Analysis of University Students Travel Behaviour: En Route to Sustainable Campus

Objectives: To analyse travel behaviour of university students, preparation of web based questionnaire and descriptive analysis of the collected data. Background: Travel pattern is the key element in transportation studies to understand and identify transportation needs. Therefore, in order to program feasible and sustainable transport system plans, the travel pattern studies were usually performed to discover the factors that encourage a sustainable transportation system. Methodology: By categorizing the students into two groups (on-campus and off-campus residents), they were requested to provide their daily travel information along with their personal information. A new web based survey instrument was developed and it was administered through online. One full day data was collected and the same was used for the analysis. VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu was selected as the study area. Findings: The results show a significant difference in travel patterns of students residing on-campus and off-campus. The data also shows the significant variance in mode usage, travel time and travel cost of the students, especially between on-campus and off-campus residents. This study will be helpful in analysing the existing transportation infrastructure and further it leads to establishment of better infrastructures, various transport planning strategies and policies for the sustainability of the campus. Improvements: This paper is limited to only descriptive analysis, if modelling component is added, the study would be enhanced. The accuracy of this analysis can be improved by considering more number of samples data.Keywords: Trip Analysis and Mode Choice, University Students, Web Questionnaire