p = 0.005). Non-Kuwaitis have more neutral feelings about the daily commuting trips than Kuwaiti. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is small to moderate at 0.270.
4. Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Kuwait different between male &
female?
Hₒ: There is no difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between males and
females.
Ha: There is a difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between males and
females.
There is a significant relationship between the perception of daily commute trip in Kuwait and gender (Fisher’s exact test = 30.892, p < 0.001). More males are considering the daily commuting trips as a cause of health problems. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.312.
5. Does the use of public transit differ between Kuwaitis & non-Kuwaitis?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis.
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis
There is a significant relationship between attitudes toward the use of public transit and nationality (χ2 (1, N = 328) = 48.335, p < 0.05). More non-Kuwaiti residents use the public bus system than Kuwaitis. The odds of non- Kuwaitis using the public transit is 6.7 times higher than Kuwaitis. We can also see from Phi tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.38. Furthermore we notice that there are two under represented
71 cells (Kuwaitis using the bus and non-Kuwaitis not using the bus) in the actual sample compared to the results of the standardized residual. Which support the result of more non-
Kuwaitis are using the public transit in Kuwait.
6. Does the use of the public transit differ between males and females?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between males and females
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between males and females
There is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and gender (χ2
(1, N = 328) = 31.271, p = 0.001). More males are using the public bus system than Females.
Based on the odds ratio, the odds of males using the public transit are 2.4 times higher than females. We can also see from Phi tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.309.
7. Does the use of the public transit differ between different income levels?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different income levels
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different income levels
Using Fisher’s exact test (Monte Carlo approach) results show that there is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and the income level (Fisher’s exact test = 24.059, p < 0.01). Individuals with 251-750 KD income level are using the public bus system more than other income level categories. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.337.
72 8. Does the use of the public transit differ between different education levels?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different education levels.
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different education levels.
Using Fisher’s exact test, results show that there is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and the education level (Fisher’s exact test = 69.302, p <
0.001). Individuals with Elementary and middle school degrees and individuals with Master and higher degrees are willing to use the public bus system more than other education categories. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate to large at 0.460.
9. Does the use of the public transit different between differ age categories?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different age categories.
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different age categories.
There is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and age category (χ2 (5, N = 328) = 24.617, p < 0.01). Individuals age 24-29 are willing to use the public bus system more than other age categories. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is small to moderate at 0.274.
10. Is the use of public transit affected by the number of years non-Kuwaiti participants
have been living in Kuwait?
Hₒ: There is no relation between using the public transit by non-Kuwaiti residents and the
number of years they have been living in Kuwait.
Ha: There is a relation between using the public transit by non-Kuwaiti residents and the
number of years they have been living in Kuwait.
73 There was no significant relationship between the uses of public transit and number of years non-Kuwaiti residents have lived in Kuwait (Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.098).
4.8 Test of research hypothesis after weight adjustment
In this research, there are potential demographic differences in the proportions of the questionnaire sample and the proportions of the actual population. Although the data were collected from three hundred and thirty individuals, there was a larger than anticipated percentage of Kuwaiti respondents with 78%, whereas in the actual population their percentage is 33%. Moreover, females also have been over represented in the sample with
62% female respondents, where in the actual population the females account for 43% of the total population (The detailed reports, including the SPSS outputs for each test are given as
Appendix C).
4.8.2 Test of the research hypothesis using the above weight factors:
1. Is awareness of future transportation projects (i.e., KMRT) different between
Kuwaitis & non-Kuwaitis?
Hₒ: There is no difference in the awareness level between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis.
Ha: There is a difference in the awareness level between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis.
N: 331
74 Table 11: SPSS output for the awareness about KMT project and nationality cross-tabulation
Nationality
Non- Kuwaiti Kuwaiti Total
Heard Yes Count 44 141 185
about Expected Count 50.2 134.8 185.0
the Std. Residual -.9 .5 KMT No Count 45 98 143 project Expected Count 38.8 104.2 143.0 ? Std. Residual 1.0 -.6 Total Count 89 239 328
Expected Count 89.0 239.0 328.0
Table 12:SPSS output for Chi-square test
Asymp. Sig. Exact Sig. Exact Sig. Point Value df (2-sided) (2-sided) (1-sided) Probability
Pearson Chi-Square 2.409a 1 .121 .134 .077 Continuity Correction 2.036 1 .154 Likelihood Ratio 2.397 1 .122 .134 .077 Fisher's Exact Test .134 .077 Linear-by-Linear 2.402 1 .121 .134 .077 .030 Association N of Valid Cases 328 a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 38.80. b. Computed only for a 2x2 table c. For 2x2 cross tabulation, exact results are provided instead of Monte Carlo results.
There was no significant relationship between level of awareness of future transportation projects and the nationality (χ2 (1, N= 328) = 2.409, p = 0.121).
75 2. Does the use of public transportation abroad, affect peoples’ use of Public Transit in
Kuwait?
Hₒ: There is no effect of using the public transit abroad on using it locally.
Ha: There is an effect of using the public transit abroad on using it locally.
There is a significant relationship between the uses of public transit abroad on using the bus system in Kuwait (χ2 (1, N= 279) = 4.105, p = 0.043). Unfortunately, and according to Phi test, this relation is weak and the standardized residual did not show a clear relation between any particular elements.
3. Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Kuwait different between Kuwaitis
& non-Kuwaitis?
Hₒ: There is no difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between Kuwaitis and
non-Kuwaitis.
Ha: There is a difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between Kuwaitis and
non-Kuwaitis.
There is a significant relationship between the perception of the daily commuting trip and nationality (Fisher’s exact test = 28.011, p < 0.001). Kuwaitis are observing daily commuting from two different perspectives, some consider it as time wasting and others valuable time for audio education. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.310.
76 4. Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Kuwait different between male &
female?
Hₒ: There is no difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between males and
females.
Ha: There is a difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between males and
females.
There is no significant relationship between the perception of daily commute trip in Kuwait and gender (Fisher’s exact test = 16.09, p = 0.063).
5. Does the use of public transit differ between Kuwaitis & non-Kuwaitis?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis.
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis
There is a significant relationship between attitudes toward the use of public transit and nationality (χ2 (1, N = 328) = 36.134, p < 0.001). More non-Kuwaiti residents use the public bus system than Kuwaitis. The odds ratio of non- Kuwaitis using the public transit is 6.4 times higher than Kuwaitis (i.e. non-Kuwaitis are using the bus system 6.4 time more than
Kuwaitis). We can also see from Phi tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.4. Furthermore we notice that there are two under represented cells
(Kuwaitis using the bus and non-Kuwaitis not using the bus) in the actual sample compared to the results of the standardized residual. Which support the result of more non-Kuwaitis are using the public transit in Kuwait.
77 6. Does the use of the public transit differ between males and females?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between males and females
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between males and females
There is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and gender (χ2
(1, N = 327) = 16.989, p < 0.001). More males are using the public bus system than Females.
Based on the odds ratio, the odds of males using the public transit is 2.6 times higher than females. We can also see from Phi tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.228.
7. Does the use of the public transit different between differ income levels?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different income levels
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different income levels
Using Fisher’s exact test (Monte Carlo approach) results show that there is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and the income level (Fisher’s exact test = 19.89, p = 0.001). Individuals with 1501-3000 KD income level are not using the public bus system more than other income level categories. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.350.
8. Does the use of the public transit different between differ education levels?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different education levels.
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different education levels.
Using Fisher’s exact test, results show that there is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and the education level (Fisher’s exact test = 45.07, p <
78 0.001). Individuals with Master and higher degrees are willing to use the public bus system more than other education categories. Individuals with Bachelor degrees are not using the public bus more than other education categories. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.370.
9. Does the use of the public transit different between differ age categories?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different age categories.
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different age categories.
There is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and age category (χ2 (5, N = 327) = 48.98, p < 0.001). Individuals age 24-29 are willing to use the public bus system more than other age categories. Individuals age 30-40, 41-50, and 61-70 are not willing to use the public bus system more than other age categories. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at
0.327.
10. Is the use of public transit affected by the number of years non-Kuwaiti participants
have been living in Kuwait?
Hₒ: There is no relation between using the public transit by non-Kuwaiti residents and the
number of years they have been living in Kuwait.
Ha: There is a relation between using the public transit by non-Kuwaiti residents and the
number of years they have been living in Kuwait.
There is a significant relationship between the uses of public transit and number of years non-Kuwaiti residents have lived in Kuwait (Fisher’s exact test, p < 0.001). New residents to
79 Kuwait are using the public bus system in their early moving years (1 -5 years). The strength of the association between the variables is moderate at 0.320 (Cramer’s V test).
4.8.3 Compare the results of the weighted and un-weighted tests
After applying the weight adjustment technique and redo the statistical analysis on the research questions, some differences have revealed. Table 13 shows the significance of the test statistic in the original sample and the weighted sample:
80 Table 13: The test statistics results of balanced and unbalanced data
Hypothesis Results Significance
Is awareness of future transportation projects (i.e., Unbalanced Not significant
KMRT) different between Kuwaitis & non-Kuwaitis? Balanced Not significant
Does the use of public transportation abroad, affect Unbalanced Not significant peoples’ use of Public Transit in Kuwait? Balanced Significant Abroad use of public transportation
affect the use of local buses.
Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Unbalanced Significant Non-Kuwaitis /neutral.
Kuwait different between Kuwaitis & non-Kuwaitis? Balanced Significant Kuwaitis/ waste &valuable time.
Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Unbalanced Significant Males believe that commuting
Kuwait different between male & female? leads to health problems.
Balanced Not significant
Does the use of public transit differ between Kuwaitis Unbalanced Significant Non Kuwaitis / use buses
& non-Kuwaitis? Balanced Significant
Does the use of the public transit differ between males Unbalanced Significant Males /use buses and females? Balanced Significant
Does the use of the public transit differ between Unbalanced Significant Income level of 251-750 KD and different income levels? using buses.
Balanced Significant Income level 1501-3000 KD and
not using buses.
Does the use of the public transit differ between Unbalanced Significant Elementary, middle, master & different education levels? higher education/ using buses
Balanced Significant Master & higher/ use buses.
Bachelor not using buses
Does the use of the public transit differ between Unbalanced Significant Individuals in the age category different age categories? Balanced Significant from 24-29 are using the bus
system.
Is the use of public transit affected by the number of Unbalanced Not significant years non-Kuwaiti participants have been living in Balanced Significant Non-Kuwaitis have been living in
Kuwait? Kuwait for 1 – 5 years are using
buses.
81 Chapter 5 Discussion
As reviewed in Chapter Two, prior research has indicated that the choice of a mode of transportation is not only a function of socioeconomic (Beirao & Cabral, 2007; Idris, 2013;
Popuri et al., 2011) and land use characteristics (Schwanen & Mokhtarian, 2004), but it is also affected by the users’ attitudes and perception (Beirao & Cabral, 2007; Idris, 2013;
Popuri et al., 2011; Schwanen & Mokhtarian, 2004). Although analysis all of the previous mentioned factors is beyond the scope of this study which focused on socioeconomic and demographic factors, failure to declare them in the prediction model may lead to failure in the system. Given prior research, all these variables should be considered together in order to build up a precise prediction of people’s choices in the transportation planning process.
The main objectives of this study were:
1. Evaluate the people’s awareness of transportation problems and the impact associated
to these problems in Kuwait.
2. Study people’s perceptions of daily traffic congestion and how it affects them
emotionally and physically in Kuwait.
3. Study the attitude of Kuwaiti citizens and residents towards using the public bus
service.
This chapter presents the main interpretation of the statistical analysis using the balanced data performed by this study followed by its limitations, and future research opportunities.
82 5.1 Interpretation and implication of the results
Findings of the present study provided clear results regarding: the association between both socioeconomic and demographic factors and individuals’ decision making toward the use of public transit, and how these factors affect the user’s perceptions of the daily traffic congestion. There are also non-significant findings that suggest nationality does not influence the level of public awareness of transportation problems, and that gender is not affecting the perception of daily commuting trips. This section, discusses the interpretation and implication of the results under three sub-sections: non-significant factors, significant factors, and cultural factors.
5.1.1 Non-significant factors
The non-significant factors of this study are related to nationality and awareness, and gender and perception of daily commuting. The non-significant results related to nationality and the awareness of transportation problems could be related to its equal importance for both populations. Retrieving the results from section 5.5, respondents (Kuwaiti and non-
Kuwaiti) ranked “transportation and congestion” fourth in importance among local issues that need government attention. Also the majority of respondents (67%) believed that
“congestion” is the top transportation problem in Kuwait followed by “an inadequate public transit system”. Moreover, the independent variables of gender and the perception about daily commuting were not associated. This finding indicates that both males and females are sighting daily commuting by the same token.
83 5.1.2 Significant factors
On the other hand, many of the explanatory factors studied revealed a high to moderate association with public transportation use. The Kuwaiti bus traveler characteristics were found to be: Non-Kuwaiti resident, male, age between 24-29 years, with a graduate degree (Master or higher). Except for the group with higher degrees, this trend is expected in a country like Kuwait where the existing public transport system is very inefficient and unreliable. Unfortunately, and after balancing the data, the test statistic failed to detect the income level of the bus users but it emphasize the significance of non-users with income level of 1501-3000 KD.
As discussed in section 5.3, both users and non-users agreed that all the system elements in the available public transit need improvements. This can explain the Kuwaitis trend to own cars and the non- Kuwaitis trend to shift to own private cars in cases where finance is not an obstacle (section 2.1 discussed other factors that encourage private vehicle ownership in Kuwait). The ownership trend and the characteristics of bus users in Kuwait matches the trend in other developing countries such as India (in gender, age) (Ashalatha et al., 2013; Yin et al., 2012).
A large segment of the Kuwaiti society (especially young workers, low-income residents and higher educated classes) could be influenced to use the available public bus service with minor changes to the system. Such changes could influence those who are related to the new users, to also use the system (i.e. children, students, partners, etc.).
Although the characteristics of Kuwait’s bus user may suggest that most current users of the system are individuals with limited alternatives, the tendency for the most highly educated
84 group to use the bus does offer a hope that future users will be more rational about their transportation decisions even with the affordability to own private vehicle.
In relation to the perceptions of the daily traffic congestion, findings indicate: firstly, that with the increase in travel time, commuters in general developed more negative feelings, such as exhaustion and stress (Section 4.6.3). Green et al. (2012) identified a negative effect of long travel time on the finance, family life, health and wellbeing of their survey sample.
Other researches conclude that the increase in travel time would also increase the use of private cars (Ashalatha et al., 2013; Jiang, 2011; Nurdden, 2007; Yin et al., 2012). Likewise, in the present study, private cars users have developed negative feelings about length of commute, but they don’t see public transit as an appropriate alternative to reduce travel time.
A 2011 study of the metropolitan area of New York City comparing the stress levels of car commuters and train commuters found that car commuters have higher levels of stress and negative mood (Wener, 2011). Secondly, the Kuwaiti sample in this survey found commuting consumes a large portion of their time, for some it is considered a waste of time and for others they used the wasted time to educate themselves using audio materials. The significance of both behaviors indicates that some people are better adapting to commuting time than others and that commuting time is longer than it should be (Table 2).
Other factors that showed significant association with the likelihood of using public transit locally that have not been explored previously are using the public transportation abroad effect and the number of years non-Kuwaiti residents have been living in Kuwait. My intention in selecting these variables was to explore new factors that could be related to the special characteristics of the Kuwaiti society. Findings indicate: first, that the exposure to a positive experience of using public transportation abroad will increase the acceptance of
85 using the local public transit system; second, that the length of residents stay in Kuwait affect their use of public transit. Residents that have been living in Kuwait for one to five years are willing to use the system. Unfortunately, this indicates that non-Kuwaitis residents will be infected by the Kuwaiti habit of owning cars and not using the public transit with time.
5.1.3 Cultural factors
When asked about the cultural aspects behind their transportation decisions, respondents indicated that the first barrier to using the bus system, even after improvements, is social acceptance (23%) (Section 4.3). In Kuwait, a particular image has been attached to the bus system users for a long period of time, which leads them to favour the use of private cars (Al Amar, 2014; Husain, 2012). The results from this study support Van et al.’s (2014) study of the impact of general public opinion in six different Asian countries on using the bus and car. Their results confirm that younger generation commuters (especially university students) are more likely to use a mode of transportation that has a positive image attached to it. It seems that a positive image is attached to the proposed KMRT project because 56% of respondents would consider using it in the future, possibly due to its relative novelty. For those who are not considering using the KMRT system, the social acceptance was not their main concern as only 7% of them think it might be a barrier. Respondents ranked the top three reasons for not using the KMRT as: the proposed routes for the metro, availability of the car, and the attachment to driving their car. Also, we can conclude from the significant factors that individuals with higher education are more likely to overlook the social perception and use the public transportation because of their realisation of the negative impact associated with transportation. Consequently, the future of any new public
86 transportation project in Kuwait could be very promising if the quality, convenience of routes, and positive image of the project are all assured.
Speaking about cultural issues, a previous study has explored claims made by an ultra-orthodox community about gender segregation of public transport service and banning the musical broadcasts on buses. The study concluded that responding to the ultra-orthodox demands would encourage their use of the public transit system (Feldheim, 2013). Because only 5% of the present sample considered segregation to be a barrier to public transit use
(section 5.3), the issue of segregation was not significant. Nevertheless, this finding could give the transit planners a better understanding of how to meet the needs of the conservative community in Kuwait, who have similar claims and beliefs about segregation and music.
5.2 Limitations
The results of this study have certain limitations. Firstly, there was a lack of data and literature related to the transportation situation in Kuwait, no data in some cases, and conflicting information within sources. Secondly, in the online survey there were more than five hundred and eighty responses. Out of those responses, only three hundred and thirty one questionnaires were completed (completion rate is 66.2%). Although the sample size is still large and the completion rate is excellent (compared to other transportation studies, were usually the completion rate did not exceed twenty percent), this had an effect on the analysis process in questions with long options lists (the expected frequencies for each variable should be greater than 5 in the chi-square analysis (Field, 2009)). The length of the questionnaire and the length of the options list were common comments from both participants who completed the questionnaire and those who did not. Participants who made
87 it to the end thought that the length made completing the questionnaire a very dull process.
Consequently, completing a long boring questionnaire might affect the accuracy of responses, and quitting the questionnaire affects the sample size. In this case, the risk for
Type II error is increased and the power of the analysis is decreased.
Finally, the fact that the present study looked only at the socioeconomic and demographic factors is potentially problematic. It must be acknowledged that there is a whole set of social, cultural, environmental and economic factors that potentially influence the individuals’ final decisions. Thus, it is expected that different studies of attitudes will yield different results.
5.3 Future research
The most obvious area for future research involves adjusting for the methodological limitations cited above. Taking steps to reduce the errors of the present study may include grouping participants into different samples groups depending on the community they are drawn from. It may also be fruitful to have a different questionnaire forms for each group, where the questions could be more directed to each target population. Furthermore, although it was common to indicate the climatic characteristics of the region as a barrier to the public transportation use, they were relatively mild in this study (Bad weather was not considered as one of the top barriers to use the transit (Figure: 18)). Unfortunately, false escalation of the weather effects as a barrier to the success of public transportation projects may affect decisions made by officials and planners. Future research can detect this issue more precisely, which will help the future of public transportation in the state of Kuwait and the region. Future research may also focus more on other variables related to gender and
88 nationality, since it was of high significance in the present study. Another area of research could be looking at “neutral opinion” responses about the public transit in this study. People with neutral opinions could be the future target population for public transportation use.
Conducting in depth interviews would help in developing a better understanding about other variables specially related to social and cultural barriers. It would also be important to attempt to gain samples of participants living in all the Kuwaiti governorates that are representative of the actual percentages of the population (not only nationality and gender) in order to obtain a reasonable sample size and increase the generalizability of the findings.
This should be approached within earlier stages of the experiment design.
5.4. Recommendations
After discussing the results of this research, a sustainable and efficient transportation system in Kuwait will require improved land use planning, considering cultural factors along with sustainable transportation plans and traffic management. In this section, I present recommendations arising from this research and other general considerations to reach sustainability goals and to make Kuwait’s cities and suburbs a place where people enjoy roaming in its streets.
First, the history of Kuwait’s Master Plans provides lessons for transportation planners and officials to set clear, precise, and flexible long-term goals. The new transportation plans must accommodate the growth in population rate. The plans also should encourage both Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaiti residents to increase their use of public transit.
Plans related to the economic efficiency of services must assure that the transportation and
89 public transportation resource are allocated to serve each person in the best way while minimizing waste and inefficiency.
Second, understanding the psychological, social, economic and cultural determinants of the behavior toward transportation are a key factor to successful planning for public transportation in Kuwait. The results of this research show a tendency for non-Kuwaiti residents and males to use the public buses more than other categories. Any reforms to the transportation system should be based on a proper assessment of the target group (Kuwaiti, non-Kuwaiti, male, female), where they are located, and the behavior that is to be changed.
Officials should also take account of problems that prevent people in different demographic categories changing their behavior. Problems might include family size, weather conditions, quality of buses, drivers’ professionalism, religion, and social aspects. A good starting point in this regard is to start a media campaign to change the negative image that people associate with buses.
Third, participants of the online survey highlighted the deteriorating condition of current public buses in Kuwait. Results also indicate that improving the quality of buses will encourage their use. Possible improvements include providing air-conditioning units, upgrading seating, and replacing the current bus fleet. Improvements must also include the quality of the service for example more convenience routes, shorter travel times, easier access to bus stops, and higher frequency of service. Participants also underlined the issue of personal security on buses such as violence and abuse. Higher personal security on public
90 buses in Kuwait could be achieved by authorizing bus drivers to issue tickets for violations, encouraging Kuwaitis to drive buses, and gender segregation.
5.4.1 Other considerations
Other considerations than those that arose from the study may also be useful in contributing to a sustainable transportation network, and these are listed below:
• Ensure the availability of multiple transportation modes such that each individual in
the community is able to access and use all different types of transportation such as
private cars, public buses, bicycles, or walk.
• Ensure accessibility; pedestrians and transit users should be able to reach their
destinations/bus stops easily and safely.
• Increase public involvement by creating opportunities for the voice of the general
public, interested groups, and any stakeholder to be heard at all levels (planning,
implementing, management) of any transportation project.
• Educate community, roads users, and youngsters at schools about the importance of
road safety issues, the impact of transportation on the environment, and the benefits
of using public transportation.
• Improve bus stop design to better account for the extremes of the weather.
• Provide incentives for public buses users.
• Build high-density residential areas and mixed-use developments with frequent,
convenient public transportation services and open spaces.
91 • Build new communities and cities around the current bus routes and the proposed
metro project routes.
• Build safe walking routes to schools and make neighborhoods walkable.
• Increase safety of individuals and vehicles. This can be simply achieved with minor
changes to the system such as:
o Equipping the transportation infrastructure with modern transportation
features such as pedestrian and cyclist lanes, dedicated bus lane, marked
pedestrian crossings, pedestrian’s traffic light, traffic bollards to protect
pedestrians and cyclists, better traffic signals, speed sensors, data collection
cameras.
o Educating road users about the road sharing laws, traffic laws, and parking
regulations.
o Applying stricter annual car test and licensing test for bus drivers and the
public.
92 Chapter 6 Conclusion
The main goals of this research were to investigate factors that are affecting commuters’ decision-making process when choosing a mode of transport in Kuwait, to study the attitude of commuters towards using public transportation, as well as how socioeconomic and demographic factors affect the use of the available public bus system in Kuwait. This understanding is a key component in providing better services, designing media campaigns, developing traffic laws, and influencing officials to support sustainable transportation planning and future public transportation projects in Kuwait. This study found that:
• The use of surveys as a planning tool provides a very convenient methodology to
understand public opinion.
• In the survey sample there was a lack of representativeness with respect to gender and
nationality variables that was fixed by weighting adjustment technique.
• Factors such as nationality, gender, age, and education contribute significantly to the
prediction of public bus users’ attitudes in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti bus traveler
characteristics are non-Kuwaiti resident, male, age between 24-29 years, and holding
a graduate degree.
• Kuwaitis have more different feelings about the daily commuting trips, some believe
that the trips are time wasting and others believe they are valuable time for audio
education.
• Men are 2.6 times more likely to use the public bus than are women.
• Non-Kuwaiti residents use the public bus system 6.4 times than Kuwaitis.
• There is no significant relationship between any of the following:
93 o Nationality and awareness of transportation problems,
o Gender and the perception of daily commuting.
• A large segment of the Kuwaiti society (especially young workers, low-income
residents and higher educated classes) could be influenced to use the available public
bus service with minor changes to the system.
• Kuwaitis are unlikely to be willing to use the available bus system, even after
improvements, because of the general negative image of buses and the positive image
of cars.
• Individuals with higher education are more likely to overlook the social perception
and use the public transportation.
• There are no social barriers related to the use of the proposed metro project (KMRT)
in Kuwait.
The results of this study support the need for appropriate policies, plans, and projects to provide a safe, affordable, and efficient transportation system to attain sustainable environmental development objectives in Kuwait. However, the study had some limitations associated with the completion rate and the demographic differences between the sample and the original population that should have more attention on the designing phase. As a final point, future research could investigate more variables related to gender and nationality, examine individuals with “neutral opinion” about the use of public buses, and conduct in- depth interviews with the public and officials.
94 References
ADAA (Al Dewan Al Amiri). (2013). The Amir: Vision. Retrieved from
http://www.da.gov.kw/eng/index.php
After disappointments… Talk about development is no longer heard. (2015, May 13).
Retrieved from http://www.altaleea.com??p=12495
Agresti, A. (2013). Categorical data analysis. New Jersey, Canada: John Wiley and Sons.
Alabd-Alrazag, F. (2002). Transportation mean and daily commuting in Kuwait: A
geographical analysis [In Arabic]. Journal of Gulf Studies and Arabian Peninsula. 28,
104.
Al-Amar, N. (2014, November). Finally…I rode a public bus. Al-Watan newspaper.
Retrieved March 16, 2015 from
http://alwatan.kuwait.tt/articledetails.aspx?id=401145&YearQuarter=20144
Al-Atiqi, H. (2009). Discussion of history of the emergence of Kuwait [In Arabic]. Retrieved
on July, 8, 2014 from http://www.kuwait-history.net/vb/showthread.php?t=4462
Al-Azmi, K. (2000). Urbanization in the State of Kuwait: A geographical development study
(Unpublished doctoral dissertation) [In Arabic]. Alexandria University, Egypt.
Al-Hajeeh, M. (2012). Analysis of traffic problems in Kuwait. Recent Researches in
Engineering Mechanics, Urban & Naval Transportation and Tourism.
Al-Kanderi, A. (1986). The housing problem in Kuwait analytical study. Kuwait
Geographical Association. 86, 5.
Al-Kulaib, A., Al-Sabah, S., Al-Rukaibi, F., Al-Jassar, A., & Eleiche, M. (2009). Research
priorities for the transportation and traffic safety center. In Al-Qadi, I., Sayed, T., Al-
nuaimi, N., & Masad, E. (ED.), Efficient transportation and pavement systems:
95 characterizarion, mechanisms, simulation and modeling (pp. 277-282). London, Taylor
& Francis group.
Al-Marzog, T. (1977). The relation between urban development and transportation system in
Kuwait City (Unpublished master thesis) [In Arabic]. Kuwait University.
Al-Mutairi, N., & Koushki, P. (2009). Potential contribution of traffic to air pollution in the
State of Kuwait. American Journal of Environmental Science, 5, 218-222.
Al Qabas newspaper. (2012). Retrieved January 30, 2014, from
https://twitter.com/SraayNews/status/276750824682713088/photo/1
Al-Rukaibi, F., Ali, M., & Aljassar, A. (2007). Traffic safety attitudes and driving behavior
of university students. Journal of Transportation Research Board. 1969, 65-71.
Al-Salem, S., Khan, A., (2010). Monitoring and modeling the trends of primary and
secondary air pollution precursors: The case of the State of Kuwait. International
journal of chemical engineering, 2010, 12.
Al-Yagout, M. Al-Jassar, A. Al-Rukaibi, F. and Mahony. J. (2012). Evaluation of structural
adequacy of pavements in Kuwait: A case study of major arterial sections. Kuwait
Journal of Science Engineering. 39(B2), 79-95.
Al-Ziyab, A., & Akhtar, S. (2011). Incidence and trend of road traffic injuries and related
deaths in Kuwait: 2000–2009. Injuries. 43(12), 2018-2022.
Ashalatha, R., Manju, V., and Zacharia, A. (2013). ”Mode Choice Behavior of Commuters in
Thiruvananthapuram City.” Journal of Transportation Engineering, 139(5), 494–502.
Banister, D., Anderton, K., Bonilla, D., Givoni, M., & Schwanen, T. (2011, July6).
Transportation and the environment. Annual review of environment and resources, 36,
247 – 270.
96 Barger, P., Behrend, T., Sharek, D., Sinar, E. I-O and the Crowd: Frequently Asked
Questions about using Mechanical Turk for research. Retrieved April 14, 2014, from
http://www.siop.org/tip/oct11/03barger.aspx
Beirao, G., & Cabral, J.A. (2007, November). Understanding attitudes towards public
transport and private car: A qualitative study. Transport Policy. 14(6), 478 – 489.
Bethlehem, J. (2009). Applied Survey Methods: A statistical perspectives. Wiley series in
survey methodology, Canada.
Bethlehem, J., & Biffignandi, S. (2012). Hand book of web surveys. New Jersey, NJ: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Bilisik, O., Erdogan, M., Kaya, I., & Baracli, H. (2013). A hybrid fussy methodology to
evaluate customer satisfaction in a public transportation system in Istanbul. Total
quality management & business excellence. 24(9-10), 1141 – 1159.
Buhrmester, M. (2011, January). Amazon’s Mechanical Turk: A new source of inexpensive,
yet high quality, data? Perspectives on psychological science journal, 6 (1), 3-5.
Burchell, A., Botelle. M, McSheffrey. P, & Zouzoulas, P. (2012, August). Dubai Metro:
building the world’s longest driverless metro. Civil Engineering, 165(CE3).
Briceño, C., Antonio, E., & Nemat, S. (2004). Infrastructure services in developing countries:
Acsses, quality, cost and policy reform (Paper No. 3468). Retrieved from
http://www.econ.worldbank.org
Bryman, A., Bell, E., & Teevan, J. (2012). Social research methods. United Kingdom:
Oxford University Press.
Celik, E., Bilisik, O., Erdogan, M., Gumus, A., & Baracli, H. (2013). An integrated novel
interval type-2 fuzzy MCDM method to improve customer satisfaction in public
97 transportation in Istanbul. Transportation research Part E: Logistics and transportation
review. 58, 28-51.
Coast, E. (2002). The Arnold companion to development studies: Population trend in
developing countries. London, UK: Hodder Arnold. 360-367.
Cohen, B. (2015). Urbanization in developing countries: Current trends, future projections,
and key challenges for sustainability. Technology in society. 28(1-2), 63-80.
CPF, Cycling Promotion Fund. (2013). Retrieved from
http://www.bikeoz.com.au/index.php/cycling-promotion-fund
Creighton, R L. (1980). Urban transportation planning. United State: University of Illinois
Press.
Dargay, J., Gately, D., & Sommer, M. (2007). Vehicle ownership and income growth,
worldwide: 1960-2030. The energy journal. 28(4), 143-170.
Deaton, A., and Dreze, J. (2002). Poverty and inequality in India: A re-examination.
Economic and Political Weekly. 37(36), 3729-3748.
Dirgahayani, P. (2013). Environmental co-benefits of public transportation improvement
initiative: the case of Trans-Jogja bus system in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Journal of
cleaner production, 58, 74–81.
Economic justice program. (2004, May). Creating surveys. Retrieved from
http://www.datacenter.org/research/creatingsurveys/aboutdc.htm
El Mallakh, R. (1966). Planning in a capital surplus economy: Kuwait. Land Economics.
42(4), 425-450.
Ernst, J. (2006). Initiating bus rapid transit in Jakarta, Indonesia. Transportation research
record: Journal of the transportation research board. 1903/2005, 20-26.
98 Feldheim, M. (2013). Balancing women's rights and religious rights: the issue of bus
segregation. Shofra. 31(2), 73-94.
Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS (3rd ED). Los Angeles, LA: SAGE
Publication Ltd.
Forstall, R., Greene, R., & Pick, J. (2009). Which are the largest? Why lists of major urban
areas vary so greatly. Journal of economic and social geography. 100(3), 277-297.
Ficker, R. (2008). Sampling methods for web and email surveys. In N. Fielding, R. M. Lee &
G. Blank (ED.), The SAE handbook of online research methods (pp. 195-216).
London; United Kingdom.
Gakenheimer, R. (1999). Urban mobility in the developing world. Transportation research
part A: Policy and Practice. 33(7), 671-689.
GDM (The opening of the Green Line of Dubai Metro). (2011, September11). Al Riyad
newspaper. Retrieved from http://www.alriyadh.com/
Gercek, H., Karpak, B., & Kilincaslan, T. (2004). A multiple criteria approach for the
evaluation of the rail transit networks in Istanbul. Transportation. 31, 203-228.
Ghabra. S. (1997). Kuwait and the Dynamics of Socio-Economic Change. Middle East
Journal, 51(3), 358-372.
Girnau, G. Blennemann, F. (1989). Cost-benefits in underground urban public transportation.
Tunneling and underground space technology, 4(1), 23-30.
Grammenos, F., & Lovegrove, G.R. (2015). Remaking the City Street Grid: A Model for
Urban and Suburban Development. Jefferson, North Carolina: MacFarland &
company, Inc.
99 Green, G., Morris, J., & Wade, M. (2012). Health, sustainability and student travel. Nurse
education in practice. 12(1), 41-45.
Guo, H. and Shi, H. (2007) Study on Traveler's Behavior Value in City Passenger Traffic
System. International Conference on Transportation Engineering 2007: pp. 564-569.
Gwilliam, K. (2003). Urban transport in developing countries. Transport reviews: A
transformational transdisciplinary journal. 32(2), 197-216.
Hajeeh, M. (2012). Traffic Accidents in Kuwait: A Decision Making Analysis.
International journal of applied mathematics and informatics, 6(2).
Hay, I. (2010). Qualitative research methods in human geography. Canada: Oxford
University Press.
Haywood, I. (1989). Kuwait. Cities, 6(1), 2- 16.
Hein, C. (2010). Shaping Tokyo: Land development and planning practice in the early
modern Japanese metropolis. Journal of Urban History. 36(4), 447-484.
Holden, J. (2013). Assessing the reliability of the M5-120 on Amazon’s mechanical Turk.
Computers in human behavior journal. 29 (4), 1749-1754.
Husain, J. (2012). Luxury cars: an attitude not just addressing wealth. Al Yamamah
magazine. Retrieved March 16, 2015 form
www.alriyadah.com/alyamamah/article/967806
Hutchinson, B. (1990). Spatial differentiation, transport demands and transport model design
in Kuwait. Transport reviews. 10 (2), 91-110.
Idris, A. (2013). Modal shift forecasting models for transit service planning (Unpublished
Doctoral dissertation). University of Toronto, Canada.
100 ITU (International Telecommunication Union). (2013). Retrieved from
http://www.itu.int/net4/itu-d/icteye/CountryProfile.aspx
IEA Statistics, International Energy Agency electronic files on CO2 Emissions from Fuel
Combustion. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2007). Barker T., I. Bashmakov, L. Bernstein,
J. E. Bogner, P. R. Bosch, R. Dave, O. R. Davidson, B. S. Fisher, S. Gupta, K.
Halsnæs, G.J. Heij, S. Kahn Ribeiro, S. Kobayashi, M. D. Levine, D. L. Martino, O.
Masera, B. Metz, L. A. Meyer, G.-J. Nabuurs, A. Najam, N. Nakicenovic, H. -H.
Rogner, J. Roy, J. Sathaye, R. Schock, P. Shukla, R. E. H. Sims, P. Smith, D. A.
Tirpak, D. Urge-Vorsatz, D. Zhou. Technical Summary. In: Climate Change 2007:
Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Jaffe, E. (2012). The secret to Tokyo’s rail success. Retrieved from
http://wwwcitylab.com/commute/2012/05/secret-tokyos-rail-success/2044/
Jeon, C. M. (2007). Incorporating Sustainability into Transportation Planning and Decision
Making: Definitions, Performance Measures, and Evaluation. (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). Georgia Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Atlanta: Georgia Institute of Technology.
Jiang, S. (2011, August). Household planning of transportation use. International Journal of
Business and Social Science. 2(14), 61-70.
Karan, M. A. Al-Kulaib, A. Haas, R. (2001, August). An Overview of Kuwait’s Integrated
Infrastructure Maintenance Management System (KIMMS). Paper Presented and
Published at the 5th International Conference on Managing Pavements Seattle
101 Washington. Retrieved from
http://www.pavementmanagement.org/ICMPfiles/2001094.pdf
Kazi, A., & Khalid, W. (2012). Questionnaire designing and validation. Journal of Pakistan
Medical Association, 62(5), 514.
KCCI. (2012). The relationship between the worsening of democratic practices and frailer of
reform economic development and achievement. Retrieved from
http://www.kuwaitchamber.og.kw./echamber/websie/index.jsp?pageID=ws-
cmsmenu.jsp&searchIn=8&searchGroup=4&menuID=458&ootMenu=458&fromPubli
c=yes&lanuae=en
KCCI. (2009). Economic issues. Retrieved from
http://www.kuwaitchamber.org.kw/echamber/website/index.jsp?pageID=ws_cmsmenu.
jsp&fromPublic=yes&language=en&rootMenu=291&menuID=291
KGL. (2014). Overview. Retrieved from http://www.kgl.com/Pages/Default.aspx
Koushki, P.A., Al-Fadhala, S., Al-Saleh, O., & Aljassar, A.H., (2002). Urban air pollution
impact of modal shift in school transportation in Kuwait. Journal of Urban Planning
and development. 128(2), 89-104.
Koizumia, Y., Nishimiyabm N., & Kanekoc, M. (2013). Urban Transportation
Characteristics and Urban Mass Transit Introduction in the Cities of Developing
Countries. Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies. Vol.9.
KUNA, Kuwait News Agency. (2007). Ministry of Planning... The total number of cars in
Kuwait. Retrieved from
http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?language=ar&id=1761721
102 Kutzbach, M. (2009). Motorization in developing countries: Causes, consequences, and
effectiveness of policy options. Journal of Urban Economics. 65(2), 154-166.
Kuwait Census (2011). 2011 General Census of population, housing, buildings and
installations, part one. Retrieved from
http://www.csb.gov.kw/Socan_Statistic.aspx?ID=6
Kuwait Central Statistical Bureau (2012). Annual statistical bulletin of transport.
Kuwait Municipality. (2009). Development of Kuwait through the master plans. Retrieved
January 30, 2014, from http://www.baladia.gov.kw/main-web/masterplan/spec.htm
Kuwait National Assembly. (2014). Retrieved on July, 9, 2014 from
http://www.kna.kw/clt/run.asp?id=151#sthash.DEGyp6Dt.dpbs
KOG (Kuwait Online Government). (2013). About Kuwait. Retrieved from
http://www.e.gov.kw/sites/kgoenglish/portal/Pages/Visitors/AboutKuwait.aspx#
KOG (Kuwait Online Government). (2014). Road Transport. Retrieved from
http://www.e.gov.kw/sites/KGOEnglish/Portal/Pages/Visitors/TourismInKuwait/Travel
lingToKuwait_TravelOnLand.aspx
Laffel, N. (2006). Promoting public transportation for sustainable development. Retrieved
from https://www.princeton.edu/~mauzeral/wws402d_s06/Laffel.pdf
Lam, S., & Toan, T. (2006). Land transport policy and public transport in Singapore.
Transportation. 33, 171-188.
Litman, T. (2011). Evaluating public transit as an energy conservation and emission
reduction strategy. Retrieved from
http://www.site.ebrary.com/lib/ubc/reader.action?docID=10534594
103 Litman, T. (2013, January). Comprehensive evaluation of energy conservation and emission
reduction policies. Transportation research part A: policy and practice. 47, 153-166.
Litman, T. (2013). The new transportation planning paradigm. Institute of transportation
engineers journal. 83(6), 20-24, 26, 28.
Masood, M., Khan, A., & Naqvi, H. (2011). Transportation Problems in Developing
Countries Pakistan: A Case-in-Point. Journal of business and management. 6(11), 256-
266.
Mehta, C., Patel, N. (2011). IBM SPSS exact tests. Retrieved from
http://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/exact-tests20-32bi.pdf
Metz, B., Davidson, O.R., Bosch, P.R., Dave, R., & Meyer, L.A. (2007). Climate change
assessment. Cambridge University Press.
Mohammad, Z. (2014, December 14). The development plan did not fit him, Al-Muhailbi:
lack in the master plan. Al Qabas newspaper. p.11.
Moore, D., Mccabe, G., & Craig, B. (2009). Introduction to the practice of statistics (6th Ed.).
New York, the United State: W.H. Freeman and Company.
Moskvitch, K. (2014, June 11). Can a city ever be traffic jam-free? BBC. Retrieved from
http://bbc.com
Mundra, S. (2014). What are the advantages and disadvantages of Pavements? Retrieved on
May, 6, 2014 from http://www.preservearticles.com/2012020922970/what-are-the-
advantages-and-disadvantages-of-pavements.html
Murray, P., (1999). Fundamental issues in questionnaire design. Accidents and Emergency
Nursing, 7,148- 153.
Mzee, P., and Chen, Y. (2012). Road safety in developing countries - The case of
104 transportation management in Dar es Salaam City. Applied Mechanics and Materials.
178-181, 1806-1814.
Nelson, M., Wooditch, A., & Dario, L. (2015). Sample size, effect size, and statistical power:
a replication study of Wiesburd’s paradox. Journal of experimental criminology.
11(1), 141-163.
Nurdden, A., Rahmat, R., & Ismail, A. (2007). Effect of transportation policies on model
shift from private car to public transport in Malaysia. Journal of applied science. 7(7),
1014 -1018.
Popuri, Y., Proussaloglou, K., Ayvalik, C., Koppelman, F., & Lee, A. (2011, April).
Importance of traveler attitudes in the choice of public transportation to work: findings
from the Regional Transportation Authority Attitudinal Survey. Transportation. 38,
653 – 661.
Preston, S. (1979). Urban growth in developing countries: A demographic reappraisal.
Population and development review. 5(2), 195-215.
Pucher, J., Korattyswaropam, N., Mittal, N., & Ittyerah, N. (2005). Urban transport crisis in
India. Transport Policy. 12(3), 185- 198.
Ramadhan, M. Hussain, A. & Al-Hajji. R. (2013, May). Limitation of Kuwait’s economy: an
absorptive capacity perspective. Modern Economy. 4(5), 412-417.
Research Ethics Boards. (2014, Sep 23). Retrieved from http://research.ubc.ca/ethics/why-
ethical-review-process
Rodrigue, J. P, Comtois, C., & Slack, B. (2013). The geography of the transport systems (3rd
Ed.). United Kingdom, London: Routledge
105 Sarker, M., Asce, A., Morimoto, A., Koike, H., & Ono, A., (2002). Impact of transportation
infrastructure development on modal choice. Journal of urban planning and
development. 128(2), 59-76.
Schwanen, T., & Mokhtarian, P. (2004). What affects commute mode choice: neighborhood
physical structure or preferences toward neighborhoods? Journal of transport
geography. 13(1), 23 – 99.
Shiftan, Y., Kaplan, S., & Hakkert, S. (2003, September). Scenario building as a tool for
planning a sustainable transportation system. Transportation research part D: transport
and environment. 8(5), 323-342.
Simons, D. (2012). Common (mis) belief about memory: a replication and comparison of
telephone and Mechanical Turk survey methods. Plos one journal, 7 (12), e51876.
Smith, S. (2013). Determining Sample Size: How to Ensure You Get the Correct Sample
Size. Retrieved form http://www.qualtrics.com/blog/determining-sample-size/
Soliman, M. (2014). Statistics: Average monthly household expenditure is 3070 Kuwaiti
dinars. Alshahed. Retrieved from
http://www.alshahedkw.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11565
3:------3070-&catid=31:03&Itemid=419
Susilo, Y., Joewono, T., Santosa, W., and Parikesit, D. (2007). A reflection of motoriazation
and public transport in Jakarta Metropolitan area. IATSS research. 31(1).
Stanton, A. Ramsamy, E. Seybolt, P. Elliott, C. (2012). Cultural sociology of the Middle
East, Asia & Africa: an encyclopedia. Thousand Oaks: SAGE publications, Inc.
Talpur, H., Napiah, M., Chandio, A., Khahro, H. (2012, July). Transportation Planning
Survey Methodologies for the Proposed Study of Physical and Socio-economic
106 Development of Deprived Rural Regions: A Review. Modern applied science. 6(7), 1-
16.
Tamin, O., Prayudyanto, M. (ED.) (307-316). Transportation and Geography (Vol. 1). Hong
Kong: Hong Kong SOC transportation studies LTD.
Teodorovic, D., Orco, M. (2008). Mitigating traffic congestion: solving the rid-matching
problem by Bee Colony Optimization. Transportation planning and technology. 31(2),
135-152.
Traffic in Kuwait… when and what is the solution? (2012, April 24). Al watan newspaper.
Retrieved from http://alwatan.kuwait.tt/
Transport and communication … type of environmental pollution. (2011). Encyclopedia of
-و-النقل-زحمة/Environment. [In Arabic]. Retrieved from http://www.bee2ah.com
البيئي-التلوث-أشكال-من-المواصلات
Tyrinopoulos, Y., & Antoniou, C. (2013). Factors affecting model choice in urban mobility.
Eur. Transportation Research Review. 5, 27-39.
United Nation development program. (2009, December). Implementation of the
Comprehensive and Long Term National Traffic and Transport Sector Strategy for
Kuwait. Retrieved from
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/kuwait/documents/projectdocuments/Human%20De
velopment/General%20Directorate%20of%20Traffic%20Project%202009-
2013%20SIGNED.pdf
US (United States). Department of State. Office of Public Services. (1961). Kuwait: Persian
Gulf Sheikdom; background. [Washington].
107 Van, H., Choocharukul, K., & Fuijii, S. (2014). The effect of attitudes toward cars and public
transportation on behavioral intention in commuting mode choice: A comparison
across six Asian countries. Transportation research: Part A, Policy and practice. 69,
36-44.
Vasconcellos, E. (2000). Urban transportation and traffic policies: The challenge of
coexistence in developing countries. Transportation quarterly. 54(1), 91-101.
Vasconcellos, E. (2014). Urban transport, environment and equity: the case for developing
countries. United Kingdom and United State: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
Verma, A. & Dash, N. (2011). Addressing transportation needs and climate change in
developing nations. Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture. 5(10), 861-889.
Wener, R., & Evans, G. (2011, March). Comparing stress of car and train commuters.
Transportation research part F: Traffic psychology and behavior. 14(2), 111-116.
World Bank. (2014). Beyond economic growth student book. Retrieved on March 26, 2015
from http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/global/glossary.html
World Bank. (2014). Kuwait. Retrieved on May 8, 2014, from
http://data.worldbank.org/country/kuwait
WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development). 1987. Our common
journey, Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, England.
WHO (World Health Organization). 2013. Global status report on road safety. Retrieved on
March, 26, 1015 from
http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2013/en/
108 Xia, Y., Jun, C., & Wei, W. (2009). Travel characteristics and mode choice behavior of
public transportation in China. International conference on transportation engineering.
2195-2200.
Yin, H., Li, J., and Zhao, H. (2012) Public Transportation Travel Mode Choice Behavior
Research. CICTP 2012: pp. 1337-1344.
Yun, M., Liu, J., & Yang, X. (2011). Modeling on mode choice behavior based on trip
chaining: A case study in Zhongahan City. In Icctp 2011: Towards Sustainable
Transportation Systems. Reston, VA.
Zaworski, K., Fowler, J., Lall, K., Bardwell, T., Bird, P., Dahl, S., Gussenhoven, C., Kyte,
M., Lines, M., Lovejoy, M., Josh, N. (2013). Transportation Engineering: Online Lab
Manual. Published by Oregon State University, Portland State University, and
University of Idaho.
Zegras, P., & Gakenheimer, R. (2006). Driving forces in developing cities’ transportation
systems: insights from selected cases. Retrieved from
http://web.mit.edu/czegras/www/Zegras%26Gakenheimer_WBCSD3.pdf
Zhao, J., Webb, V., & Shah, P. (2014). Customer Loyalty Differences between Captive and
Choice Transit Riders. Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 2415, 80-88.
Zietsman, J., Ramani, T., Quadrifoglio, L., & Knowles, W. (2009). Applying sustainable
transportation in Texas. Proceedings of the 28th Southern African transport conference.
109 Appendices
Appendix A: Questionnaire form
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129 Appendix B: Test of hypotheses
1. Does the use of public transportation abroad, affect peoples’ use of Public Transit in
Kuwait?
Hₒ: There is no effect of using the public transit abroad on using it locally.
Ha: There is an effect of using the public transit abroad on using it locally.
N: 302, α: 0.05
use_bus * abroad_use Cross tabulation
Use of Public transit abroad
Yes No Total
Use of Yes Count 54 2 56
public bus Expected Count 51.9 4.1 56
locally No Count 226 20 246
Expected Count 228.1 17.9 246 Total Count 280 22 302
Expected Count 280 22 302
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (1- Value df sided) sided) sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 1.404a 1 .236 Continuity Correctionb .810 1 .368 Likelihood Ratio 1.641 1 .200 Fisher's Exact Test .391 .187 Linear-by-Linear Association 1.399 1 .237 N of Valid Cases 302
a. 1 cell (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 4.08. b. Computed only for a 2x2 table
130 - Fisher’s exact test has been used to calculate the exact probability of the chi-square
statistic because one of the chi-square test assumptions has been violated (One cell
(25.0%) have expected count less than five)
- There was no significant relationship between the uses of public transit abroad on use
of the bus system in Kuwait (Fisher’s exact test p = 0.391).
2. Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Kuwait different between Kuwaitis
& non-Kuwaitis?
Hₒ: There is no difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between Kuwaitis and non-
Kuwaitis.
Ha: There is a difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between Kuwaitis and non-
Kuwaitis.
- N: 323
131 Feel * nationality Cross tabulation
Nationality
Non-
Kuwaiti Kuwaiti Total
Feeling Get some work Count 16 7 23 about done Expected Count 17.9 5.1 23 daily Std. Residual -.4 .8 commutin Exhausting Count 67 14 81 g Expected Count 63 18 81
Std. Residual .5 -.9
Enjoyable Count 18 11 29
Expected Count 22.5 6.5 29
Std. Residual -1 1.8
Leads to health Count 10 5 15
problems Expected Count 11.7 3.3 15
Std. Residual -.5 .9
Neutral Count 21 13 34
Expected Count 26.4 7.6 34
Std. Residual -1.1 2
Relaxing Count 13 7 20
Expected Count 15.5 4.5 20
Std. Residual -.6 1.2
Stressful Count 52 10 62
Expected Count 48.2 13.8 62
Std. Residual .5 -1
Time to Count 11 2 13
text/phone calls Expected Count 10.1 2.9 13
Std. Residual .3 -.5
Time wasting Count 19 1 20
Expected Count 15.5 4.5 20
Std. Residual .9 -1.6
Audio education Count 21 1 22
Expected Count 17.1 4.9 22
Std. Residual .9 -1.8
Total Count 248 71 319
Expected Count 248 71 319
132
Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided)
95% Confidence Interval Asymp. Sig. (2- Value df sided) Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Pearson Chi-Square 23.252a 9 .006 .007b .005 .008 Likelihood Ratio 24.639 9 .003 .006b .005 .008 Fisher's Exact Test 23.152 .005b .003 .006 Linear-by-Linear 5.179 1 .023 .023b .020 .026 Association N of Valid Cases 319 a. 5 cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 2.89. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 1535910591.
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
95% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .270 .006 .007c .005 .008
Cramer's V .270 .006 .007c .005 .008 N of Valid Cases 319 c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 1535910591.
- By using Fisher’s exact test (Mote Carlo approach), results show that there is a
significant relationship between the perception of the daily commuting trip and
nationality (Fisher’s exact test = 32.152, p = 0.005). Non-Kuwaitis have more Neutral
feelings about the daily commuting trips than Kuwaiti. However, we can also see
from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is small to
moderate at 0.270.
3. Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Kuwait different between male &
female?
133 - Hₒ: There is no difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between males and
females
- Ha: There is a difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between males and
females
- N: 323
- α : 0.05
134 Feel * gender Cross tabulation
Gender
Male Female Total
Feeling Get some Count 5 18 23 about work done Expected Count 8.7 14.3 23 daily Std. Residual -1.2 1 commut Exhausting Count 21 60 81 ing Expected Count 30.5 50.5 81
Std. Residual -1.7 1.3
Enjoyable Count 16 13 29
Expected Count 10.9 18.1 29
Std. Residual 1.5 -1.2
Leads to Count 12 3 15
health Expected Count 5.6 9.4 15 problems Std. Residual 2.7 -2.1
Neutral Count 14 20 34
Expected Count 12.8 21.2 34
Std. Residual .3 -.3
Relaxing Count 9 11 20
Expected Count 7.5 12.5 20
Std. Residual .5 -.4
Stressful Count 22 40 62
Expected Count 23.3 38.7 62
Std. Residual -.3 .2
Texting/ Count 5 8 13
phone calls Expected Count 4.9 8.1 13
Std. Residual .0 .0
Time wasting Count 12 8 20
Expected Count 7.5 12.5 20
Std. Residual 1.6 -1.3
Audio Count 4 18 22
education Expected Count 8.3 13.7 22
Std. Residual -1.5 1.2
Total Count 120 199 319
Expected Count 120 199 319
135 Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided)
Asymp. Sig. (2- 95% Confidence Interval Value df sided) Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Pearson Chi-Square 31.063a 9 .000 .000b .000 .000 Likelihood Ratio 31.411 9 .000 .000b .000 .001 Fisher's Exact Test 30.472 .000b .000 .001 Linear-by-Linear .842 1 .359 .371b .361 .380 Association N of Valid Cases 319 a. 1 cell (5.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 4.89. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 334431365.
- Although, in large contingency tables, it is acceptable to have up to 20% expected
frequencies below five, as long as no expected frequency is below one (Field, 2009;
Mehta & Patel, 2011) I have used the Fisher’s exact test (Monte Carlo approach) to
calculate the exact probability of the chi-square statistic to increase the power of the
analysis (Field, 2009). The values of the Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests show
almost the same results (SPSS output above).
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
95% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .312 .000 .000c .000 .000
Cramer's V .312 .000 .000c .000 .000 N of Valid Cases 319
- There is a significant relationship between the perception of daily commute trip in
Kuwait and gender (Fisher’s exact test = 30.892, p < 0.001). More males are
considering the daily commuting trips as a cause of health problems. We can also see
136 from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate
to large at 0.312.
4. Does the use of public transit different between Kuwaitis & non-Kuwaitis?
- Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between Kuwaitis and non-
Kuwaitis
- Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between Kuwaitis and non-
Kuwaitis.
use_bus * nationality Cross tabulation
Nationality
Kuwaiti Non-Kuwaiti Total
use_bus Yes Count 29 35 64
Expected Count 49.8 14.2 64
Residual -20.8 20.8
Std. Residual -2.9 5.5
No Count 226 38 264
Expected Count 205.2 58.8 264
Residual 20.8 -20.8
Std. Residual 1.4 -2.7 Total Count 255 73 328
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (1- Value df sided) sided) sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 48.335a 1 .000 Continuity Correctionb 46.035 1 .000 Likelihood Ratio 42.043 1 .000 Fisher's Exact Test .000 .000 Linear-by-Linear Association 48.188 1 .000 N of Valid Cases 328 a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 14.24.
137
Symmetric Measures
Value Approx. Sig.
Nominal by Nominal Phi -.384 .000
Cramer's V .384 .000 N of Valid Cases 328
- There is a significant relationship between attitudes toward the use of the public
transit and nationality (χ2 (1, N = 328) = 48.335, p < 0.05). More non-Kuwaiti
residents use the public bus system than Kuwaitis. Based on the odds ratio, the odds
of non- Kuwaitis using the public transit is 7.1 times higher than Kuwaitis. We can
also see from Phi tests that the strength of association between the variables is
moderate to large at 0.38.
- Also we notice that there are two under represented cells in the actual sample
compared to the expected frequency in the cells of: Kuwaitis using the bus and non-
Kuwaitis not using the bus. Which support the result of more non-Kuwaitis are using
the public transit in Kuwait.
5. Does the use of the public transit different between males and females?
- Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between males and females
- Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between males and females
N: 328, α: 0.05
138 use_bus * gender Cross tabulation
Gender
Male Female Total
use_bus Yes Count 43 21 64
Expected Count 23.6 40.4 64
Residual 19.4 -19.4
Std. Residual 4 -3.1
No Count 78 186 264
Expected Count 97.4 166.6 264
Residual -19.4 19.4
Std. Residual -2 1.5 Total Count 121 207 328
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (1- Value df sided) sided) sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 31.351a 1 .000 Continuity Correctionb 29.755 1 .000 Likelihood Ratio 30.409 1 .000 Fisher's Exact Test .000 .000 Linear-by-Linear Association 31.255 1 .000 N of Valid Cases 328 a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 23.61. b. Computed only for a 2x2 table
Symmetric Measures
Value Approx. Sig.
Nominal by Nominal Phi .309 .000
Cramer's V .309 .000 N of Valid Cases 328
- There is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and
gender (χ2 (10, N = 328) = 31.271, p = 0.001). More males are using the public bus
system than Females. Men are 4.8 times more likely to use public transit than are
139 women. We can also see from Phi tests that the strength of association between the
variables is moderate at 0.309.
6. Does the use of the public transit different between different income levels?
- Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different income levels
- Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different income levels
N: 216, α: 0.05
use_bus * income Cross tabulation
Monthly income in KD Total
≥ 250 251-750 751-1500 1501-3000 3001-5000 >5000
use_bus Yes Count 8 25 11 8 6 5 63
Expected Count 6.7 13.4 14.9 17.8 6.7 3.5 63
Residual 1.3 11.6 -3.9 -9.8 -.7 1.5
Std. Residual .5 3.2 -1 -2.3 -.3 .8
No Count 15 21 40 53 17 7 153
Expected Count 16.3 32.6 36.1 43.2 16.3 8.5 153
Residual -1.3 -11.6 3.9 9.8 .7 -1.5
Std. Residual -.3 -2 .6 1.5 .2 -.5
Total Count 23 46 51 61 23 12 216
Expected Count 23 46 51 61 23 12 216
Chi-Square Tests
Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided)
Asymp. Sig. (2- 95% Confidence Interval
Value df sided) Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Pearson Chi-Square 24.516a 5 .000 .000b .000 .001 Likelihood Ratio 24.34 5 .000 .000b .000 .001
Fisher's Exact Test 24.059 .000b .000 .000
Linear-by-Linear Association 5.426 1 .020 .021b .018 .024 N of Valid Cases 216 a. 1 cell (8.3%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 3.50. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 221623949.
140
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
95% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .337 .000 .000c .000 .001
Cramer's V .337 .000 .000c .000 .001 N of Valid Cases 216 c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 221623949.
- Using Fisher’s exact test (Monte Carlo approach) results show that there is a
significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and the income
level (Fisher’s exact test = 24.059, p < 0.01). Individuals with 251-750 KD income
level are using the public bus system more than other income level categories. We
can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables
is moderate to large at 0.337.
- Among survey respondents, participants with income level of: 251-750 KD and are
not using the bus and 1501-3000 KD and are using the bus were under represented
than would be expected.
7. Does the use of the public transit different between different education levels?
- Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different education
levels.
- Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different education
levels.
N: 328, α: 0.05
141 use_bus * education Cross tabulation
Education
Middle High Master Elementary school school Bachelor and Higher Total
use_bus Yes Count 2 6 1 15 40 64
Expected Count .4 1.6 2.5 39.6 19.9 64
Residual 1.6 4.4 -1.5 -24.6 20.1
Std. Residual 2.6 3.6 -1 -3.9 4.5
No Count 0 2 12 188 62 264
Expected Count 1.6 6.4 10.5 163.4 82.1 264
Residual -1.6 -4.4 1.5 24.6 -20.1
Std. Residual -1.3 -1.7 .5 1.9 -2.2 Total Count 2 8 13 203 102 328
Expected Count 2 8 13 203 102 328
Chi-Square Tests Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided)
Asymp. Sig. (2- 95% Confidence Interval Value df sided) Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Pearson Chi-Square 69.302a 4 .000 .000b .000 .000 Likelihood Ratio 64.093 4 .000 .000b .000 .000 Fisher's Exact Test 62.650 .000b .000 .000 Linear-by-Linear 2.636 1 .104 .119b .113 .126 Association N of Valid Cases 328 a. 4 cells (40.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .39. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 1585587178.
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
95% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .460 .000 .000c .000 .000
Cramer's V .460 .000 .000c .000 .000 N of Valid Cases 328
c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 1585587178.
142 - Using Fisher’s exact test, results show that there is a significant relationship between
attitudes of using the public transit and the education level (Fisher’s exact test =
69.302, p < 0.001). Individuals with: elementary, middle school, and graduate degrees
are willing to use the public bus system more than other education categories. We
can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables
is moderate to large at 0.460.
- Among survey respondents, participants with graduate degrees and are not using the
bus and with under graduate degrees and are using the bus were under represented
than would be expected.
8. Does the use of the public transit different between different age categories?
- Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different age categories.
- Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different age categories.
N: 328, α: 0.05
use_bus * age Cross tabulation
Age
18-23 24-29 30-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 Total use_bus Yes Count 8 32 18 5 1 0 64
Expected Count 5.5 18.3 23.4 11.3 4.5 1 64
Residual 2.5 13.7 -5.4 -6.3 -3.5 -1
Std. Residual 1.1 3.2 -1.1 -1.9 -1.6 -1
No Count 20 62 102 53 22 5 264
Expected Count 22.5 75.7 96.6 46.7 18.5 4 264
Residual -2.5 -13.7 5.4 6.3 3.5 1
Std. Residual -.5 -1.6 .6 .9 .8 .5
Total Count 28 94 120 58 23 5 328
Expected Count 28 94 120 58 23 5 328
143
Chi-Square Tests Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided)
Asymp. Sig. (2- 95% Confidence Interval Value df sided) Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Pearson Chi-Square 24.617a 5 .000 .000b .000 .001 Likelihood Ratio 25.965 5 .000 .000b .000 .000 Fisher's Exact Test 22.993 .000b .000 .001 Linear-by-Linear 19.481 1 .000 .000b .000 .000 Association N of Valid Cases 328 a. 3 cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .98. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 1451419960.
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
95% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .274 .000 .000c .000 .001
Cramer's V .274 .000 .000c .000 .001 N of Valid Cases 328 c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 1451419960.
- Using Fisher’s exact test (Monte Carlo approach), results show that there is a significant
relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and age category (χ2 (5, N =
328) = 24.617, p < 0.01). Individuals age 24-29 are willing to use the public bus system
more than other age categories. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of
association between the variables is small at 0.274.
9. Does the use of public transit affected by the number of years non-Kuwaiti
participants have been living in Kuwait?
144 - Hₒ: There is no relation between using the public transit by non-Kuwaiti residents and
the number of years they have been living in Kuwait.
- Ha: There is a relation between using the public transit by non-Kuwaiti residents and
the number of years they have been living in Kuwait.
- N: 62
use_bus * nonK_liveK Cross tabulation
Number of years non-Kuwaiti residents living in Kuwait
<1 1- 5 6-10 11-15 >15 Total use_bus Yes Count 6 14 4 1 3 28
Expected Count 5.9 9.5 4.5 2.3 5.9 28
Residual .1 4.5 -.5 -1.3 -2.9
Std. Residual .1 1.5 -.2 -.8 -1.2
No Count 7 7 6 4 10 34
Expected Count 7.1 11.5 5.5 2.7 7.1 34
Residual -.1 -4.5 .5 1.3 2.9
Std. Residual .0 -1.3 .2 .8 1.1
Total Count 13 21 10 5 13 62
Expected Count 13 21 10 5 13 62
Chi-Square Tests
Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided)
95% Confidence Interval Asymp. Sig. (2- Value df sided) Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Pearson Chi-Square 7.873a 4 .096 .093b .087 .099 Likelihood Ratio 8.181 4 .085 .111b .104 .117 Fisher's Exact Test 7.615 .098b .092 .104 Linear-by-Linear 4.375 1 .036 .040b .036 .043 Association N of Valid Cases 62 a. 3 cells (30.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 2.26. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 1507486128.
145 - There was no significant relationship between the uses of public transit and number
of years non-Kuwaiti residents have lived in Kuwait (Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.098).
146 Appendix C: Test of hypotheses after weight balancing
1. Does the use of public transportation abroad, affect peoples’ use of Public Transit in
Kuwait?
Hₒ: There is no effect of using the public transit abroad on using it locally.
Ha: There is an effect of using the public transit abroad on using it locally.
abroad_use * use_bus Cross tabulation
Local use of the bus
Yes No Total
Abroad use of Yes Count 119 155 274
public Expected Count 114.4 159.6 274.0
transportation Std. Residual .4 -.4
No Count 5 18 23
Expected Count 9.6 13.4 23.0
Std. Residual -1.5 1.3 Total Count 124 173 297
Expected Count 124.0 173.0 297.0
Chi-Square Tests c
Asymp. Sig. Exact Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (1- Point Value df (2-sided) sided) sided) Probability
Pearson Chi-Square 4.105a 1 .043 .049 .032 Continuity Correctionb 3.262 1 .071 Likelihood Ratio 4.422 1 .035 .049 .032 Fisher's Exact Test .049 .032 Linear-by-Linear 4.091d 1 .043 .049 .032 .022 Association N of Valid Cases 297
a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 9.60. b. Computed only for a 2x2 table c. For 2x2 cross tabulation, exact results are provided instead of Monte Carlo results. d. The standardized statistic is 2.023.
147
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
99% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .118 .043 .047c .042 .053
Cramer's V .118 .043 .047c .042 .053 N of Valid Cases 297
c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 299883525.
There is a significant relationship between the uses of public transit abroad on using the bus system in Kuwait (χ2 (1, N= 279) = 4.105, p = 0.043). Unfortunately, this relation is weak according to Phi test and not clear in term of which significant elements is affecting what.
2. Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Kuwait different between Kuwaitis
& non-Kuwaitis?
Hₒ: There is no difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between Kuwaitis and
non-Kuwaitis.
Ha: There is a difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between Kuwaitis and
non-Kuwaitis.
148 feel * nationality_comb Cross tabulation
Nationality
Kuwaiti Non-Kuwaiti Total
Get some Count 22 46 68
work done Expected 18.4 49.6 68.0
Std. Residual .8 -.5
Exhausting Count 7 34 41
Expected 11.1 29.9 41.0
Std. Residual -1.2 .8
Enjoyable Count 4 18 22
Expected 6.0 16.0 22.0
Std. Residual -.8 .5
Leads to Count 7 43 50
health Expected 13.6 36.4 50.0 problems Std. Residual -1.8 1.1
Relaxing Count 5 23 28
Expected 7.6 20.4 28.0
Std. Residual -.9 .6
Neutral Count 18 32 50
Expected 13.6 36.4 50.0
Std. Residual 1.2 -.7
Stressful Count 4 7 11
Expected 3.0 8.0 11.0
Std. Residual .6 -.4
Time wasting Count 7 5 12
Expected 3.3 8.7 12.0
Std. Residual 2.1 -1.3
Valuable Count 7 2 9
time/ Audio Expected 2.4 6.6 9.0 education Std. Residual 2.9 -1.8
Total Count 86 231 317
Expected 86.0 231.0 317.0
149
Chi-Square Tests
Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided) Monte Carlo Sig. (1-sided)
99% Confidence 99% Confidence
Asymp. Interval Interval Sig. (2- Lower Upper Lower Upper Value df sided) Sig. Bound Bound Sig. Bound Bound
Pearson Chi- 30.37 9 .000 .000b .000 .000 Square 8a Likelihood Ratio 28.82 9 .001 .001b .000 .001 0 Fisher's Exact 28.01 .000b .000 .001 Test 1 Linear-by-Linear 8.077c 1 .004 .004b .003 .006 .002b .001 .003 Association N of Valid Cases 317
a. 3 cells (15.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 2.44. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 926214481. c. The standardized statistic is -2.842.
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
99% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .310 .000 .000c .000 .000
Cramer's V .310 .000 .000c .000 .000 N of Valid Cases 317
c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 926214481.
There is a significant relationship between the perception of the daily commuting trip and nationality (Fisher’s exact test = 28.011, p < 0.001). Kuwaitis are looking at daily commuting from two different angles, some consider it as time wasting and others valuable time for audio education. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.310.
150 3. Are people’s perceptions of their daily commute in Kuwait different between male &
female?
Hₒ: There is no difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between males and females.
Ha: There is a difference in the perceptions of daily commuting between males and females.
151
feel * gender Cross tabulation
gender
Male Female Total feel Get some Count 10 15 25
work done Expected 13.9 11.1 25.0
Std. Residual -1.0 1.2
Exhaustin Count 34 34 68
g Expected 37.8 30.2 68.0
Std. Residual -.6 .7
Enjoyable Count 23 18 41
Expected 22.8 18.2 41.0
Std. Residual .0 -.1
Leads to Count 18 5 23
health Expected 12.8 10.2 23.0
problems Std. Residual 1.5 -1.6
Relaxing Count 31 20 51
Expected 28.3 22.7 51.0
Std. Residual .5 -.6
Neutral Count 16 11 27
Expected 15.0 12.0 27.0
Std. Residual .3 -.3
Stressful Count 26 24 50
Expected 27.8 22.2 50.0
Std. Residual -.3 .4
Time Count 6 4 10
wasting Expected 5.6 4.4 10.0
Std. Residual .2 -.2
Valuable Count 9 2 11
time/audio Expected 6.1 4.9 11.0
education Std. Residual 1.2 -1.3 Total Count 175 140 315
Expected 175.0 140.0 315.0
152 Chi-Square Tests
Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided) Monte Carlo Sig. (1-sided)
99% Confidence 99% Confidence
Asymp. Interval Interval Sig. (2- Lower Upper Lower Upper Value df sided) Sig. Bound Bound Sig. Bound Bound
Pearson Chi- 16.28 9 .061 .060b .054 .066 Square 0a Likelihood Ratio 17.08 9 .047 .057b .051 .063 6 Fisher's Exact 16.09 .063b .056 .069 Test 8 Linear-by-Linear .604c 1 .437 .444b .432 .457 .229b .218 .239 Association N of Valid Cases 315
There is no significant relationship between the perception of daily commute trip in Kuwait and gender (Fisher’s exact test = 16.09, p = 0.063).
4. Does the use of public transit different between Kuwaitis & non-Kuwaitis?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis.
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis
153
use_bus * nationality Cross tabulation
nationality
Non- Kuwaiti Kuwaiti Total
Do you Yes Count 12 121 133
use the Expected Count 35.7 97.3 133.0
available Std. Residual -4.0 2.4 bus No Count 76 119 195 system? Expected Count 52.3 142. 7 195.0
Std. Residual 3.3 -2.0 Total Count 88 240 328 Expected Count 88.0 240.0 328.0
Chi-Square Tests Asymp. Sig. (2- Value df sided) Exact Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 36.134a 1 .000 .000 Continuity Correctionb 34.624 1 .000 Likelihood Ratio 40.118 1 .000 .000 Fisher's Exact Test .000 Linear-by-Linear Association 36.024d 1 .000 .000 N of Valid Cases 328
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
99% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi -.332 .000 .000c .000 .000
Cramer's V .332 .000 .000c .000 .000 N of Valid Cases 328
c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 92208573.
There is a significant relationship between attitudes toward the use of public transit and nationality (χ2 (1, N = 328) = 36.134, p < 0.001). More non-Kuwaiti residents use the public bus system than Kuwaitis. The odds of non- Kuwaitis using the public transit is 6.4 times
154 higher than Kuwaitis. We can also see from Phi tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.4. Furthermore we notice that there are two under represented cells (Kuwaitis using the bus and non-Kuwaitis not using the bus) in the actual sample compared to the results of the standardized residual. Which support the result of more non-
Kuwaitis are using the public transit in Kuwait.
5. Does the use of the public transit different between males and females?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between males and females
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between males and females
use_bus * gender cross tabulation
Gender
Male Female Total
use_bus Yes Count 93 40 133
Expected Count 74.8 58.2 133.0
Std. Residual 2.1 -2.4
No Count 91 103 194
Expected Count 109.2 84.8 194.0
Std. Residual -1.7 2.0 Total Count 184 143 327
Expected Count 184.0 143.0 327.0
155
Chi-Square Testsc
Asymp. Sig. Exact Sig. Exact Sig. Point Value df (2-sided) (2-sided) (1-sided) Probability
Pearson Chi-Square 16.989a 1 .000 .000 .000 Continuity Correctionb 16.066 1 .000 Likelihood Ratio 17.307 1 .000 .000 .000 Fisher's Exact Test .000 .000 Linear-by-Linear 16.937d 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 Association N of Valid Cases 327
a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 58.16. b. Computed only for a 2x2 table c. For 2x2 crosstabulation, exact results are provided instead of Monte Carlo results. d. The standardized statistic is 4.115.
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
99% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .228 .000 .000c .000 .000
Cramer's V .228 .000 .000c .000 .000 N of Valid Cases 327
c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 1335104164.
There is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and gender (χ2
(1, N = 327) = 16.989, p < 0.001). More males are using the public bus system than Females.
Based on the odds ratio, the odds of males using the public transit are 2.6 times higher than females. We can also see from Phi tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.228.
156 6. Does the use of the public transit different between different income levels?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different income levels
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different income levels
use_bus * income cross tabulation
Income
1501- 3001-
<251 251-750 751-1500 3000 5000 >5000 Total
Do you Yes Count 15 54 15 17 10 16 127
use the Expected Count 13.5 44.7 19.7 27.9 10.6 10.6 127.0 available Std. Residual .4 1.4 -1.1 -2.1 -.2 1.7 bus No Count 13 39 26 41 12 6 137 system? Expected Count 14.5 48.3 21.3 30.1 11.4 11.4 137.0
Std. Residual -.4 -1.3 1.0 2.0 .2 -1.6
Total Count 28 93 41 58 22 22 264
Expected Count 28.0 93.0 41.0 58.0 22.0 22.0 264.0
Chi-Square Tests
Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided) Monte Carlo Sig. (1-sided)
99% Confidence 99% Confidence
Asymp. Interval Interval
Sig. (2- Lower Upper Lower Upper
Value df sided) Sig. Bound Bound Sig. Bound Bound
Pearson Chi-Square 19.821 5 .001 .001b .000 .002 a
Likelihood Ratio 20.316 5 .001 .001b .000 .002
Fisher's Exact Test 19.891 .001b .000 .002
Linear-by-Linear .483c 1 .487 .502b .489 .514 .265b .254 .276 Association
N of Valid Cases 264 a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 10.58. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 329836257. c. The standardized statistic is .695.
157 Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
99% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .274 .001 .001c .000 .002
Cramer's V .274 .001 .001c .000 .002 N of Valid Cases 264
c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 329836257.
Using Fisher’s exact test (Monte Carlo approach) results show that there is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and the income level (Fisher’s exact test = 19.89, p = 0.001). Individuals with 1501-3000 KD income level are not using the public bus system more than other income level categories. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.350.
7. Does the use of the public transit different between different education levels?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different education levels.
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different education levels.
use_bus * education cross tabulation
education Total
Elementar Middle High Master and
y school school Bachelor higher
Do you use Yes Count 1 4 5 37 87 134
the bus? Expected Count .4 2.0 9.0 62.3 60.3 134.0
Std. Residual .9 1.4 -1.3 -3.2 3.4
No Count 0 1 17 116 61 195
Expected Count .6 3.0 13.0 90.7 87.7 195.0
Std. Residual -.8 -1.1 1.1 2.7 -2.9
Total Count 1 5 22 153 148 329
Expected Count 1.0 5.0 22.0 153.0 148.0 329.0
158
Chi-Square Tests
Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided) Monte Carlo Sig. (1-sided)
99% Confidence 99% Confidence
Asymp. Interval Interval Sig. (2- Lower Upper Lower Upper Value df sided) Sig. Bound Bound Sig. Bound Bound
Pearson Chi- 44.93 4 .000 .000b .000 .000 Square 9a Likelihood Ratio 46.27 4 .000 .000b .000 .000 5 Fisher's Exact 45.07 .000b .000 .000 Test 1 Linear-by-Linear 16.08 1 .000 .000b .000 .000 .000b .000 .000 Association 2c N of Valid Cases 329
a. 4 cells (40.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .41. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 1556559737. c. The standardized statistic is -4.010.
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
99% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .370 .000 .000c .000 .000
Cramer's V .370 .000 .000c .000 .000 N of Valid Cases 329
Using Fisher’s exact test, results show that there is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and the education level (Fisher’s exact test = 45.07, p <
0.001). Individuals with Master and higher degrees are willing to use the public bus system more than other education categories. Individuals with Bachelor degrees ae not using the public bus more than other education categories. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at 0.370.
159 8. Does the use of the public transit different between different age categories?
Hₒ: There is no difference in using the public transit between different age categories.
Ha: There is a difference in using the public transit between different age categories.
Use_bus * age Cross tabulation
age Total
18-23 24-29 30-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 Do you yes Count 15 70 33 10 5 0 133 use the Expected 9.4 46.0 49.2 17.1 7.3 4.1 133.0 available Count bus Std. Residual 1.8 3.5 -2.3 -1.7 -.9 -2.0 system? No Count 8 43 88 32 13 10 194
Expected 13.6 67.0 71.8 24.9 10.7 5.9 194.0 Count
Std. Residual -1.5 -2.9 1.9 1.4 .7 1.7 Total Count 23 113 121 42 18 10 327
Expected 23.0 113.0 121.0 42.0 18.0 10.0 327.0 Count
Chi-Square Tests
Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided) Monte Carlo Sig. (1-sided)
99% Confidence 99% Confidence
Asymp. Interval Interval Sig. (2- Lower Upper Lower Upper Value df sided) Sig. Bound Bound Sig. Bound Bound
Pearson Chi- 48.98 5 .000 .000b .000 .000 Square 7a Likelihood Ratio 52.83 5 .000 .000b .000 .000 9 Fisher's Exact 49.45 .000b .000 .000 Test 7 Linear-by-Linear 36.17 1 .000 .000b .000 .000 .000b .000 .000 Association 4c N of Valid Cases 327
a. 1 cells (8.3%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 4.07. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 475497203.
160
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
99% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .387 .000 .000c .000 .000
Cramer's V .387 .000 .000c .000 .000 N of Valid Cases 327
c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 475497203.
There is a significant relationship between attitudes of using the public transit and age category (χ2 (5, N = 327) = 48.98, p < 0.001). Individuals age 24-29 are willing to use the public bus system more than other age categories. Individuals age 30-40, 41-50, and 61-70 are not willing to use the public bus system more than other age categories. We can also see from Cramer’s tests that the strength of association between the variables is moderate at
0.327.
9. Does the use of public transit affected by the number of years non-Kuwaiti
participants have been living in Kuwait?
Hₒ: There is no relation between using the public transit by non-Kuwaiti residents and the
number of years they have been living in Kuwait.
Ha: There is a relation between using the public transit by non-Kuwaiti residents and the
number of years they have been living in Kuwait.
161 use_bus * nonK_liveK Crosstabulation
nonK_liveK Total
<1 1-5 6-10 11-15 >15
use_bus Yes Count 21 46 11 2 14 94
Expected Count 20.7 32.4 15.0 5.2 20.7 94.0
Std. Residual .1 2.4 -1.0 -1.4 -1.5
No Count 23 23 21 9 30 106
Expected Count 23.3 36.6 17.0 5.8 23.3 106.0
Std. Residual -.1 -2.2 1.0 1.3 1.4
Total Count 44 69 32 11 44 200
Expected Count 44.0 69.0 32.0 11.0 44.0 200.0
Chi-Square Tests
Monte Carlo Sig. (2-sided) Monte Carlo Sig. (1-sided)
99% Confidence Interval 99% Confidence Interval
Asymp. Sig. Lower Upper Lower Upper
Value df (2-sided) Sig. Bound Bound Sig. Bound Bound
Pearson Chi-Square 20.509a 4 .000 .000b .000 .001
Likelihood Ratio 21.136 4 .000 .000b .000 .001 Fisher's Exact Test 20.405 .000b .000 .001
Linear-by-Linear 9.091c 1 .003 .002b .001 .003 .001b .000 .002 Association N of Valid Cases 200 a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 5.17. b. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 113410539. c. The standardized statistic is 3.015.
Symmetric Measures
Monte Carlo Sig.
99% Confidence Interval
Value Approx. Sig. Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound
Nominal by Nominal Phi .320 .000 .000c .000 .001
Cramer's V .320 .000 .000c .000 .001 N of Valid Cases 200 c. Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 113410539.
162 There is a significant relationship between the uses of public transit and number of years non-Kuwaiti residents have lived in Kuwait (Fisher’s exact test, p < 0.001). New residents to
Kuwaiti are using the public bus system in there early moving years (1 -5 years). The strength of the association between the variables is moderate at 0.320 (Cramer’s V test).e:
163