Exploring the trip chaining behaviour of public transport users in Melbourne

This paper explores trip chaining behaviour of Melbourne residents using evidence from a household travel survey. The research literature has suggested that trip-making behaviour has grown increasingly complex as modern life has become busier and people grow time-poor. Complex trip chains have been said to require flexible travel modes, and for this reason some research has suggested that public transport is limited in this regard compared to the private car. Results of this study show that between 1994 and 1999 the complexity of trip chains was relatively stable and the complexity of chains was found to be larger for rail and tram than for car-based trips. Disaggregate analyses compare the complexity of chains based on work versus non-work chains, the purpose of stops on the chain, and whether the chain entered the central city of Melbourne or not. Overall these findings suggest a less bleak outlook for public transport ridership in a travel future which is said to be becoming more complex.     

Interrelations between travel mode choice and trip distance: trends in Germany 1976–2002

In recent decades, trends in travel behaviour have been characterised by increasing trip distances and a modal shift towards the private car. This paper reports findings from longitudinal analyses of the German nation-wide travel survey KONTIV for the period 1976–2002. It focuses on travel mode choice, subdivided by distance categories, and also takes car availability and city size into account. In addition, trends in car availability itself are examined by city size categories. The results indicate that even within the same distance categories car use has considerably increased. In some cases bicycle use has increased as well. Gains in the use of the private car are mainly at the expense of trips on foot and by public transport. Accordingly, the shift in modal split towards the car is not (only) caused by increasing trip distances but took place even within distance classes. Once car availability is taken into account, the modal shifts appear to be considerably weaker. This suggests that once car availability is held constant the decision rationales of mode choice for a certain trip distance have remained relatively stable. The increase in motorisation over the study period was considerably weaker in large cities than in small towns, although the cities started from a lower level in the 1970s. Thus, the motorisation divide between cities on the one hand, and suburban and rural areas on the other hand has become ever wider. For travel mode choice, the picture is similar. What is more, the results suggest that even car owners are more inclined to walk a given distance in the cities than in small towns, even more so if they live in a central urban area. The built environment, thus, appears to have a strong impact on whether an available car is used or not.     

Understanding the urban travel attitudes and behavior of Tbilisi residents

In recent decades the public transport network in Tbilisi, Georgia has decayed, while the number of private automobiles has increased dramatically. This study seeks to expand our understanding of the Tbilisi population’s urban transport attitudes and behavior. It elaborates on the perceived strengths, weaknesses, and potentials of the public transport system, and seeks to understand the reasons for the increased use of private automobiles. A questionnaire survey was conducted among Tbilisi car drivers (n=159) and public transport users (n=163). The results show that most of the survey respondents preferred to use a private car and avoid using public transport. Particularly important factors include time issues such as schedules and frequency, plus comfort and safety issues. Tbilisi residents value their time and want to use it efficiently. Changing residents’ travel behavior will require making the public transport options competitive with the perceived advantages of the car. The study offers recommendations for more effective urban transport policy, including incentives to encourage greater use of public transport in Tbilisi.     

Constraints affecting mode choices by morning car commuters

In New Zealand as elsewhere, there is an increasing interest in alleviating congestion on the road transport network to improve economic productivity, reduce pollution, and to use the transport network more effectively. Governments enact various policies to encourage car drivers to change their behaviour, but often find that the full impact is not reached. We propose that car drivers have constraints influencing their mode choice for the morning peak period trip (e.g. needing to transport children, needing a car for work during the day). A stated preference experiment conducted in the three largest New Zealand urban areas not only quantifies the likely impact of a wide range of policy tools (both ‘sticks’ discouraging car use, and ‘carrots’ encouraging alternative modes) for each area, but also identifies many significant constraints.     

The spatial characteristics and influencing factors of modal accessibility gaps: A case study for Guangzhou,China

This paper presents an analysis of the spatial characteristic of the modal accessibility gap (MAG) in Guangzhou based on travel times for public transport and cars to public centers calculated by the Travel O-D point Intelligent Query System (TIQS). Four spatial regression models are used to investigate the effect on the MAG of six factors of the built environment (distance to city public centers, residential density, landuse mix, bus stop density, metro station density and road network density). The results show that travel time for a given origin to destination (OD) trip is likely to be larger by public transport than by car, especially for a trip of longer travel time. The MAG values of all the communities are larger than 0, indicating that when compared with public transport, travelling by car takes less travel time for individuals. Residential density, land-use mix, bus stop density and metro rail station density have significant negative direct impacts and indirect impacts (spatial spillover effects) on MAG, which indicates that appropriate increase in community residential density, providing diversified service facilities within a community, and improving public transport supply are beneficial to promote modal shift. Specifically, the role of metro rail is greater than that of buses. However, the road network density has significant direct positive impacts on MAG, and its spillover effect is also significantly positive, which indicates that building more roads is not an effective way to narrow the accessibility gap between public transport and cars but may facilitate more car travel instead.     

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.     

Travel behavior of university students who live on campus: A case study of a rural university in Asia

With their irregular class schedules and considerable freedom in the campus environment, university students are an example of a social group that tends to have complex and unique travel behavior. This study examined travel patterns of 130 students who study and live on campus in a rural university of Thailand. All survey participants completed a travel diary for seven consecutive days in a typical school week. Other than overall travel patterns, such as trip generation, mode split, distance traveled, and travel time, this study also investigated the differences in traffic patterns of four student groups, categorized by their gender and whether they own a private vehicle or not. It was found that students of both genders appeared to have similar travel patterns in all aspects. Whether they own a private vehicle does not appear to impact daily trip generation nor the total distance traveled of the students, but it does have an effect on the travel modes used by students. Those students who own a private vehicle mostly rely on driving the vehicle, while those who do not own a vehicle rely on three modes of travel: primarily being a passenger on or in a friend’s private vehicle, and to a lesser extent, driving a friend’s vehicle, and taking a bus (the only form of public transport on the campus). The results indicate a high social interdependency among university students, which makes the development of a model to simulate travel behavior of university students a complicated task.     

Transport mode choice in South East Asia: Investigating the relationship between transport users’ perception and travel behaviour in Johor Bahru,Malaysia

The worldwide increase in private car dependency poses a set of significant environmental, economic and social sustainability challenges that continue to undermine the urban quality of life. Rapid motorisation, particularly in South East Asia (SEA), has emerged as a global concern given the region’s cumulative population, rate of industrialisation, and large-scale urbanisation. Thus, there is a compelling need to enhance our understanding of the underlying dynamics of how people perceive and use transportation such that transport planning is better placed to address the current, unsustainable travel patterns in SEA. Despite this need, there has been relatively limited SEA-based research that has endeavoured to examine travel perceptions and transport mode choice from a non-instrumental perspective. This research redresses this deficit by investigating the relationship between transport users’ perceptions and travel behaviours within SEA, with a particular focus on psychosocial drivers of transport mode choice interfaced with more traditional instrumental measures.Spatially stratified survey data have been collected in a case study area, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, comprising users from different transport user groups. Employing regression modelling, drivers of individual’s travel behaviour are examined. Results highlight the merit in recognising the role of non-instrumental motives alongside instrumental motives to explain transport mode choice. We conclude by highlighting that transport mode choices are motivated by a range of locational, socio-demographic, psychological and cultural determinants. The current research has contributed to a better understanding of transport mode choice in Johor Bahru and provides a foundation for future SEA-based travel behaviour research. Studies in this area can inform more sustainable travel behaviour in the SEA region.     

Railway trip speeds and areal coverage. The emperor’s new clothes of effectivity?

Europe’s railways have experienced a general decline in the second half of the 20th century and a renaissance since the 1980s. Total network length has decreased fundamentally while high-speed rail (HSR) line construction has soared since then. Accordingly HSR has stipulated a lot of research, but only recently HSR’s impacts on settlement structure and transport regimes have been studied in depth. We embrace a passenger’s point of view and utilize a generalized overview model for illustrating the trade-offs between trip speeds of complete trip chains, access/egress legs and mainline trip lengths. In order to estimate input parameters, an overview of railway network and settlement structure of Austria is empirically derived. In four scenarios, we vary these input parameters to study the impact of timetable integration, speed upgrades on mainlines and access/egress modes on trip speed in the Austrian case. Our results show that travel speed advantages of mainline speed increases are quickly countervailed by access/egress improvements or timetable integration improvements. We conclude that finding harmonized optimum speeds, introducing clock-face timetable design and improving access/egress modes are promising strategies in comparison to unscrutinized further maximization of mainline travel speed levels at the expense of feeder/distributor lines quality.     

Helping drivers out of their cars Integrating transport policy and social psychology for sustainable change

Which motorists are ready to reduce their car use and how should they be helped to change? Results are reported from a postal questionnaire survey study of English car drivers (N=791). One third (33%) of car drivers indicated they would like to reduce their car use ‘over the next 12 months’, but only 7% thought they were likely to. One third (34%) of car drivers would like to use public transport (PT) more, but only 5% thought they were likely to. While over one third anticipated changes in their transport mode usage, and 1 in 5 (19%) would like to both decrease car use and increase PT use, only 3% thought this combination likely. Effectiveness ratings of pull and push policy measures showed motorists would rather be pulled than pushed from their cars; that the old, the poor and urban dwellers would be more susceptible to push measures; and that those residing out-of-town, driving medium and large cars, driving high annual mileage and required to drive as part of their work are less likely to be persuaded to reduce their car use by either type of measure. Other social psychological research suggests that sustainable changes by individuals that can be integrated into individual patterns of life will be more readily achieved by facilitation and support than by coercion.     

Estimation of option and non-use values for intercity passenger rail services

This paper considers option and non-use values of intercity passenger rail services in Korea. The total economic value of a given transport service can be classified into use, option and non-use values, but other grouping rules can be applied, respectively. The use value is the consumer’s surplus from the actual ride of a specific mode. The option value, on the other hand, can be defined as a traveller’s willingness to pay for reserving a travel mode, which is not his or her main choice, as a standby alternative. Finally, the non-use value represents benefits that are not attributable to the actual use or option use, but to the vicarious, altruistic, functional and existing worth of a transport service. A random stated preference survey based on a double-bounded dichotomous choice is conducted. A survival model is applied to the data collected. Calculations are based on trip makers’ willingness to pay for option and non-use values, using the parameters of the estimated survival model. Some concluding remarks are also presented.     

Exploring tertiary students' travel mode choices in Auckland: Insights and policy implications

It is crucial that policymakers and public transport operators comprehend tertiary students' travel mode choices and understand the factors that inform these choices in order to manage travel demands effectively and to optimise the use of public transport and improve its quality of service, particularly during the peak hours. This study aims to examine tertiary students' travel mode choices in Auckland, which is recognised as one of the most car-dependent cities in the world. The city is struggling with traffic congestion, particularly around its Central Business District (CBD) during peak hours. Auckland is New Zealand's largest city, with a population of 1.4 million residents. The main campuses of two major public universities, The University of Auckland (UoA) and Auckland University of Technology (AUT), are located in the CBD, attracting a large number of daily trips by both staff and students, particularly during the teaching semesters. However, there is a limited understanding of tertiary students' travel mode choices, particularly the factors that inform these choices when they travel to the universities' city campuses. A mixed methodology approach was used to comprehend the travel mode choices of students attending The University of Auckland and to identify the key factors that are drivers of these choices. The data collection included a questionnaire-based survey, which received 249 responses, and 10 semi-structured interviews with students. Thematic analysis was utilised to codify and then analyse the interviews. Despite the significant car dependency in Auckland, the survey demonstrated that most respondents utilised public transport and active modes when commuting to the university's city campus. Seven factors were identified that inform tertiary students' travel mode choices: cost, parking availability and cost, access to a car, travel time, physical environment, reliability, and attitudinal variables. The interviewees mostly argued that travel cost and lack of or limited access to a private car were the primary drivers of their travel mode choices. The study suggests that different stakeholders, such as Auckland Transport (AT) and The University of Auckland, should work collaboratively to provide an inclusive travel demand management policy. The university could rearrange classes for off-peak hours, and AT could offer tertiary students further discounts during these hours. These actions would result in the optimisation of public transport efficiency, improvement of the quality of the public transport service, and mitigation of traffic congestion around Auckland's Central Business District (CBD).     

Home-end and activity-end preferences for access to and egress from train stations in the Copenhagen region

Increasing public transport use with the aim of improving the sustainability of cities should focus not only on enhancing level and quality of the service offered, but also on understanding determinants of the choice of access and egress modes to and from the railway network. This study analyzes the difference in preferences at the home-end and activity-end for travelers who have chosen train as their main travel mode while investigating the effect of policy variables such as car parking availability, bicycle parking availability and type, and bicycle on train possibility. Specifically, this study analyzes the choices between five transport modes (i.e., “walk,” “bicycle,” “car driver,” “car passenger,” “bus”) for 2921 home-end and 3658 activity-end trips. Joint mixed logit models are specified and estimated to account for heteroscedasticity and correlation across alternative modes as well as taste heterogeneity across travelers. Model estimates and pseudo-elasticities uncover the importance of travel time and underline how the improvement of walkability, bikeability, and bus service would contribute significantly to the increase in the probability of choosing sustainable modes to and from train stations. Moreover, model results emphasize the role of bicycle parking in terms of the sheer number of spaces to be increased as well as covered places to be offered at the activity end, de facto giving the possibility to leave a bicycle at that end during the night. Lastly, model results show that it is a matter of not only time and trip characteristics, but also traveler characteristics, occupation, and purpose.     

Exploring transport to arts and cultural activities as a facilitator of social inclusion

This paper explores the relationship between travel and social inclusion in relation to a relatively rarely examined group of travel destinations—arts and cultural activities. This paper examines travel behaviour to arts and cultural activities and how this relates to social inclusion. Research literature associated with these issues is examined and then an analysis of a household travel survey in Melbourne, Australia, is undertaken to explore how travel to arts and cultural activities varies by income, car ownership and location. The paper outlines a range of evidence linking participation in arts and cultural activities and positive outcomes for social inclusion. Arts and cultural activities do not fit well into traditional household travel survey definitions of trip purposes. There is also no definitional difference between travel to activities and ‘participation’ or ‘attendance’ in arts and cultural activities. This is unfortunate since social outcomes may vary by participation or attendance. Travel survey analysis shows that like other activities trip rates to arts and cultural activities increase with income. However higher participation is demonstrated for zero- and one-car households, which contrasts with previous research of work, education and social travel. Higher participation is also demonstrated for those living in inner parts of the city. The paper suggests that most travel to arts and cultural activity is quite localised and hence much travel may be led by the diversity and range of local opportunities provided. These are particularly high in inner parts of the city. A high share of travel is also demonstrated for older people, who are thought to have the time and desire for greater participation in arts and cultural activities.     

Investigating household vehicle ownership,mode choice and trip sharing decisions using a combined revealed preference/stated preference Nested Logit model: case study in Bangkok Metropolitan Region

This study proposes a Nested Logit model to investigate household travel behaviour in respect to vehicle ownership, mode choice and trip sharing decisions. The model is analysed using revealed preference (RP) and stated preference (SP) data since a combined estimation of RP/SP data is an effective method of expressing complex travel behaviour and forecasting travel demand for new transport services. In the proposed model, the nesting structure has two levels. The upper level shows car ownership, motorcycle ownership, and no vehicle-ownership choices, and the lower level shows the mode choice combinations for two-traveller households. Trip sharing is considered as one of the mode-choice options in the model. The proposed model is analysed using data from the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. The analysis conducted informs that Central Business District (CBD) travel, long distance travel, household income, job status, age of travellers and presence of school children in households are key aspects in household travel decisions. Based on these aspects, households make important decisions on vehicle ownership, mode choice and trip sharing. In addition, this study reveals commuters’ hidden preferences for modes that are not in existence, in particular the Mass Rapid Transit System in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region due to be fully implemented in 2010.     

Effects of parking and cordon charge policies on tourist's modal shift in central business district of Mashhad city,Iran

The second largest holy city of the world, Mashhad, attracts high volumes of tourists and pilgrims every year. Most visitors travel by private car and are a source of considerable funds for the local economy. Among road users, tourists as one of the major traveller categories in Mashhad city behave differently due to the particular trip purpose. The aim of this research is to model tourist's shifting modes of travel behaviour when policy measures, such as the parking and cordon fares, are implemented. The tourists’ preferences were examined using binary logit analysis when different options of travel cost and time scenarios were provided. Results indicate that travel time, parking cost, cordon cost, education level and vehicle price influence tourist's modal choice. In addition, the finding shows that congestion pricing will be more effective than a parking pricing strategy in encouraging switching of modes.     

Cycling in multimodal transport behaviours: Exploring modality styles in the Danish population

Multimodality is important for achieving less car dependent lifestyles and more sustainable transport behaviours. It is widely recognised that cycling plays a prominent role in sustainable transport. However, research has largely focused on cycling substituting motorised transport. This study explores how cycling forms part of multimodal transport behaviour based on survey data on transport modes and travel purposes and the weekly frequency of out-of-home activities and travel mode use in a representative sample of adult Danes (n = 1957). The following five distinct multimodal travel segments or ‘modality styles’ are identified: ‘education transport’; ‘public-based transport’; ‘limited transport’; ‘bicycle-based transport’; and ‘car-based transport’. Travel behaviour is predominantly multimodal with few unimodal car-drivers being identified. Substantial cycling takes place in all modality styles, and is embedded in a multimodal behaviour as the modality style combined cycling with several other modes. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that cycling serves many purposes that transgress the division of utility cycling and recreational cycling, and that cycling takes place in both dense urban settings and small towns. Thus, the way in which travel modes relate to the urban environment and variations in modality styles must serve as the starting point for policies aiming to fulfil the potential of multimodal transport behaviour and promote cycling.     

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.     

Car-sharing organizations: The size of the market segment and revealed change in mobility behavior

Car-sharing organizations (CSO) have recently spread throughout central European cities and currently have 20000 members. They lower individual fixed costs of car availability change the incentive structure of private vehicle use by transforming nearly all costs into variable costs. A survey of all current Austrian CSO members is used to identify the characteristics significant of members. A procedure is proposed to quantify urban local market segment potentials and is applied to two residential areas. The net impact of CSOs depends on how the new incentive structure changes mobility behavior. A controlled experiment of voluntary new members was carried out to compare pre-membership and membership trip structure and modal split. Results indicate a substantial reduction of aggregate private vehicle mileage. While the share of trips by car is constant, changes in trip length are observed, with there being different changes for households which previously owned a car and those which did not. Combining behavior impact with market segment size results in the quantification of emission reduction and car ownership reduction (land use demand) due to car-sharing, which is a decentralized demand-side transport policy.     

The Gothenburg congestion charge scheme: A pre–post analysis of commuting behavior and travel satisfaction

The article uses the Gothenburg congestion charge scheme, implemented in 2013, as a case study to analyze the effects and perceptions of a policy instrument directly aimed to change the travel behavior of individuals. For the study, a survey was conducted including measures of commuting habits, attitudes (toward the congestion charge, the environment, automobility, and public transport), and satisfaction with travel, along with socio-demographic and geographical variables. The survey was distributed to a panel of 3500 car owners in the Gothenburg region before the implementation of the scheme, with a follow-up one year later. The analysis use group comparisons and a binary logistic regression analysis and results show that the difference in accessibility of different societal functions using private versus public transport affected the propensity to reduce car travel, whereas socio-demographic variables had a low statistical significance, with the exception of women who were twice as likely to reduce their car travel than men. All studied groups reported a more positive view of the scheme at follow-up, although this effect was more pronounced among those adapting their commuting behavior. In none of the studied groups did the implementation of the congestion charge scheme correlate with any significant change in satisfaction with travel.