Lifestyles, residential location, and transport mode use: A hierarchical latent class choice model

Abstract

This study develops a hierarchical latent class choice model that captures the concurrent influence of lifestyles on household residential neighbourhood location and individual transport mode use decisions. The model is empirically evaluated using data from the 2010–12 California Household Travel Survey. The model identifies six household-level classes that differ in terms of their preferences for different neighbourhood attributes when deciding where to live and their household characteristics. Coincidentally, the model also identifies six individual-level classes that differ in terms of the travel modes that they consider when deciding how to travel, their sensitivity to different level-of-service attributes, and their individual characteristics. Household preferences for neighbourhood types and individual preferences for travel modes show expected patterns of correlation. In general, households that prefer to live in suburban neighbourhoods are more likely to consist of individuals that are car-dependent, and households that prefer to live in inner-city neighbourhoods are more likely to consist of individuals that are multimodal. However, our analysis also reveals interesting patterns of deviation. For example, high-income migrant households and median-income white households display strong preferences for suburban neighbourhoods, but individuals belonging to these households also have a high likelihood of being multimodal, with a strong preference for bicycling. We discuss how these patterns of correlation can be used to inform transport and land use policy in novel ways.