APPLICATION AND INTERPRETATION OF NESTED LOGIT MODELS OF INTERCITY MODE CHOICE

A clear understanding of the sources and amount of ridership on a new or improved travel mode is critical to evaluating the financial, travel flow, and external impacts of proposed improvements. The multinomial logit model traditionally used to model intercity mode choice may not adequately reflect traveler behavior because it restricts the relative probability of choosing between any pair of existing modes to be unchanged when other modes are introduced or changed. The nested logit model provides a computationally feasible generalization to the multinomial logit model, which allows for specified mode pairs to exhibit increased sensitivity to changes in service. Full information estimation of nested logit models allows efficient use of information and yields results directly comparable to multinomial logit models. Business travel in the Ontario-Quebec corridor of Canada is examined. A set of nested logit structures that allow for various combinations of differential sensitivity to changes in service quality of rail is estimated. Nested logit structures with bus-train or car-train nests prove superior to the multinomial logit model. Both of the nested logit models predict larger increases in rail shares than the multinomial logit model in response to rail service improvements, but the source of that increased ridership differs between the nested logit structures. This points to the need for models of individual choice that retain the advantages of nested logit while allowing pairwise similarity between alternatives.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1993/1413/1413-011.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=APPLICATION+AND+INTERPRETATION+OF+NESTED+LOGIT+MODELS+OF+INTERCITY+MODE+CHOICE&author=C.+Forinash&author=F.+Koppelman&publication_year=1993
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309055601
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1413, Innovations in Travel Behavior Analysis, Demand Forecasting, and Modeling Networks. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Forinash, Christopher V
  • Koppelman, Frank S
• Publication Date: 1993

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 98-106
• Monograph Title: Innovations in travel behavior analysis, demand forecasting, and modeling networks
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1413
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Improvements; Intercity travel; Level of service; Logits; Mode choice; Multinomial logits; Sensitivity
• Uncontrolled Terms: Nested logit models
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00642429
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309055601
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Feb 23 1994 12:00AM