Investigating Drivers' Variance in Route Choice Between the Home and Work Commute Trip in the AM and PM

This conference paper, from the 2002 meeting of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) Transportation Group, reports on a questionnaire study that investigated drivers' variance in route choice between the home and work commute trip in the morning and the evening. The study took place in the Metropolitan Transport area of East London, South Africa, a coastal city with a population of 530,000 in an area of 210 square kilometers. Development of the transportation network in this area is constrained by the topography, including steep terrain and four large river valleys. The author found that 25% of drivers significantly varied their route between the morning and evening. Time is considered an important factor, but the unexplained 24 minutes of residual time found between arrival at work and the official work start time, is inconclusive as to how time really affects the route choices. The author notes that factors such as congestion and predictability of journey time, which would be considered to influence departure and journey times, appear to be non-issues. However, socioeconomic and personal characteristics influence the spatial variance of route choice. The author concludes that these results have application for the current method of traffic modeling which predicts the morning conditions and then reverses the flow for the evening conditions. This practice may lead to an over-supply of expensive infrastructure.

• Corporate Authors:

  Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand

  158 The Terrace
  Wellington,   New Zealand 
• Authors:
  • BEZUIDENHOUT, J J
• Conference:
  • Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) Transportation Group. Technical Conference Papers 2002
  • Location: Rotorua , New Zealand
  • Date: 2002-9-25 to 2002-9-25
• Publication Date: 2002

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 18p
• Monograph Title: Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) Transportation Group. Technical Conference Papers 2002

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile drivers; Commuting; Computer models; Demographics; Periods of the day; Route choice; Socioeconomic factors; Traffic congestion; Traffic models; Trip length
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driving habits
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I10: Economics and Administration; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01050221
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: May 31 2007 6:15AM