Impact of Accessibility to Educational Facilities on Commuters’ Transportation Choices: Married Females and School-Age Children

This paper empirically analyzes the factors influencing the choice of transportation mode of commuters (especially married women), as well as the influence of accessibility to educational facilities on the choice of transportation mode of parents with school-age children. The results of this study suggest that improving public transportation and accessibility to educational facilities in the region will be important in relation to increasing public transportation usage. The longer it takes for students in a given area to commute to school using public transportation compared to driving, the more likely it is that parents will drive their children to or from school. An 8.4 min increase in elementary school students’ commuting by public transit leads to a decrease in the probability for their parents to choose public transit in their commuting by 55 percentage points. In addition, when the students are younger, the probability of using public transportation is lower. Married females’ education level and labor force participation have been increasing in Korea. Thus, their opportunity cost of driving their children to or from school rises and accessibility to educational facilities by public transit is more important than before.