The Sense of Travel Deprivation and Its Impact on Travel Decision: A Case Study of China’s Rapidly Urbanizing Region

Abstract

Under the guidance of regional policy, many regions in China have recently become urbanized at an unprecedented speed. In these rapidly urbanizing regions, urban transport systems have been constructed and implemented to improve efficiency yet fail to consider transport equity. This article studies the transport equity of residents in China’s rapidly urbanizing regions and depicts the impacts on travel behavior by promoting equity in transport policies at this current stage. As an area of rapid urbanization, we chose the Chenggong district, Kunming, which was established as a new urban district in 2011. The data on travel and transport equity were collected by designing and conducting a questionnaire survey in this area. To characterize residents’ perceptions of transport equity, we defined and developed a method of measuring their sense of travel deprivation so that transport equity describes both their sense of public and private travel deprivation. We then modeled residents’ travel decision-making, which was influenced by their sense of travel deprivation. The results demonstrated that in regions of rapid urbanization, the sense of private travel deprivation was stronger than that of public transport, and private travel deprivation had a negative impact on travel frequency. Meanwhile, no significant correlation was found between the sense of public travel deprivation and travel decision-making. We propose that raising residents’ income alone will not effectively relieve their sense of travel deprivation. Our research highlights that policymakers should also carefully consider the sense of travel deprivation among the elderly in this region and the welfare of indigenous people. Expansion of private transport in this region should be conducted proactively in accordance with scientific and rational planning and management rather than through reactively increasing private transport as rapid urbanization continues.