Stated Preference Survey Pivoted on Revealed Preference Survey for Evaluating Employer-Based Travel Demand Management Strategies

Abstract

This paper presents a study of commuters’ responses to various employer-based transportation demand management (TDM) strategies that was conducted in the Region of Peel, Ontario, Canada. The study involves design and implementation of a web-based survey of daily commuting mode choices and an efficient design-based stated preference (SP) experiment on the mode choice effects of potential employer-based TDM strategies. For the SP experiments, the survey also collected an elicited confidence rating from the respondents. The survey of 835 random commuters was conducted in fall 2014 and spring 2015. The paper uses empirical models of mode choices (revealed and stated) and an ordered probability model of the elicited confidence rating information to evaluate the data quality. The empirical models reveal that parking cost, monthly parking scheme, indoor parking facilities, emergency ride home, and bike share had higher impacts on commuting mode choices than did bike access facilities and a carshare strategy at the workplace. In relation to respondents’ confidence on SP responses, commuters with a higher number of cars in the household and with longer commuting distances seemed more certain and confident in their responses than did others. In addition, females were found to be more confident when answering SP choice questions.