Keywords
Carpool, rideshare, zimride, alternative transportation, factor analysis, structural equation model
Abstract
As the second-largest university in the United States, UCF has experienced the largest enrollment in its history. A more densely populated campus has in turn caused increased traffic congestion. Despite increased parking permit fees and newly constructed parking garages, traveling and parking on campus is unpredictable. In effort to reduce congestion on campus, a rideshare program was implemented in Summer 2010. Several universities across the nation have successfully used carpooling as a viable alternative mode to manage traffic and parking demand. This thesis evaluates the UCF rideshare program, Zimride, using stated- and revealed-preference surveys. Preliminary results indicate most students prefer to commute to campus using their own car and without incentives there is no reason to change mode choice, regardless of associated costs—e.g. decal cost, parking time and frustration. Despite 70% of respondents considering themselves environmentally friendly and over 80% are aware of savings in money and productive by using alternative modes, 70% still use their car to commute to campus. Using Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the observed variables were organized into three (3) latent variables based on the correlation among them. The SEM results of the revealed-preference survey indicate current travel behavior significantly influences attitudes towards carpooling and demographics have a significant effect on current travel behavior. It was also found that demographics influences attitudes towards carpooling at a non statistically significant level.
Notes
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Graduation Date
2012
Semester
Spring
Advisor
Radwan, Essam A.
Degree
Master of Science (M.S.)
College
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Department
Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering
Degree Program
Civil Engineering; Transportation System Engineering
Format
application/pdf
Identifier
CFE0004226
URL
http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004226
Language
English
Release Date
May 2012
Length of Campus-only Access
None
Access Status
Masters Thesis (Open Access)
Subjects
Dissertations, Academic -- Engineering and Computer Science, Engineering and Computer Science -- Dissertations, Academic
STARS Citation
Defrancisco, Joseph Patrick, "Sustainable Transportation At The University Of Central Florida: Evaluation Of Ucf Rideshare Program, Zimride" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2119.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/2119