Examining Passenger Car Ownership of Different Sizes Incorporating Unknown Annual Income and Household Structure: Case Study of Nagoya Metropolitan Area, Japan

Abstract

This study analyzes the ownership of passenger cars, including light motor vehicles and ordinary motor ones incorporating unknown annual income and household structure. The fourth Person Trip Survey data in Nagoya metropolitan area, Japan, are used for the empirical study. According to their family structure, this study divides 85,047 sample data into nine groups. The annual income data are complemented using an ordered probit model. A bivariate binary probit model and a bivariate ordered probit model are used to model the car ownership of a single member and multiple members, respectively. The significant findings indicate that 1) the ownership of light motor vehicles is affected significantly by the household structure; that 2) annual income affects the ownership of light motor vehicles only for childless middle-aged single households. Researchers and engineers can refer to statistical methods proposed in this study to analyze car ownership in urban transportation planning.