Psychosocial determinants of public transportation use among Brazilian and American users: An integrated modelling approach

Overreliance on cars can promote individual, environmental, economic and social problems, requiring the development of measures to reduce car use and encourage the use of more sustainable transport options. Contributing to this call, here we report a cross-cultural study conducted in Brazil (n = 312) and the United States (n = 518) investigating the applicability of the model of Bamberg and Möser in predicting the use of public transport. Results indicated the model is equivalent across samples, regarding both the measures and the relations between the variables of the model. Intention strongly predicted self-reported public transport behaviour, explaining 70% of the variance. Intention in turn was mainly influenced by perceived behavioural control, suggesting that the more people perceive public transportation as an easy behaviour, the greater their intention to use this mode of transport. We suggest interventions to increase perceived control so that public transportation can be seen as a readily accessible option. It is estimated that perceived behavioural control, and intention to use public transportation could be increased by providing information, encouraging the use, and improving the service quality.