An investigation on Travel mode preferences of university students travelling to home during vacation: An Indian experience

University travel undertaken by students needs to be analyzed for improved mobility planning in India. Universities with residential accommodation facilities for students become one of the largest trip generators particularly during vacation as most of the students travel to their respective hometown. This study provides an insight into the travel mode choices of typical Indian university students travelling to home during vacation, by examining the travel patterns of students belonging to National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, an Indian higher education institution situated in a tier-II industrial Indian town. Initially, a web-based travel behavior survey was designed to elicit socio-economic, mode-specific information from a total of 618 students. Based on the collected data, multinomial logit model was developed to analyze the mode choice decisions of the students. Results indicate that family income, vehicle ownership, travel-characteristics (whether travelling alone or with others) and time of travel significantly affect the mode preferences of student-travelers. It was also observed that with economic prosperity, the use of flexible and comfortable modes of transport like car and bus increases. Family vehicle ownership was also found to play a major role on car usage. Interestingly, bus was found to be the least preferred mode for night-time travel by students travelling alone. The proposed methodology and study findings would help to understand the university students’ travel characteristics while travelling to home during vacations and devise necessary transportation planning policies.