Abstract:
In response to the environmental, economic and social costs associated with over-reliance on the private car, planners and policy-makers are promoting Park-and-Ride, or the combined use of car and public transport. Despite Park-and-Ride’s growing popularity, little has been written on the subject in the New Zealand context. This thesis addresses this gap. Its objective is to understand the behaviour of commuters in order to inform the development of policies to increase walking and cycling to and from the station. It uses a mixed methods approach, based on stakeholder interviews and an online survey conducted in Greater Wellington.
Interviews with eight stakeholders involved in public transport planning and policy sought to provide insight into the challenges of implementing Park-and-Ride and how the concept can be developed in the future. More effective management of parking was seen as a key challenge for those tasked with making policy decisions. Stakeholders also discussed the potential for developing the concept, particularly by transitioning Park-and-Ride into interchanges for motorised and non-motorised transport modes, with priority given to walking and cycling access.
A survey conducted among 295 respondents who commuted to Wellington City sought to explore the psychological and contextual factors in predicting the intention to walk and cycle to the train station. The usefulness of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), with the addition of personal norm, environmental concern, and problem awareness, in predicting intention was tested. All TPB constructs were significant predictors and explained 54% and 36% of the variance in intention to walk and cycle respectively. The additional constructs made a small but significant contribution in explaining variance in intention (together, an additional 6% and 4% respectively). Based on the between-subjects design, the acceptability levels of proposed Park-and-Ride policies was low. Perceived effectiveness and fairness significantly influenced the acceptability of policies. Policy-makers may find these results useful in considering how to increase the acceptability of Park-and-Ride policies in future.
