Analysing the complexity of day-to-day individual activity-travel patterns using a multidimensional sequence alignment model: A case study in the Bandung Metropolitan Area,Indonesia

Using a panel regression model and a multidimensional three-week household time-use and activity diary, this study analyses the complexity of the day-to-day variability in individuals' activity-travel patterns by applying a multidimensional sequence alignment model. It is found that the variability between weekend and weekday pairs is much greater than between weekday-weekday pairs or weekend-weekend pairs. The variability of other household members' activity-travel patterns is found to significantly influence an individual's activity-travel patterns. The results also show that the variability in the activity-travel patterns of workers and students is greater when conducting a particular discretionary activity on weekdays. Due to performing discretionary activities more often and for longer, non-workers tend to have more predictable activity-travel patterns. Undertaking multitasking activities within different activities on weekdays significantly impacted the different degrees of variability in an individual's activity-travel patterns. Having different health and built environment characteristics also corresponds with different degrees of predictability of the activity-travel patterns, particularly in the worker/student case.     

Activity-travel behaviour of non-workers belonging to different income group households in Bangalore,India

Non-workers – homemakers, unemployed individuals and the retired – generally have more discretionary time than workers do, and hence, their travel behaviour and response to infrastructure improvements and travel demand management measures are different from that of workers. However, much remains unknown about activity-travel behaviour of non-workers in developing countries. Can we expect similarity between activity participation and travel behaviour of non-workers in different income group households in developing countries? How do the socio-demographic settings in India, for e.g., traditional gender roles and multi-member households, and land use context influence the activity-travel choices of non-workers in different income group households? The present study attempts to answer these questions by presenting a comparative analysis of activity-travel behaviour of non-workers in low-, medium-, and high-income households in Bangalore city, India. Using a primary activity-travel survey data, the study mainly compares the activity-travel behaviour of the three income-groups with respect to various activity-travel indicators. In addition, statistical models of daily out-of-home time allocation, trip chaining, and mode choice behaviour are estimated separately for the three groups to investigate the potential sensitivity of the groups to various factors influencing these behaviour indicators. The study findings suggest that the low-income group non-workers are more mobility-constrained than others, apparent from longer walk trip length and the lower dependency on other modes of transport. The low-income group appears to make more social stops than the other two groups, probably a reflection of social-connections due to the increased dependency on walking. However, the number of recreational and shopping stops made by this group appears to be significantly lower than the other two groups. Further, the influence of mixed residential development on low-income group individuals' maintenance and discretionary activity time allocation decision appears to be insignificant. Overall, the study suggests that future land use planning for Bangalore might ensure that all groups of individuals have equal access (in terms of travel time/distance) to basic facilities.     

Money Allocation to Out-of-Home Leisure Activities and the Organization of These Activities in Time and Space

Monetary budgets influence activity participation and related travel as they demarcate limits on how people organize their activities in time and space. In this paper, we are interested in money allocation to out-of-home leisure activities and how this is affected by duration, sociodemographics, and time-location variables. Analyses were carried out by applying a seemingly unrelated regression model to a leisure activity data set. The analyses revealed that expenditures for out-of-home leisure activities are influenced by the variables mentioned above. Moreover, the results indicate that there is a substitution between expenditure of each activity.     

Travel and activity time allocation: An empirical comparison between eight cities in Europe

A study of daily time allocation to travel and out-of-home activity is conducted across eight European cities over three countries: France (Lyon, Grenoble, Strasbourg and Rennes), Switzerland (Geneva, Bern and Zurich) and Belgium (Brussels), based on individual travel survey data collected between 1997 and 2006. The effects of socio-demographic, spatial context, transport availability and city-specific variables are investigated thanks to the Cox proportional hazard model. The results indicate that socio-demographic characteristics and city (or country) specific effect play a major role while residential density and proximity to high level road or public transport networks have a very limited impact on time budgets for travel and out-of-home activities.     

Incorporating in-home activities in ADAPTS activity-based framework: A sequential conditional probability approach

In travel demand modelling literature, minor attention has been given to modelling and specifically micro-simulating the in-home activities. One reason could be associated with the fact that in-home activities do not explicitly involve trips. Besides, data limitation could be another reason since most of the travel surveys are based on the household travel diary approach and do not encompass in-home activity information. Nonetheless, incorporating people's in-home activities into the activity-based travel demand frameworks and perceiving the associations between the activities people perform in home and out of home could enhance the activity generation, planning, and scheduling procedures. In an effort to analyze such associations, this study uses a sequential conditional probability approach for modelling activity type and duration decisions of in-home activities in conjunction with out-of-home ones. The paper first proposes an algorithm to incorporate in-home activities within the Agent-based Activity Planning and Travel Scheduling (ADAPTS) framework. Then, models regarding generation and planning of in-home activities are presented and described accordingly. The new framework is capable of modelling and simulating in-home activities alongside and in conjunction with out-of-home activities with a special focus on a large set of in-home activity types.     

Investigating the interactions between travellers' familiar areas and their multi-day activity locations

A mental map is considered a representation of an individual's spatial cognition. It defines an individual's choice set of plausible activity locations and influences his/her daily activity-travel patterns. Despite its importance, how individuals' activity travel patterns interact with their mental maps on a daily basis is largely unknown, mainly due to data, operation, and measurement issues. The aim of this study is to address this. A total of 57 individuals in Stockholm were asked to record a two-week travel diary and draw their familiar areas in the specified maps. The familiar areas, which in this study are considered as representative of individual mental maps, were manually drawn and transferred from graph to ASCII code in ArcGIS for modelling purposes. The recently visited activity locations were used to construct the individuals' activity spaces. The crucial determinants that related to these activity spaces and familiar areas were investigated. The marginal effect of each key variable was calculated in order to understand the magnitude of influence of each variable to the individuals' activity spaces and familiar areas. The results show that an individual's activity space is partially or completely located within the individual's familiar areas and they are strongly correlated to each other. Large activity centres, such as Stockholm's central areas and areas of Huvudsta have higher probabilities to be included in both individuals' familiar areas and activity spaces than other areas that are closer to home.     

The impact of driving status on out-of-home and social activity engagement among older Canadians

The loss of a driver's license can significantly limit a person's ability to engage in desired activities outside their home, which may, in turn, jeopardize their independence, well-being, and quality of life. This research seeks to quantify the impacts of driving status on out-of-home and social activity engagement among non-working older (≥ 65 years) Canadians, and the distribution of these impacts across socio-demographic and self-reported health domains. Nationally representative cross-sectional time diary data were used to measure the participation rates and daily durations of out-of-home and social activity engagement among non-working older Canadians who have a driver's license (i.e., drivers) and those who did not (i.e., non-drivers). Results indicate drivers were, on average, more than twice as likely to participate in out-of-home and social activities compared to non-drivers. However, the mean durations of activity engagement, among the participant sub-sample, appear largely invariant to driving status. Among the socio-demographic and self-reported health factors affecting out-of-home and social activity engagement, geography appears the most influential for participation rates and durations, particularly for non-drivers who live in small towns and rural areas. Due to demographic trends that suggest an increasing number of older Canadians will be unable to drive, communities should expect a commensurate increase in demand for alternate mobility options, which will inevitably require a variety of context-specific accessibility strategies.     

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.     

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.     

Built environment diversities and activity–travel behaviour variations in Beijing, China

The association between built environment and travel behaviour has received considerable research attention in recent years. In an attempt to contribute to this growing literature, this paper investigates the connections between urban built environments and activity–travel patterns in Beijing, the capital city of China. We characterize the built environment in Beijing and establish associations between built environment and activity–travel behaviour in terms of car ownership, time spent for out-of-home activities, and daily trip frequencies and travel time. Activity diaries from 1119 respondents living in ten different neighbourhoods were collected by face-to-face interviews. A household-level structure equations model incorporating intra-household interactions is developed to analyse this data. The empirical results show that residents of different types of neighbourhoods in Beijing demonstrate significant differences in car ownership, time spent for out-of-home activities, trip rate, and travel time. Further, the characteristics of the built environment are found to have more significant impacts on the activity–travel behaviour of the male head than that of the female head.     

Understanding the travel behaviors and activity patterns of the vulnerable population using smart card data: An activity space-based approach

Understanding the travel behaviors and activity patterns of vulnerable people is important for addressing social equity in urban and transportation planning. With the increasing availability of large-scale individual tracking data, new opportunities have emerged for studying people's travel behaviors and activity patterns. However, the data has not been fully exploited to examine the travel characteristics of vulnerable people and their implications for understanding transport-related disadvantage. This study proposes a methodological framework based on the concept of activity space that enables a comprehensive examination of vulnerable people's spatiotemporal travel characteristics and an investigation of the geographies of transport disadvantage. Using the proposed framework, a case study that investigates the bus activities of the vulnerable population using four-month smart card data is carried out in the city of Wuhu, China. The case study suggests that vulnerable people possess distinct travel behaviors that differ considerably from the mainstream population and that the implications of transport disadvantage, as revealed by the participation in bus activities, vary across different demographic groups and across different spatial contexts. Some of the empirical insights obtained from this study also differ from conclusions drawn from previous studies and will enrich our understandings of vulnerable people's activities. Overall, the paper makes two major contributions. Methodologically, the proposed framework can overcome some of the deficiencies of activity space-based approaches for understanding transport disadvantage and contribute broadly to the studies of travel behaviors and activities patterns using individual-level tracking data. Empirically, the study identifies varying spatial and temporal implications of transport disadvantage associated with different vulnerable groups, which could further shed light on public transit planning and service design.     

Does the built environment make a difference? Additional evidence from the daily activity and travel behavior of homemakers living in New York City and suburbs

Homemakers, unlike employed people who have jobs and unemployed people who are seeking jobs, are a special group who do not have to spend time working out of the home, commuting to work, or looking for a job. Given that a regular job typically takes 9 h (This includes an assumed half-hour one-way commute time.) a day, the discretion to allocate their time is presumably much greater than other groups.In this paper, we focus our attention on homemakers’ activity and travel behavior in neighborhoods with different characteristics (e.g., very dense areas, dense areas, and suburbs). The question to be answered is quite simple: are there differences between travel behaviors of homemakers living in different types of neighborhoods? If yes, can these differences be attributed to differences in the built environment?The dataset used in the study is the Household Interview Survey (HIS) collected in 1997/1998 in the New York metropolitan area. We found significant differences in activity and travel related behavior by homemakers living in different types of neighborhoods. Compared to suburban homemakers, New York City homemakers spend more time on discretionary activities and less time on maintenance activities; use public transportation and walk more frequently; and conduct fewer trip chains. The study found that both individuals’ socio-economic characteristics and built environment appear to play a role in explaining behavior. A probably more important factor in explaining people’s time use behavior is the interrelationship between activities and trips, and between different types of activities.     

Examining changes in travel patterns among lower wealth households after BRT investment in Bogotá, Colombia

Bogotá, Colombia's TransMilenio Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system has garnered praise for its beneficial effects on transit ridership, congestion, and air quality, yet there has been little research into the system's impacts on individuals and households, particularly on the city's lower wealth households. These households tend to be located in peripheral neighborhoods and access the BRT system largely via its sprawling network of feeder buses, rather than directly accessing the more central trunk lines. This paper examines the relationship between BRT access—especially feeder-based BRT access—and the degree to which the city's lower wealth households are able meet needs for mobility and out-of-home activity participation by analyzing changes in self-reported travel patterns among lower wealth households from before to after introduction of the BRT system. A secondary aim of this paper is to propose and test the variable ‘travel purpose diversity’ as an indicator of the degree to which households are able to meet their needs for out-of-home activity participation. Further work is needed to improve measurement of mobility in order to assess the household-level impacts of transit investments, particularly on lower wealth households. The results provide preliminary support for the validity of this indicator. Overall, findings suggest that the introduction of the BRT has not had a substantial or significant impact on the ability of Bogotá's lower wealth households to meet daily mobility needs. The paper presents some possible interpretations of these findings and offers suggestions for additional research to help improve our understanding of the impacts of Bogotá's transit investment.     

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.     

Disentangling the behavioural side of the first and last mile problem: the role of modality style and the built environment

The first and last mile (FLM) problem, namely the poor connection between trip origins or destination and public transport stations, is a significant obstacle to sustainable transportation as it is likely to encourage the use of cars for FLM travel, if not for the entire trip. This study examines the role of modality style and built environment in FLM mode choice behaviour, in order to identify the key features that might invoke a travel mode shift from cars to more sustainable travel options for both mandatory and discretionary trips. More specifically, this study draws on disaggregate data from the South East Queensland household travel survey and presents a latent class choice model to unravel modality style groups. Results reveal two distinct individual-level modality style groups: (1) driving and walking oriented; (2) multimodal travellers. Individuals in the second modality style group were found to be relatively inelastic to FLM travel time for mandatory trips, while individuals in the first group were largely unaffected by built environment characteristics and highly habitual in their mode choice behaviour for both mandatory and discretionary trips. Home residence environments with high road intersection density and public transport accessibility, and home residence environments with diverse land use mix, respectively encourage individuals within the second modality style to walk for mandatory trips, and discretionary trips. To this end, when place-based policies seek to change certain built environment features, individuals in the second modality style are more likely to shift their preference from cars to more sustainable modes. Finally, our findings have practical planning implications in targeting mode shift through highlighting the importance of considering the intersection of individual modality style in a given locale and mode choice behaviour. More specifically, our findings advocate for place-based policies that seek to target particular locales with the certain modality style deemed to be more predisposed to adopting a mode shift.     

How vehicle ownership affect time utilization on study,leisure, social activities,and academic performance of university students? A case study of engineering freshmen in a rural university in Thailand

This study aims to investigate how the ownership of a private vehicle influences time utilization of university students, and whether it impacts their academic performance. This research analyzes travel/activity patterns of 130 engineering freshman students at a rural university in Thailand. An analysis of travel/activity data shows that vehicle ownership seems to play an important role in university student’s time utilization on various activities. It was found that those students who own a vehicle tend to spend less time for academic purposes, and more on leisure and social activities than non-owner students. Nevertheless, a further study using regression analysis on academic performance shows that the ownership of a vehicle does not seem to have a significant impact on the grade point average of students, once the cognitive ability and gender are accounted for. The findings imply that campus policies/measures that restrict the ownership or usage of a private vehicle in rural universities would improve the campus learning environment by influencing university students to put more attention on school-related activities, but such policies do not seem to impact on the academic performance of the college students.     

Travel difficulties and barriers during later life: Evidence from the National Travel Survey in England

Using data from the National Travel Survey in England, this study investigates which factors lead to experiencing travel difficulties amongst people aged 60 years old and above. The ability to be mobile is one of the key factors enabling older people to maintain their wellbeing and independence while ageing. Given the shift towards an ageing population that our society is experiencing, providing an age-friendly transportation environment becomes necessary to allow older people to be able to fulfil their travel needs and keep involved in societal participation. By employing a conceptual framework based on five interrelated domains shaping mobility during later life, this paper explores older people's difficulties in accessing transport resources, mode usage and undertaking out-of-home activities. Poor health and wellbeing conditions, lack of access to transport resources and gender are identified as the main predictors to experiencing travel difficulties in later life, while activities more affected in this sense are medical appointments, visiting family or friends and social ones. The findings have implications for policies, planning and interventions targeting age-friendly and inclusive transport and environment and show the need to move beyond the transport domain and employ a more holistic and intersectionality-based approach to understand what affects and shapes mobility in later life.     

Determinants of extreme commuting. Evidence from Brussels,Geneva and Lyon

Daily travel time has increased in Europe during the last decade. Some commuters show unusual commuting behaviours, so-called extreme commuting, which is defined as spending more than 100 min commuting a day. This paper aims to explain these commuting patterns from the point of view of the extreme commuters themselves. Based on a qualitative survey conducted in three European regions - Lyon, Brussels and Geneva - among individuals that spend at least two hours a day commuting, this study shows that extreme commuting is determined by complex interplay between the individual's working and private life and issues related to travel. Among our sample, the choice of public transportation modes assisted long-duration commuting. Our results also highlight the paradox that rapid transportation networks are used intensively to allow people to remain rooted — both residentially and socially.