Inter-regional and inter-temporal analysis of travel behaviour for Asian metropolitan cities: Case studies of Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Nagoya

The unprecedented demand for travel experienced in Asia, in conjunction with the economic development of the1980s, has resulted in a number of detrimental effects on urban systems. Economic development has certainly intensified per capita income enhancing personal mobility. In Asia, private vehicle ownership and usage have continued to be recognised as an obligatory element of travel for many. Undoubtedly there is a direct relationship between vehicle ownership and public transport usage. Inter-regional and inter-temporal investigations of travel behaviour in Asian cities are therefore necessary to develop an understanding of the future transportation system including suitability and the role of public transport. Since travel data are scarce in Asian countries, inter-regional or inter-temporal travel behaviour investigations do not exist to date. Several travel demand models are developed using discrete choice modelling techniques and Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Nagoya as case studies. Estimation results of the mode choice models are successfully incorporated to compare travel behaviour trends in selected cities in Asia. The developed models are tested for spatial and temporal transferability.     

Employment centers and travel behavior: exploring the work commute of Mumbai’s rapidly motorizing middle class

In the Greater Mumbai Region (GMR), jobs and housing are agglomerating in nodes in the periphery of Mumbai City. However, current transportation investments focus on strengthening connections within Mumbai City, while these outlying nodes have received less attention. As housing and jobs move out, given limited travel choices, the need for mobility nudges many middle class Indian households into owning private vehicles. Using household travel survey data from the GMR, this paper develops an understanding of how worker’s trips are different for those who commute to the city versus the exurbs. Socio-economic and transportation indicators for middle class workers going to the city versus the exurbs show that these populations are quite similar demographically. However, those traveling to the exurbs, on average, tend to be at a socio-economic disadvantage with respect to income, education and out-of-pocket travel burdens. Those traveling to exurban work locations have shorter travel times and trip distances, and make much higher use of walking, biking, rickshaws, and motorized two-wheelers compared to commuters to Mumbai City. Across the GMR, car users travel longer and farther compared to motorized two-wheeler users. On average, traveling by a private vehicle is faster than bus or rickshaw travel revealing advantages of private vehicle use. These mode choices in the middle class have resulted in rapid motorization and negative externalities such as traffic congestion and emissions. Evidence of large increases in motorized two-wheelers and cars in India suggests that these modes will likely keep growing, unless competing efficient travel options are supplied.     

Exploring heterogeneity in travel time expenditure of aging populations in the Netherlands: results of a CHAID analysis

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the increasing literature on travel behavior and time use of the elderly. The Dutch National Travel Survey, administered in 2009, was used as a data source. First, various facets of activity-travel patterns of the elderly were compared against overall sample averages. Results indicate that the new generation of elderly people do not differ that much from other age groups in terms of their activity-travel behavior. Differences in behavior can be largely understood in terms of constraints acting on agendas. Moreover, travel patterns of elderly are affected by socio-demographic variables. Second, to further qualify the average findings, the Chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) method was applied to explore heterogeneity among the elderly in terms of travel time expenditure. It is analyzed how differences in travel time co-vary with socio-demographics, in addition to activity type, activity duration and travel aspects. The results suggest that the aging population can be systematically broken down into several homogeneous cohort segments. Travel time of elderly groups depends significantly on transport modes, travel motivation, and seven socio-demographic variables (gender, age, living environment, personal net-income, household size and season). Moreover, there is less heterogeneity in travel time of elderly who are older than 75 years old. However, for younger elderly people, especially the group aged from 65 to 74 years old, heterogeneity affects their travel.     

The first rapid tram line in Poland: How has it affected travel behaviours,housing choices and satisfaction,and apartment prices?

The opening of the Poznań Rapid Tram (pol. Poznański Szybki Tramwaj, PST) in the year 1997 symbolically marked the beginning of a new era in the development of urban transportation systems in Poland. In this paper we would like to address the following question: more than one decade after the opening of the PST, what are its effects in terms of travel behaviours, housing choices and satisfaction, and apartment prices? In order to answer this question, we combined data on travel behaviours and housing choices from a survey based on a sample of nearly 300 households with data on housing prices from over 1400 real estate transaction records from the period between 2010 and 2013. Our results show that the proximity to PST affects travel behaviours, as respondents living close to PST stops confirmed that they use this form of transportation more often. There also seems to be some effect on housing choices; in locations close to PST stops we found many households living in rental housing, particularly university students. Also, about 20% of interviewees declared that they would pay more for apartments located closer to the rapid tram. However, that effect was only partly confirmed through the analysis of transaction prices. Using standard and spatial econometric regressions including variables like apartment size, floor number, amenities, and type of building we found a weak correlation between the proximity to PST and apartment prices. In conclusion, we argue that treating property price effects as the main justification for public transportation projects might be a doubtful choice, because in some cases the principal impacts of such projects might be visible in terms of residents' satisfaction and travel behaviours.     

Happiness and travel mode switching: Findings from a Swiss public transportation experiment

We present results from a recent experiment conducted in Switzerland that studies the effects of a temporary change in the mode of travel to work on travel happiness and mode switching. The primary aim is to study the dynamics in travel satisfaction ratings obtained before and after the intervention. Two behavioral mechanisms driving the change in satisfaction ratings are analyzed. The first one is that satisfaction ratings are influenced by reference points. The second mechanism is that satisfaction ratings are affected by cognitive awareness, whereby the disruption of routine travel conditions makes people think more fully about their travel happiness with different modes of transportation.It is found that the measure of satisfaction with the commute by car obtained right after the temporary intervention is significantly different from the measure obtained before the intervention, and both behavioral hypotheses are supported by the pattern of change in satisfaction ratings. The policy and modeling relevance of different well-being measures obtained at different points in time is discussed.As to mode switching, none of the 30 participants switched completely to public transportation after the intervention but a number of them continued to commute occasionally by public transportation. The relationship between mode switching and satisfaction and the implications of this intervention for public transportation agencies and other organizations interested in behavioral modification are discussed.     

A historic move - the opening of direct flights between Taiwan and China

Political rivals for six decades, Taiwan and China, began regular non-stop passenger flights on July 4, 2008. This paper aims to clarify the implications of the Cross-Strait Air Transport Agreement reached by both countries. It offers a review of air transport development in Taiwan and China and compares their approaches with other countries. In particular, this paper discusses Taiwanese and Chinese perspectives on the opening of direct flights. It goes onto analyse the probable effects of the direct flights and identifies the likely winners and losers. It concludes that strengthening air links between the two countries did reduce travel time considerably for passengers and the resulting growth in business will help cushion the effects of the industry’s current economic downturn.     

Travel behavior within Canada’s older population: a cohort analysis

The unprecedented demographic change of the aging Canadian society has raised numerous questions, including the provision of health care and the national pension plan to an increasingly large older population. Surprisingly, however, there is little Canadian literature regarding the travel behavior of its older population, an oversight that this paper addresses. Using the 1986, 1992, and 1998 General Social Surveys and pseudo-cohort methods, this paper addresses changing driving behavior among older Canadians, and compares the ‘old’ and ‘transitional old’ to younger-aged cohorts. Results indicate that while older Canadians undertake fewer trips, and travel for different reasons than those in the labor force, their reliance upon the private automobile for transportation is no less significant. Specifically, we demonstrate that the number of trips by car with older drivers increase over the study period as the population ages.     

Travel and tourism competitiveness index: The impact of air transportation,railways transportation,travel and transport services on international inbound and outbound tourism

The objective of the study is to examine the impact of air transportation, railways transportation, travel and transport services on international inbound and outbound tourism in a panel of 19 tourists - oriented countries, over a period of 1990–2014. By applying principal component analysis, the study constructs travel and tourism competitiveness index for inbound and outbound tourism. The main constructs of inbound tourism index include international tourists' arrival, tourism receipts, receipts of passengers' transports items and travel items while the constructs of the outbound index include international tourists' departure, tourism expenditures, and expenditures for passengers transport and travel items. The result of panel Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) regression shows that the presence of air transportation, railways transportation, and trade openness positively affect inbound tourism index, while travel and transport services negatively affect tourism competitiveness index. The causality results confirm the bidirectional relationship between inbound tourism, air transportation, railways passengers carried, trade openness and travel and transport services, while there is a unidirectional causality running from inbound index to railway goods transported, from air transport freight to trade factor, and from travel services to air transport freight. Outbound tourism index confirmed the bidirectional causality relationship with air transportation, railways transportation, and travel and transport services, while the causality running from outbound index to trade factor, from air transport passenger carried to travel services, and from railway goods transported to trade and transport services, which support the unidirectional causality relationship between them. The variance decomposition results show that air transportation freight is the contributor that largely influences inbound-outbound tourism, while railways passengers carried and trade openness has the least share to influence inbound and outbound tourism index for the next 10-year period. The impulse response function indicates that air transportation, railways transportation, trade openness and travel services will positively impact on inbound truism while travel and transport services will positively affect outbound tourism for the next 10-year period. The study concludes with the importance of transportation sector that deem desirable to promote tourism worldwide. The concentration of different modes of transportation including air transportation, railways transportation, and travel and transport system would helpful to advance international tourism.     

Time-use data, analysis and modeling: toward the next generation of transportation planning methodologies

This paper argues that transportation planning methodologies must be built on the central thesis of the activity-based approach to travel demand modeling, namely, that travel is a derived demand that reflects people's desire and need to participate in activities. The paper discusses why this foundation for transportation planning methodologies is necessary to address contemporary planning and policy analysis issues. The paper also argues that the introduction of time-use data, analysis and modeling is a key element in the development of the next generation of transportation planning methodologies. Following a brief review of time-use studies, the paper discusses a number of planning and policy analysis areas in which time-use data will be of particular value, including the evaluation of induced or suppressed travel demand. The concepts advanced in the paper are illustrated with two brief numerical examples. These examples show how model systems based on time-use data can be used to (i) estimate the number of induced trips that would result from a reduction in commute travel time, and (ii) evaluate the impacts of alternative transportation improvement projects.     

The impact of company-car taxation policy on travel behavior

This paper explores the impact of company car taxation on travel behavior. It focuses on a nationwide case study in Israel, which experienced a massive growth in the extent of company cars and which has implemented various policy changes in the taxation of company cars. A survey of 400 employees who have a company car and 230 employees who have only a privately owned car clearly points out the significant impact exerted by company cars on travel behavior, negatively affecting sustainable transportation development. The practice of and taxation policy in regard to the company car result in considerable extra mileage and encourage car usage by the employee's entire household. Changes in the taxation of a company car as well as in employer's policy toward company car usage may bring about a significant change in drivers' decisions regarding the willingness to have a company car and their travel behavior.     

Modeling job accessibility using online map data: An extended two-step floating catchment area method with multiple travel modes

Current quantitative measures of job accessibility rarely consider the interaction between job opportunities and labor force, and the effects of dynamic travel mode choice. Drawing upon multiple open-source datasets, we develop a job accessibility index by extending the two-step floating catchment area method (2SFCA). The job accessibility indices are calculated for different commuting scenarios concerning distance, time, and travel modes. The results suggest that job accessibility is very sensitive to travel modes, and using a single travel mode would contribute to a biased job accessibility index. The job accessibility indices with combined travel modes are more geographically balanced than using a single travel mode. Furthermore, the new index is employed to examine the spatial pattern of job accessibility and explore the relationship between job accessibility, housing, and population in the Pudong district, Shanghai. The new job accessibility indices manifest the impacts of ring roads on the spatial distribution of job accessibility. A comparative analysis shows that the floating population has poor driving-based job accessibility but can access job opportunities using public transit. Also, poor job accessibility leads to low rent prices but has little impact on medium-high rent. Both transit-based and drive-based job accessibility indices are positively related to housing prices. Our study highlights the importance of considering dynamic travel mode choice in job accessibility research. The research outcomes also contribute to the literature on spatial mismatch by revealing the unique relationship between job accessibility, housing, and population in urban China.     

Choice behavior of tourism destination and travel mode: A case study of local residents in Hangzhou,China

The social and economic growth as result of promoting the rapid development of tourism in China has brought tremendous pressure on the urban transportation systems. Research of travel behavior concerning the characteristics of tourists has provided effective information for transportation planning. Due to different city plans, public transportation system design, car parking design and management, etc., the local situation in developed countries differs from the counterpart in China. However, little research has studied the factors influencing the choice of travel destinations in tourism. The research aims to study the tourism destination and mode choice behavior of tourists and provides suggestions to improve tourism transportation service system. An online questionnaire survey is used to collect data including the travel characteristics and personal attributes of local tourists in different holidays in Hangzhou, China. A multinomial logit model is constructed with the trip destination set as the dependent variable. Results show that age, residential type, car ownership, companion type and holiday length have a significant impact on destination choice. To determine what influences modal choice for such trips, a second logit model is established with travel mode set as the dependent variable with the explanatory variables of age, gender, companion type, car ownership, holiday length and travel destination found to be significant. The results demonstrated that people aged 26 to 44 prefer suburban areas, and they are the main group driving to their travel destination. Public transport use frequency decreases when the destination is located outside of the main tourist area. Finally, suggestions have been proposed to mitigate the congestion and parking problem based on model analysis from the perspective of the bus line setting, transfer improvements, and the policy to limit cars, respectively.     

Making plans or “just thinking about the trip”? Understanding people’s travel planning in practice

ICT solutions have been proposed as a means for changing environmentally unfavourable traffic behaviour by providing better, real-time and more accessible travel information. However, prevailing models of travel choice and travel behaviour tend to overemphasise the impact and importance of information and the individualistic perspective. The issue of choice and travel planning in everyday life situations, and how information is used and acted on in these processes, was examined in a qualitative study in Stockholm, Sweden. Practice Theory was used as the theoretical framework for the study. Interviews were supplemented with an explorative diary and photo assignment to bring unreflected choices and actions of planning travel to the conscious level.The results showed that travel planning involves the immediate situation where planning and decisions are made, but also aspirations, cognitive/time/material limitations, social norms and social relations that extend widely in time and space. Definitions of travel planning and travel information based on the situated practices of planning are suggested. In the muddle of everyday life, travel planning takes place in the brief moments where circumstances at different levels – time, place, the social realm - interact and are considered or directly acted upon. In the development of new ICT-based travel information services, the role of technology in changing normal practices should be considered.     

基于联盟区块链的铁路客运出行服务系统研究

铁路客运出行服务系统需要与多个企业进行数据交互,各主体间存在缺乏信任、数据格式不统一、对账环节低效等问题,制约了铁路客运出行服务的发展。而区块链具有去中心化、不可篡改、全程留痕等特点,在铁路客运出行服务系统中引入区块链技术,有助于解决多方主体交易难题。在总结铁路客运出行服务系统现状的基础上,结合开源分布式账本平台Fabric的特点与优势,设计基于联盟区块链技术的铁路客运出行服务系统架构,并对系统的基本框架和业务流程进行了描述和分析,提出铁路客运出行服务系统中的数据共享、数据存储、数据安全、清分结算等关键技术,可以实现多方数据的可用不可见,提高合作企业参与的积极性,将为加快促进综合交通一站式出行服务平台建设提供研究支撑。     

Analysis of travel behavior in Arab communities in Israel: a comparison of household surveys

This paper analyzes the main characteristics of travel behavior by the Arab minority community in Israel and discusses two issues related to household travel surveys: data collection among minorities and under-reporting of mid-day trips.Household travel surveys are generally designed and conducted for the majority population and, therefore, lack a proper accounting of minorities and miss many of their less-frequent trips. An alternative approach to conducting household surveys is presented, with the aim of improving data quality for transportation planning. The survey was designed for and conducted in three Arab towns in Israel. The main improvement of the survey involves better interaction between interviewer and interviewee, which should materialize into a relaxed environment that allows for obtaining detailed, reliable results within a reasonable amount of time.The results of the survey employing the alternative approach were compared to a sub-sample of the same towns taken from a regional survey conducted by the regional planning agency at the same time. The paper presents simple statistics on the main variables for each survey. Significant differences are found in the two data sets, mostly regarding the frequency of less frequent, non-home-based trips. A plausible explanation for these differences relates to the more detailed and improved data collected in the new survey.     

Time use, travel behavior, and the rural-urban continuum: results from the Halifax STAR project

This paper considers variations in time-related aspects of travel behavior along the urban-rural continuum, using the four categories of inner city, suburbs, inner commuter belt (ICB), and outer commuter belt (OCB). It employs geo-coded and GPS-validated data from the STAR survey conducted in the county-sized regional municipality of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Many significant inter-zonal differences are identified, and most travel variables are characterized by progressive urban-to-rural gradients, with large differences between inner-city and outer-commuter values. A clear break between city and country is seldom evident, however. Inner-city residents make most trips, but have trips of shortest duration, and spend least time in travel. Residents of the commuter belts spend most time in travel, and have trips of longest duration. While long trips and much driving were expected in commuter zones, there are significantly fewer trips in the OCB, which we attribute to lack of need, lack of opportunities, and adjustments in discretionary behavior.     

The influence of neighborhood environment and household travel interactions on school travel behavior: an exploration using geographically-weighted models

Professional and popular interest in active school transportation (walking and cycling) is matched by an emerging literature on this topic. This paper explores school travel behavior of 11-year old children in Toronto, Canada. In particular, the effects of the neighborhood environment and caregiver-child travel interactions on travel mode choice were studied. Results indicate that the built environment near both home and school locations was associated with the odds of walking. However, predicted built environment effects were less accurate in some neighborhoods. Availability of adults at the time of school travel likely encouraged driving. School transportation interventions that broadly consider school and neighborhood-oriented policies and enable independent mobility may increase walking rates. Presence of spatial autocorrelation in the prevalence of walking suggests that more research is required to understand inter-household similarities in behaviors that are spatially structured.     

Time-space convergence and urban decentralisation

The phenomenon of time-space convergence (or compression) has been considered to be associated with the technological advances that have shortened our travel time. Advances in transport technology have gradually diminished travel times, and this process has been discussed in the context of international- or national-level transport changes. This paper investigates the changing relationship between space and time at the urban level. The changing relationship between commuting time and distance in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) is empirically analysed by using the 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005 two-percent sample data of the Korean Census of Population and Housing. The study results empirically demonstrate the close relationship between the urban decentralisation process and the time-space convergence phenomenon. The key findings of this research are that commuting time per distance unit in the SMA shortened over the 15 years of the study period, and this improvement was greater for longer journeys than for shorter trips. The empirical evidence of this research shows that workers have migrated to faster commuting modes such as car and subway and away from slower modes such as buses, so that commuting time has decreased or remained constant even as commuting distance in the SMA has increased.     

Time–space transformations of geographic space for exploring,analyzing and visualizing transportation systems

Transportation systems exist within at least two types of space. One is the apparent geographic space, but equally important is the time–space implied by the travel time relations created by the system. Differences between the geographic and time–spaces are properties induced by the transportation system. Methods for time–space transformations of geographic space to explore, visualize and analyze transportation systems were initially developed in the 1960s and 1970s. However, these methods have not been pursued beyond this initial flurry of research activity, most likely due to the difficulties associated with handling and processing digital geographic data. The rise of geographic information systems (GIS), as well as continued development and wider availability of transformation techniques such as multidimensional scaling (MDS) and spatial analytical techniques such as bidimensional regression can allow the potential of time–space transformation techniques to be realized. This paper presents a general methodological framework that exploits recent advances in GIS, MDS and spatial analytical techniques. Results from applying these techniques to the Salt Lake City metropolitan area illustrate the power of these techniques to reveal spatial patterns in the travel time relationships induced by a transportation system. The application also addresses fundamental issues in time–space transformations, such as two-dimensional versus three-dimensional solutions, Euclidean versus non-Euclidean solutions and symmetric and asymmetric solutions.     

Commuting patterns of employees in the Information Technology and traditional manufacturing sectors of Bangalore, India

Rapid growth of the Information Technology (IT) sector in Bangalore, India, has transformed the city’s urban-industrial landscape since the liberalization of India's economy in 1991. The city's IT sector is closely integrated with a global system of production and caters largely to a global clientele. Apart from the impact of these developments on urban form, there are indications that they are causing uneven growth patterns and socio-economic polarization, which has resulted in different travel patterns in the work force. This paper compares the commuting patterns of employees in two types of firms, an IT multinational corporation and a traditional public-sector-unit (PSU), using data from a survey. Regression models show that there is a significant increase in travel cost as income rises for a sample of employees of the IT sector, even though travel distance is not influenced by income. The reverse holds true for a sample of employees of the PSU—rising income significantly increases distance though income does not affect travel cost. Behavioral choice models also show that with increasing income IT employees are more likely to choose two-wheelers and cars for commuting while PSU employees are more likely to choose public buses or walk to work. The paper suggests that Bangalore's services-oriented IT economy is magnifying differences in work commuting patterns relative to those in the traditional manufacturing economy. The IT economy is also transforming travel behavior in terms of work travel mode choices among socio-economic groups.