Use of an activity diary survey to examine travel and activity reporting in a home interview survey: An example using data from Adelaide,Australia

Research presented in this paper uses results from an acitivity diary survey to comment on the quality of data collected in a home interview travel survey. The two surveys were conducted in Adelaide, Australia. Evidence is presented to suggest that although a period of slightly more than three years separated the two surveys, the samples were reasonably similar with respect to their socio-demographic composition and real mobility levels. There was, however, a much higher level of travel and out-of-home activity reporting in the activity diary when compared to the home interview survey. Differences in reporting rates are examined in detail and areas of deficiency with the home interview survey are identified. The paper concludes with a short discussion of the possible implications of these deficiencies when home interview survey data is used to investigate a range of urban transport issues.     

Dense network traffic models,travel time reliability and traffic management. Ii: Application to network reliability

This paper is the second of a pair of papers discussing two main themes concerning dense network modelling. These themes are: (1) the changing nature of traffic management technology and the underlying objectives behind traffic management practice, and (2) the use of measures of network reliability in models, especially as an element of the evaluation of alternative network configurations. This paper develops and applies the second theme, the use of network reliability concepts in the evaluation of traffic networks, through consideration of variations in travel times, distinction between local street and arterial road networks, and the definition and application of a set of reliability indices that may be used to study different trip movements in a network. It indicates how these indices may be used in appraising different traffic management plans for a dense network of local streets and arterial roads, using a case study application.     

Estimating the robustness of questionnaire results: lessons from a mixed-mode survey of expectations for tele-working and road-based business travel

The robustness of questionnaire results to various forms of bias are explored in the context of a dual-mode (web and hardcopy) survey of employers’ anticipations of levels of employee commuting and business travel activity under a range of future ICT scenarios. The questionnaire incorporated several innovative features which, together with the dual-mode format, allowed an unusually wide range of analyses. For example: the robustness of respondents’ opinions was tested by examining the effect of incorporating alternative versions of a briefing text, one being very positive and one very negative, about the role of ICT; instrument bias was identified via detailed comparison of the results from the two versions of the questionnaire; and the impact of exogenous factors which are often ignored or taken as constant was assessed via special supplementary questions. Analysis showed that the robustness of opinions and expectations varied and was influenced by respondent characteristics, and that results from the two versions of the questionnaire differed significantly. It is concluded that opinions and expectations are less robust, and questionnaire results are more subject to bias and myopic interpretation, than is generally recognised and that web-based surveys seem particularly vulnerable to sampling bias. Methods are suggested for measuring robustness, for reducing bias and for validating and contextualising results. The use of contrasting briefing texts is recommended as a means of establishing the robustness of opinions and expectations while supplementary questions are recommended for validating and contextualising SP and SE exercises.

Heterogeneity in marginal value of urban mobility: evidence from a large-scale household travel survey in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area

Transportation - The value of mobility is an unresolved question in transportation economics literature. The advent of ride-hailing services and the emergence of mobility as a service (MaaS) place...     

Built environment,travel behavior,and residential self-selection: a study based on panel data from Beijing,China

The influence of the built environment on travel behavior has been the subject of considerable research attention in recent decades. Scholars have debated the role of residential self-selection in explaining the associations between the built environment and travel behavior. The purpose of this study is to make a contribution to the literature by adopting the cross-lagged panel modeling approach to analyze a panel data, which scholars have recommended as the ideal design for studying the influence of the built environment on travel behavior accounting for the residential self-selection. To that objective, we collected activity-travel diary data from a sample of 229 households in Beijing before and after they moved from one residential location to another. We developed a two-wave structural equation model linking the residential built environment to travel behavior and taking into consideration travel-related attitudes before and after residential change. The modeling results show that individuals’ travel attitudes may change after a home relocation. We found no evidence of residential self-selection, but significant influence of the built environment on travel preference. Nevertheless, the direct influence of travel preference on travel behavior seems to be stronger than that of the built environment. As one of the very few studies to use panel data, this research presents new insights into the relationship between the built environment and travel behavior and the role of residential self-selection.

     

Involvement in clubs or voluntary associations, social networks and activity generation: a path analysis

Leisure activities have received increasing attention from travel behavior researchers over the past decade. However, these activities are often treated as a single category, neglecting their differences. Whereas most leisure activities are flexible, club activities are usually scheduled longer in advance and are more fixed in time, location and company. Hence, trip-generating properties of club activities are likely to differ from those of other leisure activities. As very little is known about involvement in clubs or voluntary associations in relation to trip generation, voluntary association activities deserve further research in relation to travel. Therefore, in this paper a path analysis is conducted, analyzing the relationships between participation in clubs or voluntary associations, trip frequencies, and social network characteristics. The analyses are based on data collected in 2011 in Eindhoven in the Netherlands in a survey among 516 respondents. The results show interesting relationships between the social context and involvement in clubs. They indicate that people become club members through their social networks, and frequent club activities increase social network size. Family oriented people were found to go less often to clubs. Club membership and the frequency of going to club activities were also found to be affected by socio-demographics, such as gender, age, education, work, presence of young children in the household and owning a season ticket for public transport.     

Short-term planning and policy interventions to promote cycling in urban centers: Findings from a commute mode choice analysis in Barcelona,Spain

BackgroundCycling for transportation has become an increasingly important component of strategies to address public health, climate change, and air quality concerns in urban centers. Within this context, planners and policy makers would benefit from an improved understanding of available interventions and their relative effectiveness for cycling promotion. We examined predictors of bicycle commuting that are relevant to planning and policy intervention, particularly those amenable to short- and medium-term action.MethodsWe estimated a travel mode choice model using data from a survey of 765 commuters who live and work within the municipality of Barcelona. We considered how the decision to commute by bicycle was associated with cycling infrastructure, bike share availability, travel demand incentives, and other environmental attributes (e.g., public transport availability). Self-reported and objective (GIS-based) measures were compared. Point elasticities and marginal effects were calculated to assess the relative explanatory power of the independent variables considered.ResultsWhile both self-reported and objective measures of access to cycling infrastructure were associated with bicycle commuting, self-reported measures had stronger associations. Bicycle commuting had positive associations with access to bike share stations but inverse associations with access to public transport stops. Point elasticities suggested that bicycle commuting has a mild negative correlation with public transport availability (−0.136), bike share availability is more important at the work location (0.077) than at home (0.034), and bicycle lane presence has a relatively small association with bicycle commuting (0.039). Marginal effects suggested that provision of an employer-based incentive not to commute by private vehicle would be associated with an 11.3% decrease in the probability of commuting by bicycle, likely reflecting the typical emphasis of such incentives on public transport.ConclusionsThe results provide evidence of modal competition between cycling and public transport, through the presence of public transport stops and the provision of public transport-oriented travel demand incentives. Education and awareness campaigns that influence perceptions of cycling infrastructure availability, travel demand incentives that encourage cycling, and policies that integrate public transport and cycling may be promising and cost-effective strategies to promote cycling in the short to medium term.     

Understanding variability,habit and the effect of long period activity plan in modal choices: a day to day,week to week analysis on panel data

Understanding variability in individual behaviour is crucial for the comprehension of travel patterns and for the development and evaluation of planning policies. But, with only one notable exception, there are no studies on the intrinsic variability in the individual preferences for mode choices in absence of external changes in the transport infrastructures. This requires using continuous panel data. Few papers have studied mode choice with continuous panel data but mainly focused on the panel correlation. In this work we use a six-week travel diary survey to study the intrinsic variability in the individual preferences for mode choices, the effect of long period plans and habitual behaviour in the daily mode choices. Mixed logit models are estimated that account for the above effects as well as for systematic and random heterogeneity over individual preferences and responses. We also account for correlation over several time periods. Our results suggest that individual tastes for time and cost are fairly stable but there is a significant systematic and random heterogeneity around these mean values and in the preferences for the different alternatives. We found that there is a strong inertia effect in mode choice that increases with (or is reinforced by) the number of time the same tour is repeated. The sequence of mode choice made is influenced by the duration of the activity and the weekly structure of the activities