Travel Characteristics of Female Students to Colleges in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This study is focused on the problems faced by female students residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Many of these female students live far from their colleges and they have to travel from villages to cities in order to obtain a university degree. In so doing they travel long distances everyday using various modes of transport. As they are not permitted to drive, these students depend on male drivers to take them to their colleges. The aim of this study was to investigate and identify problems associated with such modes of transport. Results show that most students experience some problems and encounter disproportionate levels of hardship. The findings were based on a survey carried out in the Kingdom and was distributed to representative sample of female students. This paper includes a detailed analysis of the data from which a number of conclusions and recommendations were made. The conclusions suggested that the travel situation encountered by female students who travel by passenger car could be improved in terms of time, cost and convenience. Thirteen percent of female students rated the vehicles they used to be in unacceptable condition for traveling while 6% marked the drivers as not violating traffic rules, and the majority (53%) was captives to their current mode of transportation.