Gender Differences in the Response to Price- and Time-oriented Policies Targeting the Commute to an Automobile-restricted CBD: A Stated Preference Mode Choice Study of Drivers in Tehran

摘要

Several studies have indicated that responses to policies intended to reduce car use may fallshort of the predicted or desired response, suggesting a need for improved behavioral models.One basis for improvement is to better account for population heterogeneity. In particular,studies show that men and women have different transportation patterns based on gender6related characteristics and roles in families; these differences can be manifested in their modechoice in the presence of demand management strategies. Based on stated preference modechoice data, gathered from a sample of Tehran’s commuter drivers to the CBD, this studyuses generalized nested logit models to find the significant variables affecting each gender’smode choice under some price- and time-oriented policies. It can be seen that while somevariables are common to both genders, other variables influence only men’s or only women’sbehavior. Further, some of the common variables do not have the same signs for bothgenders, offering post hoc validation of the need to model the genders’ behavior separately.Several results suggest that the hypothetical policies tested elicit not only changes in travelbehavior, but possibly other household role and lifestyle changes as well. We believe thatunderstanding the gender-based differences in factors important to mode choice can helpidentify policies serving each gender’s needs better and thus potentially increase thewillingness of both genders to shift away from driving.