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Assessing public transportation option as a potential solution to the transportation challenges in the State of Kuwait Jamal, Esraa' Ali

Abstract

Transportation congestion is an increasingly important issue in modern urban planning. A sustainable transportation system should assure people’s safety, environmental protection, economic support, social justice, and accessibility for both people and goods. Kuwait is no exception to this challenge because rapid growth has increased the pressure on its existing transportation system. The objectives of this study are to understand the people’s awareness of transportation problems and the impact associated with them in Kuwait, to examine people’s perceptions of daily traffic congestion and how it affects them emotionally and physically in Kuwait, and to study the attitude of Kuwaiti citizens and residents towards using the public bus service. An online survey was used to examine these factors and a sample of five hundred users was obtained. Balance adjusting technique was applied to correct and match the sample proportions with the population proportions. The study questions have been investigated by using the chi-square test for independence. The primary findings showed significant associations between use of the public bus and the users’ nationality, gender, age, education and income level. In relation to the existing public bus service, men are 2.6 times more likely to use it than are women, and non-Kuwaiti residents are 6.4 times more likely to use it than are Kuwaitis. In addition, the perception of daily traffic congestion varied among different nationalities. Kuwaitis perceptions of the daily commuting trips indicate that it consumes a large sum of time. Non-Kuwaitis use of public transit is affected by the number of years they have been living in Kuwait. The results of this study fill a gap in the knowledge of socioeconomic and cultural factors that may influence the success of potential sustainable solutions to the transportation challenges in the State of Kuwait.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada