Travel behavior change patterns under adverse weather conditions - A case study from Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam

Abstract

In major cities, road flooding caused by heavy rain and/or high tidal rise frequently happen and cause road traffic congestions and accidents. To help design effective traffic management measures for HCMC, this paper focuses on a survey of the people’s travel behavior changes under the adverse weather conditions. A revealed adaptation interview survey was conducted on 400 road users in 2018. Typical patterns of travel behavior changes and influential factors were analyzed based on the surveyed data and by using the Pearson Chi-square Independence Test. While trip cancelation, delayed departure, waiting for resuming of trip, route change, and destination change are significant, mode change is very modest. A road flood causes the changes more strongly than a heavy rain. Influential factors to such changes are trip characteristics, including trip purpose, trip length and frequency, and personal characteristics. The results would be input data for travel demand forecasting model in adverse weather conditions, and then helpful in formulating traffic management strategies to mitigate the negative traffic impacts of urban floods and heavy rains.