Assessing Public Transportation Option As a Potential Solution To
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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 ................................................................................................................