Guidelines to Promote Cycling on University Campus: Case Study of Kasetsart University, Mahidol University and Thammasat University

Abstract

The objectives of this research are to study means of transportation on university campuses and student opinions on bicycle use on university campuses. This research will also analyze difficulties and problems of cycling in order to offer practical guidelines to promote cycling on university campuses to meet student needs. The campuses where this research was performed are Kasetsart University (Bangkhen Campus), Mahidol University (Salaya Campus), and Thammasat University (Rangsit Center).

In this research, data was gathered by surveying the areas, and using questionnaires to collect 600 undergraduate student opinions about cycling on campus by using the quota sampling method (200 students per 1 university; 100 bicycle users and 100 non-users). According to the study, all 3 campuses have similar types of transportations: bicycle, cars, on foot and university public buses. In the past, a lot of students at Kasetsart University chose riding as their primary mode of transportation on campus, but the number has been decreasing. At present, Mahidol University succeeds in promoting greater cycling participation among students and in creating an environment suitable for cycling, while Thammasat University has just started its campaign on bicycle use. The main problems and difficulties of riding bicycles on campuses have been found to be the danger of the use of bicycles and unawareness of the benefits of riding bicycles. Thus, the guidelines to encourage the use of bicycles on campus are to provide a network of bicycle lanes and to improve existing parking space and presented bicycle lanes. Moreover, it would be helpful to have a campaign to encourage the use of bicycles, and to develope services for using public bicycles.