Factors Affecting the Waterway Transport Development of Lat Phrao Canal, Bangkok, Thailand towards Sustainable Urban Mobility

Abstract

Presently, urban growth tends to complicate transport operations. Lat Phrao Canal is one of the remarkable canals in Bangkok, which can serve mobility networks in the city by connecting people to the existing mass transit. This article aimed to analyze the residents’ understanding of mobility patterns and their attitudes towards boat service connectivity in Bangkok. A quantitative method was used to distribute 1,200 questionnaires along the Lat Phrao Canal. The result highlighted that most respondents agreed that waterway transport development could reduce automobile dependency and travel costs. In terms of using a boat service, there were main key attributes for passengers’ consideration, including activity (3.59), connectivity (3.57), canal development (3.20), and navigation system (2.73). The high score of each attribute should be taken into account to determine guidelines and appropriate measures for further development. For future estimation of mobility patterns by the logistic regression model, three significant factors affecting the boat service were quality satisfaction, time of traveling, and shorter travel time on boat services transportation development. These significant factors must be determined in water-based transport management for Lat Phrao Canal development to promote a waterborne transit network in the city. Also, this result is applicable for expanding a capacity waterway network in Bangkok that could alleviate current traffic congestion and encourage sustainable urban mobility solutions for passengers.

Keywords: boat service, canal, sustainable urban mobility, factor.