Travel behavior
Encyclopedia
Travel behavior is the study of what people do over space
, and how people use transport
. The questions studied in travel behavior are broad, and are very much related to activity analysis and time use research
studies.
Other behavioral aspects of travelling regard e.g.:
, often part of a travel survey
or travel behavior inventory. Large metropolitan areas typically only do such surveys once every decade, though some cities are conducting panel surveys, which track the same people year after year.
That data is generally used to estimate transportation planning
models
, so that transport analysts can make predictions about people who haven't been surveyed. This is important in forecasting
traffic
, which depends on future changes to road networks, land use patterns, and policies.
Some years ago it was recognized that behavioral research was limited by data, and a special data set
was developed to aid research: The Baltimore Disaggregate Data Set which is the result an in depth survey, ca. 1977. Its title indicates today’s emphasis on disaggregated rather than aggregated data. This particular data set is believed lost. A small program to preserve and make available on the web these travel behavior surveys, the Metropolitan Travel Survey Archive
, is now under way at the University of Minnesota. There is also the National Personal Transportation Survey (later National Household Travel Survey), conducted every five years or so, but with much less spatial detail.
Moore (1964) has observed that increasing specialization in all things is the chief feature of social change. Considering social changes, one might observe that 100 years ago things were less specialized compared to today. So we would expect lots of change in household travel over the time period. Data are not very good, but the travel time aspect of what’s available seems contrary to the expectation, travel hasn’t changed much. For instance, the time spent on the journey to work may have been stable for centuries (the travel budget hypothesis). Here are some travel time comparisons from John Robinson (1986).
Most travel behavior analysis concerns demand
issues and do not touch very much on supply
issues. Yet when we observe travel from a home, we are certainly observing some sort of market clearing
process – demand and supply are matched.
. Many of the insights current today were found by Liepmann: time spent, ride sharing, etc. Most academics date modern work from advances in mode choice analysis made in the 1970s. This created much excitement, and after some years an International Association for Travel Behaviour Research emerged. There are about 150 members of the Association; it holds a conference every three years. The proceedings of those conferences yield a nice record of advances in the field. The proceedings also provide a record of topics of lasting interest and of changing priorities. Mode choice received priority early on, but in the main today’s work is not so much on theory as it is on practice. Hagerstrand
(1970) developed a time and space path analysis, often called the time-space prism.
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, and how people use transport
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...
. The questions studied in travel behavior are broad, and are very much related to activity analysis and time use research
Time use research
Time use research is a developing interdisciplinary field of study dedicated to knowing how people allocate their time during an average day. Work Intensity is the umbrella topic that incorporates Time Use, specifically time poverty....
studies.
- How many tripsTrip generationTrip generation is the first step in the conventional four-step transportation forecasting process , widely used for forecasting travel demands...
do people make? - Where do they go? (What is the destinationTrip distributionTrip distribution , is the second component in the traditional four-step transportation forecasting model...
?) - What modeMode choiceMode choice analysis is the third step in the conventional four-step transportation forecasting model, following trip generation and trip distribution but before route assignment. Trip distribution's zonal interchange analysis yields a set of origin destination tables which tells where the trips...
do they take? - Who accompanies whom?
- When is the trip made? What is the schedule?
- What is the sequence or pattern of trips?
- What route choicesRoute assignmentRoute assignment, route choice, or traffic assignment concerns the selection of routes between origins and destinations in transportation networks. It is the fourth step in the conventional transportation forecasting model, following trip generation, trip distribution, and mode choice...
do people make? - Why do people travel? (Why can't people stay at home and telecommuteTelecommutingTelecommuting or telework is a work arrangement in which employees enjoy flexibility in working location and hours. In other words, the daily commute to a central place of work is replaced by telecommunication links...
or teleshop?)
Other behavioral aspects of travelling regard e.g.:
- letting people get off before entering a vehicle, queueingQueue areaQueue areas are places in which people queue for goods or services. Examples include checking out groceries or other goods that have been collected in a self service shop, in a shop without self service, at an ATM, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or in a taxi stand.Queueing is a phenomenon in a...
behavior, etc.; see also Passenger behavior in Shanghai
Data
These questions can be answered descriptively using a travel diaryTravel journal
A travel journal, also called road journal or travelogue, is a record made by a voyager. Generally in diary form, a travel journal contains descriptions of the traveler's experiences, is normally written during the course of the journey, intended on updating friends or family on the journey...
, often part of a travel survey
Travel survey
A travel survey is a survey of individual travel behavior. Most surveys collect information about an individual , their household , their vehicle and a diary of their journeys on a given day A travel survey (or travel diary or travel behavior inventory) is a survey of individual travel behavior....
or travel behavior inventory. Large metropolitan areas typically only do such surveys once every decade, though some cities are conducting panel surveys, which track the same people year after year.
That data is generally used to estimate transportation planning
Transportation planning
Transportation planning is a field involved with the evaluation, assessment, design and siting of transportation facilities .-Models and Sustainability :...
models
Scientific modelling
Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract, conceptual, graphical and/or mathematical models. Science offers a growing collection of methods, techniques and theory about all kinds of specialized scientific modelling...
, so that transport analysts can make predictions about people who haven't been surveyed. This is important in forecasting
Forecasting
Forecasting is the process of making statements about events whose actual outcomes have not yet been observed. A commonplace example might be estimation for some variable of interest at some specified future date. Prediction is a similar, but more general term...
traffic
Traffic
Traffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel...
, which depends on future changes to road networks, land use patterns, and policies.
Some years ago it was recognized that behavioral research was limited by data, and a special data set
Data set
A data set is a collection of data, usually presented in tabular form. Each column represents a particular variable. Each row corresponds to a given member of the data set in question. Its values for each of the variables, such as height and weight of an object or values of random numbers. Each...
was developed to aid research: The Baltimore Disaggregate Data Set which is the result an in depth survey, ca. 1977. Its title indicates today’s emphasis on disaggregated rather than aggregated data. This particular data set is believed lost. A small program to preserve and make available on the web these travel behavior surveys, the Metropolitan Travel Survey Archive
Metropolitan Travel Survey Archive
The U.S. Metropolitan Travel Survey Archive is a project to store, preserve, and make publicly available, via the internet, travel surveys conducted by metropolitan areas, states and localities....
, is now under way at the University of Minnesota. There is also the National Personal Transportation Survey (later National Household Travel Survey), conducted every five years or so, but with much less spatial detail.
Travel behavior and activity analysis
Analysis of travel behavior from the home can answer the question: How does the family participate in modern society. Consider two non-observable extremes. At one extreme we have the non-specialized household. It does everything for itself, and no travel is required. Ultimate specialization is the other extreme; travel is required for all things. Observed households are somewhere in between. The “in between” position of households might be thought of as the consequence of two matters.- There is social and economic structure – the organization of society. To participate in this society, the household specializes its occupations, education, social activities, etc.
- The extent to which members of the household specialize turns on their attributes and resources.
Moore (1964) has observed that increasing specialization in all things is the chief feature of social change. Considering social changes, one might observe that 100 years ago things were less specialized compared to today. So we would expect lots of change in household travel over the time period. Data are not very good, but the travel time aspect of what’s available seems contrary to the expectation, travel hasn’t changed much. For instance, the time spent on the journey to work may have been stable for centuries (the travel budget hypothesis). Here are some travel time comparisons from John Robinson (1986).
| Men | Women | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activity | 1975 | 1985 | 1975 | 1985 |
| Work Travel | 25 | 31 | 9 | 17 |
| Family Travel | 33 | 31 | 33 | 33 |
| Leisure Travel | 27 | 33 | 21 | 23 |
| Total | 85 | 94 | 63 | 73 |
Most travel behavior analysis concerns demand
Demand curve
In economics, the demand curve is the graph depicting the relationship between the price of a certain commodity, and the amount of it that consumers are willing and able to purchase at that given price. It is a graphic representation of a demand schedule...
issues and do not touch very much on supply
Supply and demand
Supply and demand is an economic model of price determination in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, the unit price for a particular good will vary until it settles at a point where the quantity demanded by consumers will equal the quantity supplied by producers , resulting in an...
issues. Yet when we observe travel from a home, we are certainly observing some sort of market clearing
Market clearing
In economics, market clearing refers to either# a simplifying assumption made by the new classical school that markets always go to where the quantity supplied equals the quantity demanded; or# the process of getting there via price adjustment....
process – demand and supply are matched.
History of travel behavior analysis
Analytic work on travel behavior can be dated from Liepmann (1945). Liepmann obtained and analyzed 1930s data on worker travel in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Many of the insights current today were found by Liepmann: time spent, ride sharing, etc. Most academics date modern work from advances in mode choice analysis made in the 1970s. This created much excitement, and after some years an International Association for Travel Behaviour Research emerged. There are about 150 members of the Association; it holds a conference every three years. The proceedings of those conferences yield a nice record of advances in the field. The proceedings also provide a record of topics of lasting interest and of changing priorities. Mode choice received priority early on, but in the main today’s work is not so much on theory as it is on practice. Hagerstrand
Torsten Hägerstrand
Torsten Hägerstrand , was a Swedish geographer. He is known for his work on migration, cultural diffusion and time geography....
(1970) developed a time and space path analysis, often called the time-space prism.
See also
- HypermobilityHypermobility (travel)The term hypermobility in regard to travelers arose around 1980 and is a concept that has increased in useage since the early 1990s: Damette ; Hepworth and Ducatel ; Whitelegg ; Lowe ; van der Stoep ; Shields ; Cox ; Adams ; Khisty and Zeitler ; Gössling et al. ; and Mander & Randles...
- travel surveyTravel surveyA travel survey is a survey of individual travel behavior. Most surveys collect information about an individual , their household , their vehicle and a diary of their journeys on a given day A travel survey (or travel diary or travel behavior inventory) is a survey of individual travel behavior....
- Metropolitan Travel Survey ArchiveMetropolitan Travel Survey ArchiveThe U.S. Metropolitan Travel Survey Archive is a project to store, preserve, and make publicly available, via the internet, travel surveys conducted by metropolitan areas, states and localities....
- Prof. Stefan Gössling, sustainable travel expertStefan GösslingStefan Gössling, born 1970, is a Professor Professor of Tourism at the School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden. Dr...
- http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/scienceresearch/social/climatechangetransportchoices/
- http://www.dft.gov.uk/data/release/10036