Mode Captivity and Mode Choice in Developing Countries; With Reference to Greater Cairo.

This paper describes how captivity to the travel mode is a phenomenon of urban transport in developing countries. Mode behavior in cities of the developing countries is constrained and dictated by such reality that many travelers are not always enjoying the freedom of selecting the desired mode of travel. This paper examines mode captivities and the underlying reasons with application on Grater Cairo, utilizing two surveys carried out as part of the latest transport study finalized in 2003; home interview and revealed preference surveys. The paper starts by grouping and discussing mode and mode captivity in developing countries cities as related to the different factors. Then, based on the surveys results, mode captive travelers are identified and their socio-economic and trip characteristics within the two samples are examined. The considered modes are formal transit common bus, informal shared taxi, metro and private car. Next, the reasons of choice and non-choice of modes are investigated in detail. Finally, a logit model is calibrated to examine mode elasticities/cross elasticities of captive travelers. This facilitates investigating the sensitivity of mode probabilities for captive travelers to changes in transport system variables, such as mainly travel time and travel cost. The paper ends with concluding remarks and suggestions for further work.