Evaluation Method on Perception of Quality of Life in Terms of Urban Transportation System Improvement

Abstract

The increase of automobile traffic has always caused traffic congestion of downtown areas. This simultaneously generates environmental problems caused by automotive exhausts and an increase in traffic accidents. We should build a new comprehensive scheme of urban transportation based on the quality of life of the inhabitant to solve this problem. To this end, we propose the phased evaluation system for finding an appropriate plan in terms of quality of life. Firstly, we introduce the method of Conjoint Analysis to build the basic planning concept. In the next stage we design the outline of a downtown transportation plan using the obtained concept. By demonstrating this to the inhabitants we examine its acceptability. Finally the improvement in transportation conditions is analyzed by AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and examined for the possibility of visiting in downtown area. Actually, we applied these methods to the transportation plan for Sapporo, which is located in Hokkaido, Japan. As a result, inhabitants assessed some sustainable transportation measures. The differences and the tendencies in each district are clarified by use of Conjoint Analysis. Consequently, the residents do not all have consistent opinions towards the attributes on the sustainable transportation scheme. However, they preferred the step by step improvement over the drastic one. Thus, we proposed the new basic plan which we would execute over the period of ten years. Next, we evaluated the acceptability of the inhabitants to the plan in view of quality of life. As a result, the proposed new plan possesses a higher acceptability. In particular, residents accept the plan in terms of safety against traffic accidents. From this, we estimated that there would be a 34% increase in frequency for visits downtown after the scheme is completed. © 2006, JAPAN SECTION OF THE REGIONAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL. All rights reserved.