Mode choice behavior for access and egress connection to transit services

Abstract

In the aims to investigate the potential market of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) to serve as first/last mile connection for transit services, this study investigated the influential factors that affect transit users’ choices of access and egress modes, including TNC or taxi, drive alone (park and ride), carpool (kiss and ride, carpool or shuttle), Micromobility modes (bike-sharing, scooters), walking, and wheelchair. The data for this study comes from a transit on-board survey conducted in Spring 2017 for the Orlando metropolitan area. Moreover, the Smart Location Database was also integrated to investigate how land use characteristics may contribute to users' choice for access and egress modes. Separate multinomial logit models were developed to investigate the mode choice for access and egress links, respectively. Various personal, trip, and land use characteristics showed significant impacts. Particularly, trips going to airports or universities/colleges had much higher probabilities of using TNC for access and egress purposes, while sports events and medical visits were less likely to be connected through TNC services. Visitors were also less likely to start their trips with TNCs. A longer distance between the origin and the transit service showed positive impacts on the use of TNC services. Higher household income also showed a positive influence on TNC usage. In view of land use characteristics, higher employment and household entropy, and high diversity at the origin reduced the probability of using motorized modes, including TNCs, for access purposes. On the destination side, high regional diversity seemed to encourage the use of TNCs and drive alone modes for egress purposes.