ABSTRACT
The characteristics of (ravel money expenditure in a Nigerian setting are examined, with special emphasis on the its functional form and energy stability, using the before and after the October 1994 fuel price increase situations. Preliminary analysis of travel charatcristics show general reduction in trip rates, with the least average reduction of 7.08% in subsistence trips and the highest of 46.54% in leisure trips. Appreciable changes occurred in mode choice, with an average value of 40.30 % change being made from motorised modes to the walk mode. The highest average mode change stood at 52.90%; for leisure trips, while values for maintenance and subsistence trips stood at 36.80% and 36.20%, respectively. The results of the main study show that while the established inverse relationship between travel expenditure and income did not change, significant increases occurred in travel expenditure across socio-economic strata, averaging at 114.18%. Shifts occurred in transport market segmentation, apparently because significant interactions occurred between travel expenditures and socio-economic characteristics. The results so far indicate that changes in life-style of respondents occurred, following the fuel price increase. Elasticity calculations show that, generally, trip rates and travel money expenditures are fuel price inelastic. Specifically, -0.185, -0.060, -0.094, and -0.458, were recorded as average values for all trips, subsistence trips, maintenance trips, and leisure trips, respectively. It stood at 0.625 for travel money expenditure. Thus in real terms, the energy policy change cannot be said to have adversely affected travel behaviours of respondents, at least in the short-term. The functional form estimation aspect of the study yielded statistically significant simple linear relationships between travel money expenditure and money available for vi