Mobility App Usage and Transportation Preferences: A Latent Class Cluster Analysis of Smartphone Users of Bhopal, India

By : Kushagra Sinha, Sanjay Gupta

Page No: 65-82

Abstract
With the rapid rise of information and communication technology (ICT), various smartphone-based transportation platforms in the form of apps have emerged, with the potential to totally revolutionise mobility through more advanced multimodal platforms like, for example, Mobility as a Service. However, in order to incorporate these new mobility services in a systematic manner, it is essential to investigate the characteristics of current smartphone users as well as their transportation preferences. Against this background, this research paper utilised latent class cluster analysis to empirically investigate the characteristics of current smartphone users in the city of Bhopal and their transport usage patterns by categorising them into three latent clusters based on a comprehensive set of variables like socio-economic characteristics, smartphone app usage, transportation usage, and attitudes and preferences. Cluster 1 consists of users with low app usage and higher usage of public transport and intermediate public transport; Cluster 2 consists of multimodal users with high app usage; and Cluster 3 consists of users with moderate app usage and heavy reliance on private vehicles.

Authors :
Kushagra Sinha : Ph.D., Scholar, Departmet of Transport Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India.
Sanjay Gupta : Professor, Departmet of Transport Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India.
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/NL.2023.55.03.5