Understanding Multimodal Behavior: Individual Modality Styles and Their Influence on Travel Behavior

The authors present the results of a research project aimed at better understanding taste heterogeneity with respect to mode choice. Based on evidence of the influence of lifestyle on travel behavior, the authors postulate the existence of "modality styles", which characterize a person’s predisposition towards choosing certain modes of travel based on their habits and lifestyle. To examine this hypothesis, the authors analyze data collected during a six-week travel diary survey in Germany and develop a latent class mode choice model based on it. The latent classes are the modality styles, and the model allows us infer class membership directly from the activity diary data simultaneously with the estimation of the class-specific model coefficients. The results of the data analysis and model estimation strongly support the authors hypothesis. Through data analysis, the authors find that there are "unimodal" individuals, most of them auto-oriented, who do not appear to vary their mode choice as a function of tour attributes and available alternatives, whereas "multimodal" people exhibit variation in their mode choice behavior. The estimation resulted in three classes that differed mostly by their travel time sensitivity, and that were primarily auto, bike and transit-oriented. The existence of these modality styles has implications for travel demand modeling and policy setting: To improve the chances of success, policies aimed at promoting sustainable travel behavior should be aimed at specific modality styles. Furthermore, in travel demand modeling, the assumption that all decision-makers are multimodal, i.e., that they consider all alternatives equally before traveling, may need to be reconsidered.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Carrel, André
  • Vij, Akshay
  • Walker, Joan L
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2011-1-23 to 2011-1-27
• Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 20p
• Monograph Title: TRB 90th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile travel; Bicycle travel; Data collection; Mode choice; Multimodal transportation; Public transit; Sustainable development; Transit oriented development; Travel behavior; Travel diaries; Travel patterns; Travel surveys; Travel time
• Geographic Terms: Germany
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01340078
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 11-4149
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 18 2011 10:51AM