You are here
Our research > Past Research Projects > The Potential impacts of Luas on the travel behaviour of the people of Dublin
The Potential impacts of Luas on the travel behaviour of the people of Dublin
- Project Team:
- Project Leader: Aoife Ahern and Prof. Margaret O’Mahony
- Description:
-
The aims of the potential impact study research involves reviewing and analyzing previous public transport impact studies and how it affects the travel behaviour of the people, so as to identify likely impacts, past weaknesses and failures, thereby working out the methodological approach using the Theory of Planned Behaviour. In the past, there had been widespread evidence for discrepancies between the forecasts of patronage on a new urban public transport system and the actual patronage. These discrepancies have arisen for several reasons. For example, in the forecasts for Manchester Metrolink (London), and US light rail systems, there were errors in the predictions of the number people using the systems due to incorrect representation of supply conditions at the time of opening.
In these cases,, the forecasting studies pointed out that there were problems with the assumptions made about the behavioural responses of potential users to the new public transport systems. For this reason, it was decided to examine the potential impacts of the new Luas system on the travel behaviour of the people in Dublin using a survey method called the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The theory of planned behaviour state that all behaviour is determined by the intention to carry it out. The Theory of Planned Behaviour seeks to explain the links between beliefs, attitudes, intention and behaviour, when the behaviour is not under the full control of the individual, but subject to external influences, such as when making a transport decision.
- Funding Agency:
