A THRESHOLD MODEL OF DISCRETIONARY TRAVEL BEHAVIOR

These remarks are addressed to certain problems raised by Horowitz in his review paper on travel demand theory. The objective of these remarks is to sketch an alternative modeling approach. In particular, a model of discretionary travel behavior is proposed in which trip decisions for individuals are modeled by a simple type of "satisficing" utility model. The statistical population of such trip decisions is then assumed to satisfy certain independence conditions over space. In the presence of these conditions, the main result of this modeling approach is to show that an exact distribution theory for observable trip frequencies can be obtained. In particular, observable frequency levels are always poisson-distributed, with mean frequencies representable by a classical gravity model. Thus, these models not only provide a simple linkage between micro-and macro-behavior, but also permit the analysis of total frequency distributions (i.e., total travel demand) as well as relative frequency distributions of discretionary travel behavior. These results are developed in section 2, and discussed briefly in section 3. For paper by Horowitz see IRRD 287445.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/09658564
• Corporate Authors:

  Pergamon Press, Incorporated

  Headington Hill Hall
  Oxford OX30BW,    
• Authors:
  • Smith, T E
• Publication Date: 1985-9-11

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 465-467
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
  • Volume: 19A
  • Issue Number: 5-6
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0965-8564
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Decision making; Demand; Gravity models; Mathematical models; Physical distribution; Theory; Transportation; Transportation planning; Travel; Travel behavior; Travel demand
• ITRD Terms: 9001: Behaviour; 2248: Decision process; 285: Demand (econ); 9016: Distribution (gen); 690: Gravity model; 698: Journey; 6473: Mathematical model; 9078: Theory; 1155: Transport
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00455396
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: May 31 1986 12:00AM