Investigation of school students' travel patterns, two case areas of Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Educational trips produce about 25 percent of the overall traveling within the city. A considerable share of the educational trips includes the elementary school students' commuting, which largely depends on the parental behavior and decision. This paper presents a report of a survey undertaken throughout the four residential neighborhoods selected from the Metropolitan Mashhad, Iran. The results showed significant differences between the travel patterns of the students at the neighborhood level. Household income, gender, driving license, and the distance from home to school were found to be the most important factors affecting the choice of mode. For the high-income households, the selection of the school depends on the school's overall quality rather than just the distance criteria. Girls found to be less interested in walking, partly, due to having no sense of security along the way to school. Owning a private car parking showed a significant association with all the travel modes although this variable, in turn, is affected by the household economic status and the quality of the residential unit. The parents' use of car was more likely when a student had a mother licensed to drive. The study recommends refining the policy of the spatial distribution of the schools, and designing the inter-connected street networks, sidewalks, and the other elements together in order to encourage walking and cycling as the sustainable modes of travel.