Travel time use and its impact on high-speed-railway passengers' travel satisfaction in the e-society

The availability of wireless networks and the pervasive use of mobile ICT devices have allowed passengers to conduct various e-activities during journeys. These various e-activities, in turn, may change people's conventional perception of travel time from being “wasteful” and “unproductive,” to “desirable” and giving rise to satisfaction. Journeys on high-speed railway (HSR) is particularly relevant for transport researchers to probe into this question because of its characteristics of being medium to long-distance (typically taking half-an-hour or more), seat availability, and a smooth ride. Using a questionnaire survey on passengers along the Shanghai-Nanjing HSR route, this study aims to examine the nature of ICT device use and in-vehicle e-activities conducted by HSR passengers and the influence on their travel satisfaction with their on-board journey experience. Our results reveal a high percentage of ICT device use and a wide variety of e-activities such as e-working, e-communication, and e-reading for leisure on HSR trains. In addition, the higher use of ICT device was associated with an increase of passengers' travel satisfaction. Furthermore, we found a positive effect of work-related e-activities on travel satisfaction for business/work trips, while a positive effect of entertainment-related e-activities for non-business/work trips. Given that HSR is potentially a more sustainable transport mode, some possible policy implications are proposed to encourage people to use HSR, as opposed to driving or flying, for medium to long-distance intercity journeys.     

A study on passengers' airport choice behavior using hybrid choice model: A case study of Seoul metropolitan area,South Korea

Improving explanatory power is significantly important to understand variables that affect attitudes and perceptions in the decision process. This paper estimates not only tangible attributes but also intangible perceptions and attitudes using a hybrid-choice model to study air passengers' flight choice behavior. The empirical study was conducted for the choice behavior of air passengers at Seoul Metropolitan Area, South Korea. The analysis uses a two-level Nested Logit model in order to examine which factors have more effect on passengers’ choice of airport and airline simultaneously by using airport and airline choice attributes. The study also estimated the parameters in the equations relating the latent variable by using Structural Equation Model (SEM). The results indicate that the models with latent variables have improved Goodness-of-Fit when compared to classical discrete choice models and effectively capture psychological factors that affect choice behavior of passengers.     

How do passengers allocate and evaluate their travel time? Evidence from a survey on the Shanghai–Nanjing high speed rail corridor,China

Although previous studies have demonstrated that travel time is not wasted, only a limited number of studies have conducted an in-depth investigation of how passengers allocate their travel time and what factors will impact their subjective valuation of travel time (SVTT). Investigating such questions will uncover some of the possible economic, social, technological and behavioral reasons that influence SVTT. Using a survey of 822 passengers traveling along the Shanghai-Nanjing high speed rail (HSR) corridor in 2016, this study examines passengers' allocation of their travel time, and explores the determinants of SVTT for business and non-business travelers, respectively. Empirical results indicate that around half of the respondents spend the longest amount of travel time on ICT discretionary activities, but there are some differences across trip purpose. Ordered logit models suggest that SVTT is determined by a range of factors, which are classified into travel time allocation, HSR environment, travel attributes, and socio-demographic characteristics. However, the specific factors associated with SVTT are somewhat different between business and non-business trips. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of the perceived value of travel time in a supportive travel environment and in a typical e-society of a developing country, and offer implications for more comprehensively exploring determinants of SVTT in the future.     

Constructing a mixed-logit model with market positioning to analyze the effects of new mode introduction

This study aims to investigate how the introduction of high-speed rail (HSR) influences traveler choice behavior and the market structure in the western corridor of Taiwan. A new mixed-logit model with factor decomposition is constructed to analyze the market positioning of the existing modes and HSR; the data is collected using the stated preference method. The empirical results show that travel cost is the major factor in market positioning. After the introduction of HSR, travelers’ mode preference did not change, whereas locations across modes on the market-positioning map as well as some coefficients of the explanatory variables changed.     

Errors in variables in multinomial choice modeling: A simulation study applied to a multinomial logit model of travel mode choice

Modeling travel demand is a vital part of transportation planning and management. Level of service (LOS) attributes representing the performance of transportation system and characteristics of travelers including their households are major factors determining the travel demand. Information on actual choice and characteristics of travelers is obtained from a travel survey at an individual level. Since accurate measurement of LOS attributes such as travel time and cost components for different travel modes at an individual level is critical, they are normally obtained from network models. The network-based LOS attributes introduce measurement errors to individual trips thereby causing errors in variables problem in a disaggregate model of travel demand. This paper investigates the possible structure and magnitude of biases introduced to the coefficients of a multinomial logit model of travel mode choice due to random measurement errors in two variables, namely, access/egress time for public transport and walking and cycling distance to work. A model was set up that satisfies the standard assumptions of a multinomial logit model. This model was estimated on a data set from a travel survey on the assumption of correctly measured variables. Subsequently random measurement errors were introduced and the mean values of the parameters from 200 estimations were presented and compared with the original estimates. The key finding in this paper is that errors in variables result in biased parameter estimates of a multinomial logit model and consequently leading to poor policy decisions if the models having biased parameters are applied in policy and planning purposes. In addition, the paper discusses some potential remedial measures and identifies research topics that deserve a detailed investigation to overcome the problem. The paper therefore significantly contributes to bridge the gap between theory and practice in transport.     

The indirect effect of the built environment on travel mode choice: A focus on recent movers

Many studies have demonstrated that the built environment has a strong impact on people's travel mode choice. However, the built environment also influences elements such as travel distance and car ownership, which might be the true predictors of which travel modes are chosen. In this study, we analyse the effects of changes in residential neighbourhood on changes in travel mode (for commute trips and leisure trips), both directly and indirectly through changes in car ownership, travel distances and travel attitudes. This study applies a structural equation modelling approach using quasi-longitudinal data from 1650 recently relocated residents in the city of Ghent, Belgium. Results indicate that the built environment has strong direct effects on active leisure trips and car use. However, distance (for car use) and attitudes (for active travel) were found to be important mediating variables. In sum, the effect of the built environment on travel mode choice might be more complex than commonly assumed as it partly seems mediated by travel distance and travel attitudes.     

Do your neighbors affect your bicycling choice? A spatial probit model for bicycling to The Ohio State University

Neighborhood social effects have recently become a focus of interest in transportation research, whereby transportation mode choice is not only affected by an individual’s characteristics and transportation system conditions, but also by the mode choices of that individual’s social neighbors. This study supports the neighborhood social effects argument, using a spatial econometrics approach and data from The Ohio State University (OSU) 2012 Campus Transportation Survey. A spatial probit model of commuters’ mode choices (bicycling versus non-bicycling) is estimated, accounting for spatial autocorrelation. The results show that the more OSU-affiliated bicycle riders are residing around an individual OSU commuter, the more attractive bicycling becomes, controlling for other factors such as gender, status, proximity to campus, bicycle infrastructure and attitudes. The results indicate that students and males are more likely to commute by bicycles. The probability of choosing bicycles decreases with distance from campus. In addition, proximity to bicycle infrastructure and physical environment both encourage respondents to bicycle. Feeling of safety, travel cost and concern for the environment also affect bicycling choice.     

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.     

Assessing High-Speed Rail’s impacts on land cover change in large urban areas based on spatial mixed logit methods: a case study of Madrid Atocha railway station from 1990 to 2006

This paper proposes an accessibility-based spatial mixed logit (SML) model with panel data structure to examine the impacts of High-Speed Rail (HSR) on land cover change in large urban areas. Using data between 1990 and 2006, impacts of the Spanish HSR on Madrid’s Atocha railway station influence area – a 20 km radius buffer centred on the station – were investigated. To model the HSR impacts, besides socioeconomic variables, the development of both local and regional transportation networks with corresponding accessibility improvement is also taken into account to segregate the impacts of land-cover change brought by different sources of accessibility measures. In this study, two SML models are used: one incorporates regional accessibility indicators as a base model, and the other does not, acting as a control model. The model estimation results reveal that the reduction of the local and regional weighted travel average time has positive impacts on the Atocha station catchment area’s urbanised land-cover rates. Although the base and control models both achieve high goodness-of-fit values, the base model that considers regional accessibility reveals a better goodness-of-fit statistic and is more robust than the control model. It is concluded that the improvement of regional accessibility due to the arrival of HSR at Atocha station plays an essential role in the urbanisation of land cover changes in the study area.     

An explanation of the relationship between adults’ work trip mode and children’s school trip mode through the Heckman approach

Most studies on children’s travel hypothesize that the characteristics of children, households, schools, and neighborhoods exogenously affect their travel mode to school. This study makes an additional assumption that children’s mode to school and household adults’ travel mode to work are interrelated because of a lifestyle choice made by parents and caregivers. With this assumption, Heckman probit models were used with data from the 2009 US National Household Travel Survey to predict household adults’ travel mode to work and children’s travel mode to school jointly. It found strong evidence that household adults’ decision to drive to work significantly increases the probability of children being dropped off at school and decreases their likelihood of walking and bicycling, but not vice versa. As adults’ mode choice is more fundamental in the household decision-making process, the study suggests that children’s mode choice studies should not ignore how parents or caregivers travel to work.     

The influence of socioeconomic characteristics,land use and travel time considerations on mode choice for medium- and longer-distance trips

This paper contributes to the limited number of investigations into the influence of the spatial configuration of land use and transport systems on mode choice for medium- and longer-distance travel (defined here as home-based trips of 50 km and over) in the Netherlands. We have employed data from the 1998 Netherlands National Travel Survey to address the question as to how socioeconomic factors, land use attributes, and travel time affect mode choice for medium- and longer-distance travel, and how their role varies across trip purposes: commuting, business, and leisure. The empirical analysis indicates that land use attributes and travel time considerations are important in explaining the variation in mode choice for medium- and longer-distance travel when controlling for the socioeconomic characteristics of travellers.     

Spatial variations in active mode trip volume at intersections: a local analysis utilizing geographically weighted regression

Geographically weighted regression (GWR) models have been employed in previous studies regarding vehicular travel demands, but few studies have locally modeled walking travel demands at intersections to address the issue of spatially varying relationships. Harnessing a comprehensive collection of walking and bicycling traffic counts over 10 years in Chittenden County, Vermont, US, along with socioeconomic characteristics, transit accessibility indices, land use attributes and characteristics of intersections and roadway networks, this study utilizes GWR models to identify whether there are spatially varying relationships between active mode travel demands and ambient built-environment attributes. One Ordinary Least Square (OLS) model and two GWR models were parametrically calibrated: a full GWR model of all local variables and a mixed GWR model of both global and local variables. K-fold cross-validation method is used to select variables that significantly influence the volume of active travel modes in the OLS model. The uniform set of variables is investigated in two GWR models. Only residuals of the mixed GWR model exhibit spatial independence. The prediction accuracy of the three models is respectively compared by means of the k-fold cross-validation method. Results show that the mixed GWR model has higher prediction accuracy, while the other two models have roughly the same level of performance. We find that not all independent variables possess a spatially varying relationship with active mode volumes. The flexibility of the mixed GWR model that allows some independent variables to be global strengthens its prediction power. With these findings, transportation planners can dynamically estimate bicycle and pedestrian volumes at widespread intersections, and this geographical realism would facilitate local transportation planning, facility design, safety enhancement and operation analysis, as well as instilling new insights into interdisciplinary spatial research domain.     

Analysis of ground access modes choice King Khaled International Airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Airports are vital to the transportation system because air travel is the fastest means of transporting people and goods around the world. Airports also connect aviation systems with other modes of transportation.As a result, access modes to airports are critical to the aviation system, and studying air passenger decisions regarding mode choice is an essential part of airport management and system planning.Though there has been systematic analysis of car use to access airports, there has been less systematic attention to the use of the public transport system, especially the taxi service. The aim of this study is to identify King Khaled International Airport (KKIA) access mode characteristics and users, which has not been investigated previously concentrating on the mix between car and taxi using data collected specifically for this research.More than half (55.5%) of the travelers surveyed arrived at KKIA by private car; taxi and limousine passengers accounted for 42.2% of the sample. The Saudi Public Transit Company (SAPTCO), transported only 2.3% of the air passengers surveyed. These results are similar to findings for an airport in the United States and very different from findings for an airports in the East (e.g., Hong Kong).A binary logit model was developed to evaluate the access mode choice. It was found that income, luggage, travel access time, and nationality significantly affect mode choice.Results provide insight for improved planning of access to KKIA.     

Adoption and loyalty toward low cost carriers: The case of Taipei–Singapore passengers

This study explores the determinants for the duration of airline passengers to adopt a low cost carrier (LCC) and their loyalty toward the LCC. The analysis results of travel information on 338 passengers traveling between Taipei and Singapore show that business passengers take longer duration to accept the LCC. Cheaper fares and convenient booking channels can shorten the passenger’s duration to adopt the LCC, whereas airline image and safety consideration can increase the duration. Frequent flyer programs and convenient booking channels can increase the passengers’ loyalty toward the LCC.     

Impacts of high-speed rail on domestic air transportation in China

This study investigates the impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) on domestic air transportation in China using a new comprehensive modeling framework utilizing both demand and supply perspectives. For the first time the assessment was conducted using an improved panel regression model by taking into account of the detailed opening schedules of various HSR services during the period 2001–2014. The research findings reveal that the deployed HSR services have a significant substitutional effect on domestic air transportation in China, but the effect varies across different HSR routes, travel distance and city type. Specifically, the research found a decrease in domestic passengers of 28.2%, in flights of 24.6% and in seat capacity of 27.9% after the introduction of HSR services. The impacts are found much stronger among those air routes that connect major hub within a distance range of 500 to 800 km. The uneven nature of the impact can be seen in the different experiences of selected cities. For example, air travel declined approximately 45% after commencement of the Wuhan-Guangzhou HSR, whereas it fell by 34% after the opening of the Beijing-Shanghai HSR.     

The role of schedule delays on passengers’ choice of access modes: A case study of Japan’s international hub airports

We empirically study passenger modal-choice behavior to access an international hub airport, by using stated preference (SP) data and by constructing a binomial logit model. We found that passenger modal choice is affected by the service level of the access modes: travel time, travel cost, waiting time, and delay cost. The results also indicate that if passengers choose access mode in advance they consider service frequency: departure timing from home, and the arrival timing at the airport. Moreover, our results indicate that travelers’ willingness to pay for saving time differs by time of a day. They are apt to pay more in the morning than in the afternoon. These outcomes must contribute to improve the access flight service from local to hub airports to handle the needs of passengers.     

Accessibility impacts of China’s high-speed rail network

The large-scale implementation of High-Speed Rail (HSR) network in China not only offers a new option for travelers’ mode choice, but also may influence, or even generate, the redistribution of demographic and economic activities. As has been observed over the past several years in other countries, the impact of HSR spans a wide range. However, few quantitative studies have been conducted to measure this impact. As a new attempt, this study uses accessibility analysis for quantifying the impact of China’s HSR network. Weighted average travel times and travel costs, contour measures, and potential accessibility are employed as indicators of accessibility at the macro or national level. Forty-nine major cities in the HSR network are used in the accessibility analysis. Accessibility quantification and spatial distribution analysis for the study cities are performed on a Geographical Information System (GIS) platform. Accessibilities associated with varying availabilities of HSR, conventional rail, and airline are estimated and compared. The selected indicators and computational methods are found effective in evaluating the accessibility impacts of HSR from different conceptualization strategies and perspectives. They also offer complementary information on accessibility capacity of the study cities created by the HSR network.     

Examining the impact of weather variability on non-commuters’ daily activity–travel patterns in different regions of Sweden

By jointly modelling the routine and leisure activity–travel engagements of non-commuters in different regions of Sweden, this paper explores the interactions between time allocation, travel demand and mode choice under different weather conditions. Combined weather and travel survey datasets that span a period of over 13 years were analysed. Simultaneous Tobit models were applied to explore the interactions among these activity–travel indicators, whilst municipalities’ unique conditions and heterogeneities between different time-points were taken into account. The model results reveal the trade-offs between routine and leisure activities in terms of activity duration, number of trips and travel time. Positive mutual endogeneity was found between slow-mode share in routine and leisure trips. The results also highlight the trade-offs between routine and leisure activities under abnormal weather conditions. Regional differences between weather effects are substantial due to differences in direct, indirect and total marginal effects. Between-municipality variability constitutes a considerable part of the variability in activity duration and travel time. Between-municipality variability in leisure activity duration and leisure travel time is larger in northern Sweden, while that of routine activity duration and routine travel time is larger in central Sweden, after weather and social demographics have been controlled.     

Can travel vouchers encourage more sustainable travel?

The growth of transportation poses difficult dilemmas for social and environmental policy. There is broad agreement that a variety of ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ measures are needed. This article asks whether tax-free travel vouchers for employees could be important as incentives or ‘carrots’ to encourage the use of public transport. The basic idea of it is like Luncheon Vouchers for public transport. Employers issue the vouchers and claim the tax back from the Government. Potentially, travel vouchers could generate a ‘win–win’ situation in which transport operators’ rising revenues justified new services and these, in turn, encouraged more passengers. The research described here uses survey data and the National Travel Survey to examine acceptability and potential fiscal impact of a rural tax-free travel voucher scheme throughout the UK. These results show that there is sufficient acceptance of the idea of travel vouchers in rural areas to justify the further development of this policy.     

Analysis of active school transportation in hilly urban environments: A case study of Dresden

This paper analyses the way students travel to school and examines the influence of environmental conditions on travel patterns. More specifically, it studies how topographic changes affect the likelihood of choosing cycling as a transport mode. We use mode choice data on students' home-to-school commuting trips from a previous study by Müller et al. (2008). The results show that models perform better when they account for the topographic conditions of the urban environment. We included this information in the model by introducing the “energy exerted” variable, which significantly improves the model and the results. The implications of this study are manifold; it guides the consolidation or expansion of school-based transportation network planning in Germany and prompts further analysis of active transportation systems, such as bike, pedelec and e-bike sharing systems. Overall, transportation policy should seek to foster active transportation, as it provides the greatest benefits for society and has a direct impact on people's well-being, while notably reducing the negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts of motorized transport.