Jung Yoon Choi

The global automobile market is promoting the introduction of eco-friendly vehicles such as electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles. However, disadvantages such as expensive prices and limited mileage compared to internal combustion engine vehicles have become obstacles to the expansion of eco-friendly vehicles. Therefore, in this study, a survey was conducted on the purchase of electric vehicles for citizens of Suwon. Using the survey data, a structural equation model was constructed to analyze the factors affecting the purchase of electric vehicles, which are eco-friendly vehicles. The results indicate that a lack of information and government policy on EV, the level of EV recognition and subsidy policy do not have an effect on EV purchase. However, charging infrastructure, battery performance and safety, operating conditions including ramps or use of heaters and air conditioners, subsidy effects and charging services demonstrate positive effects on EV purchase. Using direct and indirect effect analysis, the study shows that higher government subsidy and visiting charging services are the two most influential factors on EV purchase, followed by EV driving environment, charging infrastructure, battery performance and safety, and a lack of information and electric vehicle supply policy.

This research developed a geographical presentation method to show which areas of the city need to be improved in terms of the directness of transit service using two measures, Degree of Competitiveness and Degree of Circuity, which were developed in the first author’s previous research. In this research, the directness of transit networks in five cities in Korea was analyzed and compared as an example and demonstrated geographically. The results show that although more populated cities are likely to provide more direct transit service than less populated cities, population density affects the transit network directness more. Also, this research showed that there is a strong relationship between transit network directness and transit ridership. As a result of this research, transit agencies can have a better visual understanding of their transit network directness and can improve transit network configuration where transit network directness is poor.