This paper proposes a comparison of different travellers’ segmentation techniques, both qualitative and quantitative, based on road pricing acceptability. A questionnaire was ad hoc designed and administered to a sample of 61 people living in Lyon metropolitan area, selected to include various profiles as regards travel habits and socio-economic characteristics. An Exploratory Factor Analysis allowed defining the latent constructs and, then, both the K-means and the Hierarchical Cluster Analyses were carried out. The outcomes of these clustering techniques allowed the comparison both between quantitative methods and with a grouping exercise previously conducted on data collected through Focus Group discussions (involving the same sample). The in-depth understanding of the participants’ profile, thanks to the qualitative analysis, allowed to validate the clustering results but also to detect some inconsistencies. These latter may be due to the recurrent problem of low attention of the respondents when answering surveys. Instead, a deeper knowledge thanks to the discussions showed insights into the cognitive mechanism of people, while the quantitative clustering highlighted a group declaring a high Willingness-To-Pay for a better environmental quality, which was not evident from the qualitative segmentation. We can conclude that the use of a mixed approach (quali-quantitative) in investigating such complex issues is valuable since it allows smaller samples (properly stratified), making surveys more economically affordable without losing knowledge about users’ perceptions, preferences and intentions, as well as about how transport policies (notably pricing ones) affect travel behaviour.

Travellers' Attitude Towards Road Pricing: a Comparison of Quali-Quantitative Segmentation Techniques / Rappazzo, Valentina; Pronello, Cristina. - ELETTRONICO. - Transportation Research Board 99th Annual meeting:(2020). (Intervento presentato al convegno Transportation Research Board 99th Annual meeting tenutosi a Washington nel January 12–16, 2020).

Travellers' Attitude Towards Road Pricing: a Comparison of Quali-Quantitative Segmentation Techniques

Rappazzo, Valentina;Pronello, Cristina
2020

Abstract

This paper proposes a comparison of different travellers’ segmentation techniques, both qualitative and quantitative, based on road pricing acceptability. A questionnaire was ad hoc designed and administered to a sample of 61 people living in Lyon metropolitan area, selected to include various profiles as regards travel habits and socio-economic characteristics. An Exploratory Factor Analysis allowed defining the latent constructs and, then, both the K-means and the Hierarchical Cluster Analyses were carried out. The outcomes of these clustering techniques allowed the comparison both between quantitative methods and with a grouping exercise previously conducted on data collected through Focus Group discussions (involving the same sample). The in-depth understanding of the participants’ profile, thanks to the qualitative analysis, allowed to validate the clustering results but also to detect some inconsistencies. These latter may be due to the recurrent problem of low attention of the respondents when answering surveys. Instead, a deeper knowledge thanks to the discussions showed insights into the cognitive mechanism of people, while the quantitative clustering highlighted a group declaring a high Willingness-To-Pay for a better environmental quality, which was not evident from the qualitative segmentation. We can conclude that the use of a mixed approach (quali-quantitative) in investigating such complex issues is valuable since it allows smaller samples (properly stratified), making surveys more economically affordable without losing knowledge about users’ perceptions, preferences and intentions, as well as about how transport policies (notably pricing ones) affect travel behaviour.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2871013