ANALYSIS OF PREFERENCE FUNCTION BY CAR IN THE CITY OF SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Abstract: One
important aspect in the sustainable
transportation target is the
reduction in vehicle kilometres of travel (VKT) by
car. The use of private
car is one major contributor
of environmental deterioration
in Sydney. It
is essential to understand the journey-to-work travel
behaviour by car. One of the method that can be used to
study this travel
behaviour is preference
function. Using journey-to-work (JTW) Census
data over a
35-year period from
1961 to 1996
in Sydney, this
paper applies preference functions
to study the
journey-to-work commuting preferences
by car. Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance are applied to
evaluate the trends in the slope preferences
over time. Moran’s I
statistic of spatial
association is used
to study the spatial
distribution of preference
functions, and the
pattern of interactions between zones,
to assess the
level of interaction
and to test
their statistical significance.
The results indicated that the mean slope preference by car has increased over time
showing an increasing
preference of residents
towards distance maximization for
traveling to work by car. The slope preferences by car for the inner and middle
ring residents are relatively stable over time whilst the outer ring residents (beyond 20
km from the
CBD) experienced a
dramatic increase. Mostly,
the zonal slope preferences by
car in Sydney in 1996 were within one standard deviations of the mean. Only
Parramatta (30) was found to have a value of over two standard deviations of
the mean on the maximization side. It is clearly shown from these results that
when increasing job opportunities
are available in
the surrounding zones,
residents tend travel longer
to reach job opportunities
available in the
other zones, in
particular, in the case of
job-skill mismatch. Therefore, it is not surprising that a dramatic increase in
preference for longer trips has been experienced by outer ring residents in
Sydney where job decentralization continues to occur over time.
Author: Putu Alit Suthanaya
Journal Code: jptsipilgg070003
