**1. Introduction**

Given the recently released Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many governmental authorities around the world are developing action plans to encourage sustainable transport as an essential part of their regional development plans [1]. In brief, it is a fact that the present and future of cities is bound to be greener [2]. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the pollution rates produced by the high concentrations of vehicles on the roads [3,4]. One of the main measures in this regard is the implementation of actions to improve mobility in cities and, thus, avoid traffic jams [5,6].

Over the last two decades, transport mobility problems have turned in a particularly concerning phenomenon worldwide, but especially in emerging countries, whose resources and capability remain more limited to face several problems present in many spheres, including those other than mobility [7]. The idiosyncrasies of these countries exacerbate this situation due to several factors [8]. On the one hand, the existing infrastructures are deficient, and there is a lack of technological systems [9,10]. Further, technical reports frequently show how inadequately constructed sidewalks and roads with obstacles hinder the flow of traffic, endangering users' urban trips. In addition, on many occasions, public roads are not prepared or adapted to the needs of city dwellers [11]. Dangerous road scenes occur due to the lack of traffic lights, pedestrian crossings or level crossings in areas with a high concentration of population and frequency of travel. Thus, poor planning of road

**Citation:** Alonso, F.; Faus, M.; Cendales, B.; Useche, S.A. Citizens' Perceptions in Relation to Transport Systems and Infrastructures: A Nationwide Study in the Dominican Republic. *Infrastructures* **2021**, *6*, 153. https://doi.org/10.3390/ infrastructures6110153

Academic Editors: Krzysztof Goniewicz, Robert Czerski and Marek Kustra

Received: 23 September 2021 Accepted: 21 October 2021 Published: 25 October 2021

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**Copyright:** © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

construction has a direct impact on the road safety of citizens [12]. On the other hand, another aspect that should be emphasized is that the quality of public transport service is not optimal because of the condition of vehicles and the planning of transport routes [13].

All these elements modify the way citizens move around. In fact, many studies indicate that a large number of people do not commute on foot or use a bicycle because their towns and cities do not have an efficient infrastructure for this purpose, even though these would be their preferred modes of transportation [14].

Some recent studies have been systematically showing how, in addition to socioeconomic factors, there are other issues greatly influencing the quality of infrastructure of countries. These factors include, e.g., the region's size, tourism density, the degree of urbanization and motorization, and government strategies [15,16]. In the particular case of the Dominican Republic, the large annual volume of tourists is, in fact, one of the reasons that have allowed the wider development of the road network, as well as the conditions and coverage of public transport services [9].

However, perceptions in these regards may vary among users, especially when compared to objective data. Indeed, users' perceptions of road infrastructures also tend to substantially differ across countries. Azik et al. (2021) found that road systems tend to be positively evaluated in Russia and Estonia, highlighting its adequacy for pedestrians and cyclists, while Turkish citizens stated that the infrastructural adequacy for driving in their country was rather *unsafe* for users [17]. Similarly, a study performed in the UK reported that sidewalk and traffic conditions were commonly perceived barriers to pedestrians and key factors in the choice of travel route [18]. In other research conducted in the United States, citizens perceived an improvement in road conditions compared to two decades ago, even though not to a very extensive extent. Still, most respondents agreed with a moderate tax increase to improve the road infrastructure in their area [19]. Overall, all these studies show how important it is for the population to have adequate and safe road networks in constant development [20].

#### *1.1. Study Area*

The situation in the Dominican Republic is framed within the aforementioned particularities. The country has 4,842,367 private vehicles registered in its national vehicle fleet as of 2020, representing an increase of 4.5% over the previous year [21]. This number of vehicles, together with the state of the road infrastructure, has an impact on the country's mobility problems and its high accident rate, which is one of the highest in the world [22]. Although the Dominican Republic has multiple means of public transport, the quality of these means that citizens choose to travel by private car or motorcycle [23]. The public transport supply is mainly composed of motorcycles, cabs, and urban buses, although there are also metro and metropolitan buses in the major cities of Santo Domingo and Santiago [24].

Additionally, in recent years national and local authorities have tried to promote sustainable transport through communication campaigns, but they have not been assessed as very effective [25]. Data from 2018 indicate that only 21% travel by foot regularly, 36% by public transport, and less than 1% make regular trips by bicycle [26].

In regard to economic settings, most trade in the Dominican Republic is carried out by land transport, with the country's road network being the main facilitator of the distribution of goods and services [27]. In addition, the existing literature in the field generally agrees on the importance of counting on adequate development and maintenance actions of roads, routes, and public transport vehicles, given that all them constitute potential engines to invigorate many other important dynamics of the country's economy, including tourism and regional development [28].

#### *1.2. Objectives*

The present study aims to examine the perceptions of the population of the Dominican Republic regarding the state of their road infrastructure, public transport, and the degree to which they believe their cities are prepared for the travel needs of their citizens. In addition, opinions regarding future measures that the government plans to implement were also analyzed, in order to assess the degree of peoples' predisposition to partake in such changes, and to suggest some practical guidelines for transport-related policymakers in the region.

#### **2. Materials and Methods**

#### *2.1. Participants*

This study analyzed the information provided by a nationwide sample of *n* = 1260 Dominican Republic residents from different cities of the country. It was a completely voluntary and anonymous process and corresponded to the main features of the general Dominican population. According to the ONE census (National Statistics Office of Dominican Republic), the sample distribution was proportional to the population by gender, age (over 18), habitat, and province [18] (Table 1 and Figure 1). If we assume a degree of confidence of 99 percent, a maximum margin of error of 5 percent (=0.05), and a beta of 0.20, which allows for an 80 percent power, the minimum sample size should be around *n* = 680 (Table 1).


**Table 1.** Sociodemographic data of the sample.

## *2.2. Design, Procedure and Instruments*

The data used in this study came from the Dominican Republic's National Survey on Mobility, which was conducted in 2019 [29]. The questionnaire covered topics such as institutional knowledge and traffic rules, public transportation, private transportation, on-foot movements, bike use, ITS systems and measures, and the variables studied in this study. It is a first-of-its-kind questionnaire in Latin America, where such comprehensive instruments had never been used. It was first administered in 2018 to examine the situation in the country and detect changes in the way Dominicans move as a result of INTRANT's different programs.

**Figure 1.** Distribution of the study sample by provinces or regions.

Personal, in-person interviews were used to administer the survey. The sample was collected between 24 November and 7 December of this year. The information was gathered using a CAPI system (Computer Assisted Personal Interviews) on tablets, which recorded and geo-referenced the interviews in order to shorten the interview time and eliminate any recording errors.

In order to achieve the proposed objectives, the following variables were taken into account:

