The role of accessibility in basic transportation choice behavior

Accessibility measures reflect the level of service provided by transportation systems to various locations. Basic transportation choice behavior is defined to include those decisions of how many automobiles to own and how many trips to which destinations to make by automobile and by public transit. Here, these decisions are assumed to be made jointly by urban households and are conditional upon residential location decisions. It is the purpose of this paper to explore the role of accessibility as a causal factor in such basic transportation choice behavior.An economic utility theory model of choice behavior is postulated in which the benefits from making trips to specific destinations are reflected by measures of destination attraction. Through determination of utility-maximizing trip frequencies, indirect utility functions are developed which include accessibility concepts. Behavioral implications of these concepts are proposed and contrasts are drawn to accessibility measures used in conventional segregated models of trip distribution, modal choice, and automobile ownership.Sensitivity analyses of alternative empirical definitions of accessibility in the choice model are conducted using data from the Detroit Regional Transportation and Land Use Study — covering counties in southeastern Michigan. These analyses employ a multinomial logit estimation technique and focus on definitions of trip attraction. Results of these analyses indicate that more complicated attraction measures can be replaced by measures involving the proportion of either urban area population or urban area employment within a traffic analysis zone. Also, evidence is found that decision-makers in the case study area consider trips of up to 60 or even 90 minutes duration when evaluating accessibilities offered by alternative public and private transportation systems.     

金属的咆哮 机械的诗歌

2009年底,三大艺术机构向公众展出了粗加工金属制成的艺术品,原型皆来自汽车。这是一场远距离的,围绕材料以及汽车地位的对话。第一件,也许是最具冲击力的一件作品,来自于Jeremy Deller的装置艺术作品,该作品获得了2004年泰纳奖(Turner Prize)。作为一个天生具备挑衅精神的英国艺术家,Deller于10月11月在芝加哥MCA展示了他的作品《它就是它,关于伊拉克的谈话(It iswhat it is:Conversation about Iraq)》。