A Study on the Determinants of the Transport Mode Choice of the Civil Servants in the Makassar Metropolitan Area

Abstract

To reduce dependence on private transportation, the central government, specifically the Ministry of Transportation, has launched a program to provide urban mass transportation services in 10 metropolitan areas in Indonesia, including Makassar. Efforts to support this government policy must begin with the closest and smallest scope, which is the government employees themselves, usually referred to as civil servants. The present study examines the factors that influence the transportation mode choices of civil servant commuters. It also investigates the travel characteristics and individual preferences of civil servants while choosing their commuting modes. The study was conducted with 352 participants randomly selected from civil servants in Makassar. A questionnaire was constructed, consisting of sociodemographic, travel behavior, and mode preferences as factors affecting the estimation of individual mode choice. Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR) was employed to identify the determinants of transport mode choice by commuters. Reliability and multicollinearity tests were used to validate the data and the results of the regression model obtained. It was found that the mode choice preference for private modes, public transport, and taxi bikes was significantly influenced by age, income, motorcycle ownership, travel distance, and travel cost among commuters who own both cars and motorcycles. Moreover, for those who owned only motorcycles, the mode choice preference for public transport was highly affected by age, income, and travel costs. As the determinant increased, they exhibited a greater tendency to use private vehicles rather than relying on public transportation.