Browsing by Author "Hämäläinen, Raakel"

As people form and experience their daily travel patterns differently, it is important to consider perceived accessibility in public transportation planning. Perceived accessibility affects the way people feel about their abilities to attend desired social activities. Therefore, it is an effective indicator to measure social inclusion, for example. Recently, Western Metro in southern Espoo has expanded from Matinkylä to Kivenlahti and changed the overall bus system within the subdivisions. The target subdivisions have been Matinkylä, Finnoo, Kaitaa, Soukka, Espoonlahti, Kivenlahti, and Saunalahti. Thus, this study aimed to find out if residents’ travel behaviors within these areas have changed and if they feel like public transport supports their travel needs. Ultimately, I wanted to see if the changed routes in public transportation in southern Espoo alter residents’ feelings about the transportation networks, and what is the overall level of perceived accessibility among them. The target group of my research were university students, who live across Matinkylä-Saunalahti scale. As many students do not own a car and their assets may be limited, public transport is considered vital for their every-day trips. As public transportation is seen as a sustainable travel option compared to private car, it is important to assess perceived accessibility especially in terms of young people. The movements of youth are interesting to study, because their perceived accessibility can affect public transportation usage in a long-term scale. PPGIS-based survey has been created for the target subdivisions in southern Espoo. The surveys contain map-based questions with both qualitative and quantitative aspects. According to the survey results, the level of students’ perceived accessibility within the context of public transportation was assessed in a mixed-methods analysis. It is also interesting to compare results (statistically and qualitatively) among the chosen groups to see, if there are similarities or differences regarding to perceived accessibility. Although almost every respondent said that they use public transport in their daily life, most of them were upset with the changes within their every-day routines. Ticket prices, travel options, and travel comfort rose as the most significant issues determining perceived accessibility of a university student. According to this data, public transportation services could be enhanced and the imago of it could be positively increased. Thus, both customers and service providers could benefit from my study.