Research Project Description
Mineta Transportation Institute
Impact of Ethnic Diversity on Transit: How Do Various Population Groups View and Utilize Various Transit Modes? – Phase II
Project Number: 2207
Principal Investigator:
Richard Werbel, Ph.D., Professor, Marketing Dept. SJSU. MTI Research Associate (RA)
Email: rgerbel@pacbell.net
Institution:
Mineta Transportation Institute
Telephone Number:
(408) 924-7560
Email Address: mti@mti.sjsu.edu
Project Objective:
This project originated during the MTI/Caltrans Needs Assessment meeting in November 2000. Given the size and diversity of California’s population, the potential for planning and providing transit service to take advantage of behaviors and attitudes of various ethnic groups was deemed worthy of exploration. Three groups will be targeted: Hispanics, Asians, and African-Americans, and segments will examine potential differences based on generational differences in the immigrant groups. The original proposal planned to look at two counties. Only three counties in the state have sufficient numbers of each of the groups to provide sufficient samples, and Alameda and Sacramento Counties were selected because LA was too large and complex. However, on further examination, Alameda County proved to be atypical in several ways, and was therefore less attractive as a study participant. BART is heavy rail and serves multiple counties; the county has an extensive casual carpool ridership, and congestion is unusually high. Therefore, Phase II will be conducting in Sacramento County. The assumption is that the behaviors and attitudes of the groups would not differ greatly from those same groups in Alameda or Los Angeles County.
Abstract:
Phase I included the literature search, designing a sample, selecting the communities (y), constructing and pretesting the survey questionnaire, and selecting the survey organization. Those tasks have been completed. Phase II will include translations of the survey into Spanish, Cantonese, possibly Mandarin, and Vietnamese; on-board interviews to collect survey contacts; administration of the telephone survey; analysis of the data, and the final report. A more complete description is included in the 2109 prospectus.
Task Descriptions:
Task One:
This task has begun during the first phase. Translations: Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish
Task Two:
Subcontractor will identify 1800 individuals for telephone survey by pre-interviewing transit patrons.
Task Three:
Subcontractor will interview 900 respondents in 6 segments of sufficient size for data analysis
Task Four:
Determine the relevant questions to be addressed by data analysis, such as: what is the correlation with neighborhood of residence? What variables affect satisfaction? What is the impact of transit dependency? What is the relationship between time pressure and satisfaction? What is the impact of safety perception? What are the relationships of the comparative variables by mode?
Task Five:
Use the Data Analysis Plan to analyze the survey data.
Task Six:
The report will include the literature search and other pertinent information from Phase I as well as the results of the survey and analysis.
Project Dates:
Task One:
Complete translations
Task Two:
Onboard recruiting
Task Three:
Telephone administration of Survey Questionnaire
Task Four:
Development of Data Analysis Plan
Task Five:
Data Analysis
Task Six:
Prepare Final Report
Following submission of the draft final report, the following actions will occur:
Copyedit and preparation of Peer Review Draft
Peer Review and Author’s Response
Final Editing and Pre-Publication
Printer’s Blueline Proof and Final Print
The estimated time for these to occur will be no less than two months.
Total Budget: $52,221
Yearly: $52,221
Project Team:
Principal Investigator: Richard Werbel, Ph.D., Professor, Marketing Dept. SJSU. MTI Research Associate (RA)
Megumi Hosoda, Ph.D., Ass’t Professor, Psychology Dept. SJSU. MTI RA
Nancy Da Silva, Ph.D., Ass’t Professor, Psychology Dept. SJSU. MTI RA
Technology Transfer Activities:
Upon publication, pdf and html versions will be available on the Mineta Transportation Institute web site. The project experience and data will be available for community meetings. Authors are encouraged to submit articles based on the research to relevant journals and to present the information to end-users at conferences,
Potential Benefits of the Project:
Diverse communities present marketing and operational planning challenges to transit agencies. By focusing on three groups in more than one generation (African-Americans, Chinese, and Hispanics) this research will assist agencies in understanding potentially unique characteristics of these groups. A Caucasian control group will help determine whether these groups also differ the population group most often seen as the “customer.” The information may be helpful in service planning, marketing and customer relations.
Key Words:
Planning, Transit Service, Planning Methods, Community Planning
