The Role of Personal Identity Attributes in Transport Mode Choice: The Case Study of Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract

People make numerous trips every day for a variety of purposes. Transport mode choice directly impacts travel time, congestion, and environmental conditions. It also depends on various economic, social, environmental, and personal related factors. This paper investigates the association between identity characteristics and transport mode choices in Thessaloniki, Greece. A customized questionnaire survey was carried out with 506 individuals in 2019 to collect data on nine self-declared personal statuses (affiliation with environment, place of residence, career, companionship, etc.) and trip frequencies of all available transport options in Thessaloniki. We ran latent class analyses to uncover three identity clusters. The Active individuals prefer public transport over private car, and they are mostly young, sporty, and with low incomes. Additionally, the Family-Oriented individuals are comparatively older, and they have greater access to private cars and higher incomes, while the Typical Urban population exhibits a slightly higher use of cars and public transport than the Active one. Trips on foot and by car (as passengers) are equally preferred by all latent classes’ populations. Our findings highlight the role of individuals’ identities in the development of travel behavior and may assist with the design of targeted policies and marketing strategies, which will facilitate sustainable urban mobility behaviors.