Exploring the frequency of public transport use among adolescents: a study in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Despite the establishment of the Trans Jogja Bus (TJB) service in 2008 as a solution for the problems with conventional bus services in numerous Indonesian cities, public transport ridership in Yogyakarta has remained somewhat stagnant. On TJB, adolescents comprise the dominant demographic group. This study investigated the factors influencing the frequency of TJB use, including sociodemographic and household characteristics, the built environment, perception of TJB performance, pro-environmental attitudes, and health behaviors among adolescents aged 13 to 15 years old. A face-to-face interview survey was conducted to collect data on 774 adolescents. This study used both an ordered logit model in which the perception variables were set as the independent variables and an ordered hybrid choice model, which incorporated the latent variables on adolescents’ perception of TJB use. The model results reveal that age, the number of adults in a household, car ownership, and the distance to school correlate with the use of TJB. We found that positive perceptions of TJB such as safety, security, comfort, and low cost substantially influence the use of TJB compared with negative perceptions such as infrequent buses, scarce bus stops, and slow meandering bus routes. With this in mind, perceived benefits such as reduced congestion, improved health, and environmental advantages have no significant influence on the frequency of TJB use. The model results emphasize the need to improve route efficiency, enhance existing performance, and promote TJB as a healthy, green, and sustainable travel mode.

Keywords:

• Adolescents
• active travel
• ordered response choice
• integrated choice
• latent variable

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all parties who participated in data collection.

Notes

1 Paratransit refers to local urban passenger transport services owned by individuals and private companies (Joewono & Kubota, 2007).

2 The World Health Organization (2020) defined adolescents as individuals in the 10–19 years age group. See https://www.who.int/southeastasia/health-topics/adolescent-health.