Utility of Paratransit Modes in Cities of Assam, India

Abstract

This paper investigates paratransit modes available in cities of the Assam region of India, with the purpose of determining the utility of the modes. Three cities—Barpeta, Dibrugarh, and Guwahati—were examined in detail. Information was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The revealed modal split was obtained from a traffic survey. The stated modal choice was obtained from data collected through a home interview survey. The utility function of a particular paratransit mode was estimated with a logit model. The weighted least squares method and maximum likelihood method were used for estimates of the model. Eleven variables, five quantitative and six qualitative, were considered. After an estimation was made of the utility function for each mode in a city, a multinomial logit model was used to estimate the relative utility of each mode in that city. The logit models were estimated with the statistical tool SHAZAM. The predicted modal utility, stated modal choice, and revealed modal split were compared. The sensitivity of the utility of paratransit modes with respect to changes in the values of the variables also was studied.