Activities and Daily trips of University Students in a CBD area (Case Study: Amirkabir University of Technology)

Abstract

Educational trips are one of the main parts of urban trips. It includes school and university trips. University students are a social group with complicated and unique travel behaviour. They have variable class schedules and considerable freedom in the campus environment. Therefore, planning university students' trip is a vital part of urban planning, especially if the university is located in CBD area This study examined activities of 1049 students of Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT). Participants completed a travel diary in a typical school day during a term. Different statistical analysis was adapted to the survey data including demographic and travel characteristics. Other than descriptive analysis on data, a Poisson regression model and a linear regression model has been developed on students' number of activities in a day. As AUT is located in CBD area of Tehran and due to two different traffic restrictions for private cars in this area the study confirmed that walking and public transit are the dominant modes among AUT students and only 4% of students are using private cars The model demonstrates that off-campus students are more likely to have more activities compared to on-campus students. In addition, the insights gained from this study will serve as the basis of an activity-based university travel demand model for AUT.