Modeling the Working Mode Choice, Ownership and Usage of Car and Motorcycle in Taiwan

Abstract

In Asia, many developing countries are facing the issue whether to develop the motorcycle market as a transitional phase or to jump to the automobile market directly. In order to examine the issue, this study attempts to develop a mixed discrete/continuous demand model to analyze the characteristics of household's decision behavior associated with the mode to work, ownership and usage of cars, and ownership and usage of motorcycles. Empirical analyses indicate that it is not easy to suppress the ownership levels of motorized vehicles by adopting price mechanism or by improving the quality of public transportation. Thus, in order to prevent a great deal of problems resulting from mixing car and motorcycle flows, we suggest that it is better for developing countries not to approve the development of motorcycles as a transitional phase.