Saudi Households Modal Choice for School Trips: A Case Study of Dammam City

Abstract

Education is an important factor in the development and growth of a country. It is essential to have school transport to facilitate the transport of male and female students to schools so that the families will be persuaded to send their children to schools, and the children are encouraged to continue education. The school transport modes are of different kinds: students can walk to the schools, families may own private cars; transport may be rented or may be provided by the government, such as, school buses. The focus of this research is to identify the modes which are used to transport the students to and from schools, problems associated with such modes of transport, and the modes preferred by the Saudi households. The research also concentrates on identifying the constraints preventing the selection of preferred modes, and investigates the relation between the social features and the selection of the modes in order to develop Modal Split Model. A review of previous studies reveals that comfortability, convenience, time, safety, and cost, are the factors that play important roles in the selection of the transport modes. In the light of these factors, the school transport modes in the city of Dammam, Saudi Arabia are evaluated. Data were collected from a sample of 1081 male and 1084 female students, as well as, from their guardians. An analysis of data showed that students use the following modes for school transport at varying rates depending on the educational level: Walking, Bicycle, Private Car, Carpool, Limousine Taxi, Government School Bus, and Public Transport, while the preferred modes are Walking. Private Car and Govemment School Bus Six modal split models for school trips have been chosen from 141 models to be the perfect models for school trips in terms of p