Impact of Public Transport on the Automobile Industry

This research proposal aims to analyze the impact of the growing trend of public transport on the automobile industry. It will explore the reasons behind the shift towards public transport and its correlation with different groups in society. The study will also examine the effects of this trend on automobile sales and seek to find a balance between environmental concerns and industry sustainability.

Business Research Method Research Proposal
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Table of contents
Table of contents..............................................................................................................................2
Introduction and Background..........................................................................................................3
Aims and Objectives........................................................................................................................3
Literature Review............................................................................................................................4
Methodology....................................................................................................................................5
Ethical Concerns..............................................................................................................................7
Limitations.......................................................................................................................................7
Implications/Contributions..............................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................8
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction and Background
This research proposal will be focused on the nature of the transportation market and its
methodological implications in consumer behaviour. There is a recent trend in society where
commuters are opting for public transport rather than travelling in personal vehicles. Which can
be considered as a healthy habit as it is god for the environment. Separate vehicles increase
carbon emission thus the use of common public transportation should be encouraged. But the
public transport has its own inefficiencies. Lack of enough vehicles and lack of punctuality are
just some of them. This report will discuss the effect of this trend in the context and how it
effects the Automobile industry. With more and more commuters travelling in public transport
systems, car sales are down and have thus put car companies in ana alarming position. Though
the trend is not yet having any major effect in the industry, automakers understand that this trend
will grow and is a reason for concern.
The paradoxical nature of this issue, where on one hand decreasing emission should be of utmost
priority for every human being, but on the other hand it undermines an entire industry is the
primary reason why I chose this particular issue. By applying business theories and knowledge
the researcher will attempt to find a balance between the contrasting elements of this issue.
Aims and Objectives
The first objective of this proposal will be to understand why commuters are growing an affinity
towards public transport. The Primary data will be collected by distributing questionnaires to the
general public in specific urban centers.
The second objective of this research paper is to identify how much this trend has expanded and
its correlation with different groups in the society based on income, occupation, age and other
criterias. Different statistics based on income, demographic and other nature will be gathered for
this purpose and analysed. The traditional user of public transport is thought to be of a lower
income group who cannot afford a private vehicle. The paper will attempt to understand if this
stereotype is still relevant.
The third objective of this proposal will be understand how adverse the effects of this growing
trend is on the Automobile industry. This will be done by comparing sales data, statistics related
to automobile owning to statistics of the usage of public transport. The final objective of this
paper will be to find a common ground between the two contrasting issues thus achieving an
equilibrium where saving the environment will not undermine an industry upon which millons
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are dependent. Though this research will be conducted in the UK, the results may be relevant in
other regions of the world.
Literature Review
In order to understand how the increase in use of public transport by the average commuter
affects the automobile industry, we must first understand the different reasons for which an
average commuter will leave the comfort of a personal vehicle and op for a public transport
option (Langlois et al. 2016). The primary factors income, cost of maintaining a vehicle, fuel
prices and environmental concern. By confirming the information contains the average cost of
owning a personal vehicle and the cost of travelling in public modes of transportation, we can
construct a quantitative work on excel which will allow us to analyse the data (Soehodho, 2017).
The consumers will be divided in sub groups based n income, age demographic, occupation and
marital status. The questionnaire will contain questions pertinent to this discussion. Tit is natural
for the lower income groups to opt for public transport and questions will be asked regarding
what might cause such a trend. The major reason that might come up is that it is not like they
cannot afford a car but rather maintaining it is what their primary concern is. To fulfill the
purpose of this research it needs to be understood whether out of genuine concern for the
environment is this trend emerging or are their other underlying reasons. If there are then they
will be identified and discussed in detail (Rodrigue, Comtois and Slack, 2016).
To fulfill the second and third objective of this research we need to collect and sample data from
automobile companies that will show us if there has been a decline in sales in the Automobile
industry and around what time did it begin. We will need to identify if there are any correlation
between the increase in public transport usage and decline in automobile sales. We will take a
range of 10 years to make sure that there are enough years to perform a high quality, in depth
analysis of the data that has been gathered. The results of this paper will thus spread out over a
time span of ten years from 2008-2018 (Clewlow and Mishra, 2017). To get a better
understanding of the current condition of the automobile market, data will be compiled from
automobile companies that are relevant in the current market of UK. This data will then be
compared to the statistic of public transport usage.
If a correlation is established the objective wilde identify specific areas were this correlation is
most prominent. Including which age group prefers to travel more in personal vehicles, if having
a family increases the need for a personal vehicle, are there any areas where there is no relevance
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between the two subjects (Cats, Susilo and Reimal, 2017). In discussion. The automobile
industry is largely dependant on people's need to commute with personal convenience and if
public transport becomes more prominent in the consumer base how does it affect the day to day
operations of the industry. The data compilation will help us figure out other factors apart from
availability of public transport, that affect the consumer's need for vehicle ownership (Sutton and
Austin, 2015). It will also be essential to determine whether the effect of increasing use of public
transport does indeed affect auto sales significantly or is there still time before the industry is
seriously affected. In order to predict suh conclusions the data compiled needs to analysed
acutely.
Methodology
The Questionnaire will be distributed in a public place preferably in urban centres so that
multiple and varied perspectives can be gathered. These questionnaires will provide a public
perspective to the research topic. In the recent global economic crisis every industry is running at
a loss and it is complicated to separate one reason and understand its impact on an already
declining industry. Thus the same place needs to be narrow in order to properly identify the error
causes of this rising phenomenon. The questionnaire will be to the point with no irrelevant out of
context questions. The statistics that will be collected will be analyses in an excel sheet in order
to perform side by side comparison.
There is a need for extensive scrutiny of previous research that has gained traction in recent
years. This research should include vehicle sales in the last ten years in the UK and reasons of
this decline if any. The questionnaire will help us understand what particular reason is
predominant amongst the public to opt for public modes of transportation (Chakrabarti, 2017).
The pros and cons of this phenomenon will be pointed out and specific judgement will be
gathered and then compare with statistics. This will give us a picture, tough vague, on why
people are opting for public transport systems (Shaheen and Chan, 2016).
Next will be to analyse the impact of this phenomenon on the automobile industry. It is
necessary to identify whether this impact has already become drastic or is there still time for the
industry to adapt to the situation and make the most out of it (Munthali et al. 2019). The industry
is already facing odds with rising fuel prices, decline of resources and environmental
degradation. It is thus important that whether this rising trend is as pertinent a reason as these
other causes. Interviews will be conducted with pertinent individuals who have extensive
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knowledge on the inner workings of the automobile industry. These interviews will help
elaborate on what the industry is doing currently to solve this growing problem. The issue is that
with more eco friendly cars at lower prices, can this phenomenon be reduced. But it is a tough
objective as people are aware of their surroundings more now than ever and when they have
understood that by availing public modes of transport they can save money and the environment
at the same time, it will be a complicated task to get them back as a consumer for the vehicle
market. Though the effects of this phenomenon may seem extensive car companies will have to
find alternatives and a solution (Hensher, 2017).
The questionnaire will contain questions pertinent to this discussion. It is natural for the lower
income groups to opt for public transport and questions will be asked regarding what might
cause such a trend. The results of this paper will thus spread out over a time span of ten years
from 2008-2018 (Narayanaswami, 2017). To get a better understanding of the current condition
of the automobile market, data will be compiled from automobile companies that are relevant in
the current market of UK. This data will then be compared to the statistic of public transport
usage. It is noticed that a decline in sales in the Automobile industry is quite alarming by the
time it begun. We will need to identify if there are any correlation between the increase in public
transport usage and decline in automobile sales (Quinlan, Babin, Carr and Griffin, 2019). We
will take a range of 10 years to make sure that there are enough years to perform a high quality,
in depth analysis of the data that has been gathered.
It will also be essential to determine whether the effect of increasing use of public transport does
indeed affect auto sales significantly or is there still time before the industry is seriously affected.
Though the effects of this phenomenon may seem extensive car companies will have to find
alternatives and a solution (Bell, Bryman and Harley, 2018).
Questionnaire for the public
What do prefer as your mode of transport.
Public or private?
If public then state your primary reason for
doing so
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Does the reason have more than one
justification
How much do you commute every day
what modes of transport do you use most
Ethical Concerns
While gathering relevant data is essential to complete the proposal sincerely there are ethical
concerns that need to be kept in mind. When asking about the income and marital status, the
questions must be so modeled that it looks less sensitive and purely in from of an analytical
perspective (Hancock and Algozzine, 2016). It is essential to keep in mind that availing public
transportation system is in no way a disadvantage as in the long run it does protect the
environment. But the change should not be disruptive as the automobile industry provides
livelihood to a significant amount of the world population. There needs to be a change in the
structure of automobile manufacturing but this change needs to be gradual. Public transportations
systems can also contribute to the annexation of the automobile industry by increasing its
number of vehicles that are inj use.
The public transportation system has its own limitations and this paper will attempt to discuss
those but without discouraging those who are availing it. The questionnaire needs to be sincere
and to the point. Variations from the main subject needs to avoided at all costs as it will only be a
waste of resources. With more and more commuters travelling in public transport systems, car
sales are down and have thus put car companies in ana alarming position. Though the trend is not
yet having any major effect in the industry, automakers understand that this trend will grow and
is a reason for concern.
Limitations
The research will be limited to the perspective of the United Kingdom. Though its relevance will
be associated with most developed countries, the research will not elaborate on the condition of
this particular situation in developed countries. Their will be no perspective of countries where
the primary mode of travel is public transport. Thus it is essential to understand that the context
of this research is limited to a perspective of a developed country. We will take a range of 10
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years to make sure that there are enough years to perform a high quality, in depth analysis of the
data that has been gathered. The answers in the questionnaire will be subjective and the reasons
may vary vastly and most of them might have generalised answers which will limit the amount
of perspective that can be gathered and that will limit the outcome of the research. The sample
space will be narrow when conducting research on automobile industry as taking a huge amount
of data and compiling them would be a waste of time (Alvesson and Sköldberg, 2017).
The relevant questions might not be properly understood by the crowd and generalised answers
are to be expected. Achieving a broader range of ideas as to why the population is withdrawing
from the comfort of a personal vehicle will mostly be financial and thus it would seem futile to
assess the scenario with one particular perspective (Ramirez, Mukherjee, Vezzoli and Kramer,
2015).
Implications/Contributions
This research will attempt to bridge the gap that has been created between the automobile
industry and the public transport system. The recent trend of availing public transport as the
popular choice for commuting is having a rising impact on the industry. The study will attempt
to analyse the relevance of this context. This will be done by comparing sales data, statistics
related to automobile owning to statistics of the usage of public transport (Flick, 2015). The final
objective of this paper will be to find a common ground between the two contrasting issues thus
achieving equilibrium where saving the environment will not undermine an industry upon which
millons are dependent. Though this research will be conducted in the UK, the results may be
relevant in other regions of the world. The different perspective of the public that will be
gathered can be used for further research purposes on different topics that fall into the same
context. They include the impact of public transport on the automobile industry, the impact on
environment as a result of this phenomenon, the generic awareness regarding the environment in
the public and how they might be relevant to sociological context. The research will be limited to
the perspective of the United Kingdom. Though its relevance will be associated with most
developed countries, the research will not elaborate on the condition of this particular situation in
developed countries. Their will be no perspective of countries were the primary mode of travel is
public transport. All these implications will be judged in accordance to collected statistics to
derive a numerical context for this phenomenon that is being seriously considered as a driving
force in automobile renovation and restructuring (Nardi, 2018).
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