Influence of Socio-economic Attributes on Travel Behaviour in the Rural Areas of Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Rural Planning and Development

ABSTRACT

The socio-economic characteristics of individual and group have been found to significantly have an impact on their mobility and travel behaviour. Hence, this study examined the influence of socio-economic characteristics of households in the Rural areas of Nigeria on trip making. The study adopted the multi-stage sampling technique method where 12, 365 registered buildings were systematically selected out of a total of 28,341 buildings. Systematic sampling technique was used to survey 4 percent of households, representing 495 household heads of a total 12,365 registered buildings by means of questionnaire administration. The study revealed that majority of the respondents were between the age of 60–69 years and utilized the non-motorized (walk & bicycle) means of transport. The result of the multiple regression analysis further revealed that Age and Income were the significant socio-economic variables influencing trip making of households. This study thus advocates the influence of demographic attributes on households’ travel behaviour. Therefore, rural communities should be given equal privilege as urban areas when formulating transport policies as a result of their unique and distinct socio-economic attributes.

KEYWORDS:

• Trip
• trip generation
• Socio-economic characteristics
• travel behaviour
• sustainability

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the support of Management and staff of Akure North Local Government Authorities, National Population Commission, Ondo state, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo state Nigeria and University of Johannesburg South Africa, for providing relevant information and support for the successful completion of the work.

Author’s Contributions

Conceptualization, O.A; methodology, O.A; validation, O.A. and T.G. formal analysis, O.A; investigation, O.A; resources, O.A and T.G.; data curation; O.A. writing—original draft preparation, O.A.; writing—review and editing, O.A and T.G.; visualization, O.A and T.G. supervision, T.G.; funding acquisition, T.G.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research received no external funding.