Impact of socioeconomic and land use on car ownership: a comparison of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Melbourne, Australia

Car ownership depends on the land use patterns in a city. Land use characteristics such as employment, housing, leisure, education and shopping opportunities in each zone affect the choice of destination and mode in the short and medium term. Socioeconomic factors including age, gender, income, and family size also affect the choice of mode and destination in the short and medium term, while the choice of housing location is affected in the long term. This research models car ownership by the estimating multinomial logit model, and Riyadh , Saudi Arabia and Melbourne, Australia are the two cities used as case studies. Aggregate level land use data as well as disaggregate level individual, household and journey-to-work data are used to determine the effects of land use and socioeconomic factors on household decisions to own zero, one, two or more cars. The model results determine that urban sprawl is the main factor that affects household decisions to own more than two cars in Riyadh and one car in Melbourne.