Changes In Travel Patterns Research Articles

Transport Policy Directions Based on Travel Pattern Analysis in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

In the objective of this study is to analyze the travel patterns based on social changes between 1996 and 2002, and then to propose main directions in transport policies in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA). This study examines the general travel pattern changes in the SMA and compares the travel patterns of regions invested in road construction (road-invested areas) with those of regions invested in transit (transit-invested areas). Study results show that while road investment had little effect on reducing congestion, the number of cars decreased in transit-invested areas due to the modal shift to transit modes. This study suggests that transit-oriented policies should be utilized as a solution to overcome severe traffic congestion.

TRAVEL SURVEY DATA REQUIRED TO INFORM TRANSPORT SAFETY POLICY AND PRACTICE

The risk of accidental death per hour spent using the roads in Hong Kong is about 11 times the average risk per hour in the rest of everyday life. Other kinds of travel also have risks. Changes in travel patterns affect the numbers of people killed and injured in transport accidents. This means that all policies that affect travel patterns also affect the numbers killed and injured in transport accidents, and conversely, changing travel patterns may itself be a way of reducing these numbers. Investigation of these interactions between travel patterns and amount of death and injury in transport accidents can benefit greatly from various kinds of data that are already commonly collected in travel surveys. But the range of such investigations could be extended in useful ways if some additional items of data could be collected in travel surveys. There is also scope for the methods used in travel surveys to be extended in new ways to improve understanding of the occurrence of transport accidents and people's involvement in them by supplementing with surveys akin to travel surveys the data that are recorded when accidents occur.

New world mucosal and cutaneous leishmaniasis: an emerging health problem among British travellers

Mucosal leishmaniasis (ML) is an important complication of new world cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by species of the Leishmania Viannia subgenus. Previous reports of ML among travellers to Latin America are few. To determine the annual number of cases of CL due to L. Viannia species diagnosed at this institution and to correlate this with changing patterns of travel. Secondly, to document the clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment and outcome of ML at this institution. Retrospective observational study. Data were collected from a clinical database, laboratory records, patient case notes and an international passenger survey. Between 1995 and 2003, the annual number of cases of CL (total 79) steadily increased from 4 per year to 18 per year; the estimated number of travellers from the UK to Latin America increased 3.5-fold. Six cases of ML were diagnosed among British travellers in 1995 (1), 1997 (1) and 2002 (4). These infections were acquired in Bolivia (3), Colombia (2) and Belize (1). Nasopharyngeal symptoms developed 0-15 months after returning to the UK. Four patients had concurrent CL at diagnosis. Diagnosis of ML was delayed up to 6 months from the onset of symptoms. Mucosal biopsies from all 6 patients were PCR-positive for L. (Viannia) DNA; microscopy and culture were less sensitive. ML relapsed in one patient following treatment. Increasing travel to Latin America from the UK was associated with an increasing number of diagnoses of L. Viannia CL. ML is likely to emerge as a more frequently imported infection among such travellers. Familiarity with these diseases is important for prompt diagnosis and optimal management.

Monitoring rural travel behaviour: a longitudinal study in Northern Ireland 1979–2001

Understanding of social/spatial change in any area and the development of appropriate policies relating to transport require data on travel behaviour that are reasonably consistent over time. In reality, suitable ‘time-series’ data that permit ‘longitudinal’ studies of change in the same area(s) are very rare. This paper reports on a series of questionnaire surveys in two rural study areas in Northern Ireland, undertaken at three points in time between 1979 and 2001. The analysis covers changes in public transport and local services, accessibility, car ownership, travel distances to a range of destination facilities, transport modes used, travel frequencies and trip rates. Social groups expected to be mobility-deprived are identified for special attention. While the 1980s decade was marked by a dramatic switch from ‘traditional’ to ‘modern’ travel behaviour patterns, the 1990s were marked by a very rapid increase in car ownership and complex changes in travel patterns that are not easy to characterise.

Discovering the Potentials of Domestic Tourism in Southeast Asia from the Perspectives of Regional Demography

In response to declining international arrivals, Southeast Asia focused its attention on developing and promoting domestic tourism. In recent years, changing travel patterns have emerged in the region as its people start to enjoy economic affluence and hence, domestic tourism has developed dramatically. In view of this emerging trend in the region, this paper examines the region's demography to discover the potential demand for domestic tourism and to identify the implications of the region's changing population with respect to domestic tourism planning, marketing and product development. Secondary data analysis is performed on population and tourism statistics. The decline of fertility and the consequent ageing of populations are the most significant demographic developments in the region and have profound implications on the social and economic life of each nation, as well as in domestic tourism marketing, planning and development. To determine the full potential for domestic tourism and to effectively plan, market and develop sustainable domestic tourism products, there is a need for the national tourism organizations to have a continuing research strategy with respect to demand for domestic tourism focusing on socio-demographic analysis, attitudes towards domestic tourism, and acceptability and affordability of domestic tourism products.

Special issue: Land Use and Sustainable Mobility

Concerns about the sustainability of current land use and transportation practices are increasingly issues of policy concern in most countries of the world. There is a call for better coordination between land use and transport. A number of factors motivate such attention (Gorham, 1998) Firstly, growth in car ownership and use show no signs of abating. Secondly, technology seems unable to fully solve the environmental and other problems associated with motorized transport. Problems have remained with respect to CO2, noise and the nonemissions related impacts of vehicles. Thirdly, the building costs of new infrastructure have increased, whereas the benefits provided by such infrastructure, are increasingly questioned (Cervero, 2003). In cases where new road infrastructure is provided primarily to relieve congestion, these roads tend to provide at best only temporary relief. The increased capacity tends to induce new traffic in the relatively short run through spatial, temporal, and modal changes in travel patterns and, in the longer run, through land-use changes caused by changes in overall accessibility levels (Downs 1992; Goodwin, 1996). These insights have increased the attention for measures other than infrastructure construction (Banister, 2002). Fourthly, just one strategy, e.g. completely based on technology or pricing, cannot solve the problems alone. For example, price signals, clearly being a necessary part of any strategy to restrain the growth of car use, cannot be relied upon as the sole element of this strategy. Substantial increases in the cost of car use would be required for having a meaningful change in travel behavior, technology acquisition, or a restructuring of social activities. This appears to have insufficient public and political support

Difficulties in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of imported malaria.

Imported malaria is quite common in the United States. Increasing antimalarial drug resistance and changes in travel patterns may have important implications for the prevention, clinical presentation, and management of this disease. Medical records were reviewed for 121 patients with microscopically confirmed malaria diagnosed at 2 university-affiliated hospitals in San Francisco, Calif, between 1988 and 1997. Among 57 travelers from the United States, only 13 (23%) had been compliant with an appropriate chemoprophylactic regimen. No patients developed falciparum malaria after consistent chemoprophylactic therapy with mefloquine hydrochloride. However, 12 (19%) of US residents with imported malaria developed Plasmodium vivax or Plasmodium ovale infections despite an appropriate chemoprophylactic regimen, generally with a late onset suggestive of relapsing disease. Clinical presentations were similar between foreign residents and American travelers and between patients with falciparum and nonfalciparum infections; 98% of patients had a history of fever. Sixteen percent of patients had received previous evaluations during which the diagnosis of malaria was not considered. In 9% of patients, there were errors in treatment. Only 1 patient developed severe malaria. Our results suggest that a standard chemoprophylactic regimen is highly effective in preventing falciparum malaria, but that many American travelers do not receive it. Also, relapsing P vivax or P ovale infection despite appropriate chemoprophylactic therapy was not uncommon among our cases. The presentation of imported malaria is nonspecific, highlighting the need to consider the diagnosis in any febrile patient who has been in a malaria-endemic area. Although errors in diagnosis and treatment were quite common in our study population, patient outcomes were good once the appropriate therapy was initiated.

Effects of changes in travel patterns on highway fatalities

This paper estimates the number of deaths that may have been avoided in 1995 because of changes in selected travel patterns during the period from 1969 to 1995 in the US. Four travel patterns are considered, including distributions of travel between urban and rural areas, between interstates and other roadways, between night and day time hours, and between female and male drivers. At the 1995 mobility level, changes in the selected travel patterns during the period from 1969 to 1995 may have avoided up to 9970 deaths in 1995 alone. These deaths avoided represent over 12% of the total number of deaths avoided in 1995 as a result of overall improvements in highway safety during the same period in this country.

Innovative Financing Methods for Local Roads in Midwest and Mountain-Plains States

Budget constraints for transportation projects is a growing problem at the federal, state, and local levels. At the same time, several changes have been affecting demands placed on the transportation systems, for example, population shifts, changes in travel patterns, and changes in economic activity. County and local governments are faced with increased demands on some portions of their road systems, and other portions have seen a drop in the level of use. As a result, these transportation agencies are facing tremendous challenges to maintain their extensive road networks and provide improvements when and where needed. Traditional funding sources are no longer adequate. There is a great need for counties to explore innovative methods to increase revenues or decrease costs or both. However, because of the nature of rural states (i.e., low population density and a limited tax base), methods used to supplement public funding of transportation projects in urban areas may not be applicable. Described are 4 innovative financing methods (e.g., rural improvement districts) and 14 cost reducing strategies (e.g., sharing equipment) used by local governments in eight rural states. County road officials identified these methods through a mail questionnaire and rated key criteria, such as ease of collection, to evaluate each method before implementing it. Rural improvement districts, special assessment districts, and the wheel tax were identified as innovative methods that are not widely used to raise revenues for a county road system. Advantages and disadvantages of each innovative financing method identified are discussed.

Analysis of the Impacts of Freeway Reconstruction Closures in Urban Areas

The traffic- and business-related impact of a weekend closure of a major urban freeway is evaluated. Data were gathered from a 9-km section of 1-405 in Seattle that was closed to traffic in a single direction for two consecutive weekends, August 15-17 and August 22-24, 1997, for repaving operations. In evaluating this approach to highway reconstruction (i.e., total directional closure), the impact on vehicle travel time and total emissions including carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, and volatile organic compounds was estimated. Also, a survey was conducted asking travelers how their travel patterns changed in response to the weekend closure of this section of 1-405. In addition to questions about changes in travel patterns, questions relating to the travelers’ overall impressions were asked. Limited dependent analysis techniques including ordered probit and binary logit models were used in the survey analyses. Finally, a small sample of businesses were interviewed for their impressions of the closure.

Changing trends in Asia-Pacific tourism

This report is based upon presentations given to industry executives and government officials. It examines the growth in travel to Asian and Pacific destinations, and identifies the major changes in the pattern of growth prior to the recent crisis in Asian economies. Separate forecasts were developed for travel to Asian destinations, Australia/New Zealand and Pacific-island destinations excluding Hawaii. The report also examines industry performance as reflected in hotel occupancy rates throughout the region, and assesses planned development of additional rooms, as well as changes in travel patterns. The main source of data are the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Annual Statistical Reports. It should be noted that in most of the analysis, data on Hawaii, Canada and the United States are excluded to focus on Asian and Pacific countries. The last section evaluates the impact of the Asian economic crisis upon the trends discussed in this report.

Impacts of the Northridge Earthquake on transit and highway use

The Northridge earthquake provided a unique opportunity to examine travel behavior responses to a major emergency. This paper examines travel patterns in two heavily damaged transportation corridors to determine how trip patterns changed over the recovery period. The research evaluates the behavioral response to changing transportation supply conditions and the extent to which transit is a viable substitute for the private vehicle under emergency conditions. The paper also examines cost and subsidy outcomes of the increased supply of transit for emergency response. The most striking characteristic of the changes in travel patterns observed in the post-earthquake period is flexibility. Travelers responded to the alternatives available. In one corridor, many commuters used commuter rail during the first few weeks, but shifted back to private vehicles as the detour routes were expanded. In both corridors, bus transit patronage did not change; the emergency bus services attracted few riders. To the extent possible in both corridors, travelers remained in their private vehicles and opted to shift routes, travel schedules, and destinations rather than shift to public transit or ridesharing. Cost and subsidy outcomes reflected these responses. The paper concludes that transportation system redundancy and the ability of individuals to make a variety of short-term adjustments in travel patterns makes rapid recovery possible even from major disasters.

Influence of travel patterns on mortality from injury among teenagers in England and Wales, 1985-95: trend analysis

Injuries are the leading cause of death among teenagers.1 The Health of the Nation strategy aims to reduce mortality from accidents in young people by 25% by 2005.2 We previously...

Factoring motorists' responses to the 1994 Northridge earthquake

One of the keys to mitigating the effects of earthquake damage on transportation system performance is to understand how motorists respond to such adverse conditions. The January 1994 Northridge earthquake afforded the opportunity to study such responses. Parts of four major freeways in the Los Angeles area were damaged resulting in the displacement of many motorists. In this study, 502 motorists, many of whom were displaced from the damaged Santa Monica Freeway, responded to a mailed questionnaire. This questionnaire asked, for example, about changes in travel patterns, factors affecting alternative route choice, wayfinding strategies used, and difficulty in following alternative routes. A factor analysis was used to generalize motorists9 attributes and behavior when forced to abandon customary routes in the event of a disaster. Such a generalization could inform the content and format of route guidance information provided by Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) following a disaster that adversely impacts an urban transportation system.

Influence of changing travel patterns on child death rates from injury: trend analysis

Objectives: To examine trends in child mortality from unintentional injury between 1985 and 1992 and to find how changes in modes of travel contributed to these trends.Design: Poisson regression modelling...

Potential of Procedural Knowledge to Enhance Advanced Traveler Information Systems

The closure of a portion of the Santa Monica Freeway following the 1994 Northridge earthquake afforded the opportunity to study the behavior of motorists as they found their way around the collapsed bridges along alternate and detour routes. In this study, 502 motorists, many of whom were displaced from the damaged Santa Monica Freeway, responded to a mailed questionnaire asking about changes in travel patterns, factors affecting alternate route choice, way-finding strategies used, difficulty in following alternate routes, attitudes toward the neighborhoods containing alternate routes, and attitudinal changes regarding the risk of traveling city freeways. A factor analysis of the responses revealed a procedural knowledge factor, indicating that motorists found landmarks, street signs, and written directions to be helpful aids in following alternate and detour routes. Procedural knowledge, the stored sequence of decisions about how to get from one place to another, is part of the spatial knowledge acquisition process. It is suggested that cues supporting a procedural level of knowledge could be used to enhance Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS). Alternate and detour route information could include more emphasis on landmarks and street signs and be conveyed in the form of written or verbal directions.

Methodological issues in the estimation of the travel, energy, and air quality impacts of telecommuting

This paper addresses methodological issues in the estimation of travel-related impacts of telecommuting, based on findings from eight telecommuting pilot programs. Several of the studies address energy use (both travel-related and home-based) and one provides information on emissions of air pollutants. These findings are analyzed as well. Travel impacts examined include weekday person- and vehicle-miles saved due to a reduction in commuting, overall weekday travel reductions, and other changes in travel patterns for the telecommuter and the household. Some important issues regarding the estimation of these impacts, their use outside of the pilot programs, and their use in estimating energy savings or reductions in emissions are discussed. In particular, it is cautioned that early, short-term findings from small programs with participants unrepresentative of the population as a whole may change considerably as telecommuting moves into the mainstream.

Changing travel patterns of residents of the USA travelling overseas

This article analyses the travel patterns of US residents travelling overseas and attempts to identify trends. Europe — although still the major overseas destination — will continue to receive a declining proportion of US visitors throughout the 1990s as a result of increasing competition from other destinations. Economic improvement among the less industrialized countries — especially those of the Asia-Pacific region — will enable them to provide the infrastructure and enhancement of attractions necessary to attract tourists. Also, immigration from Latin America and Asia has altered the composition of the US population and will lead to increasing tourism demand for those areas by the late 1990s.

Validation and use of equilibrium network assignment for urban highway reconstruction planning

The need to rehabilitate interstate highways and bridges will increase tremendously in the next decades. Due to traffic restrictions imposed during construction, these rehabilitation activities will cause major disruptions in existing traffic patterns. In order to develop mitigation strategies to reduce such travel impacts, reliable forecasts of likely travel pattern changes would be beneficial. In this paper, we examine the suitability of using an equilibrium traffic assignment model to predict the impacts of a major highway reconstruction project. A case study of travel impacts during reconstruction of I-376, the Parkway East, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is made to validate the adequacy of the network assignment model. Results are compared with actual volume counts collected during periods with and without traffic restrictions. The model produced estimates of link volumes that were, on average, from 16% to 28% different from the observed link counts along two screenlines. Large discrepancies with some of the counts could be explained in part by aberrations in the observed data or in the network model's structure. A sketch-planning analysis is also performed, and the results are compared with those from the network assignment model. The network assignment model is also used to predict the impacts of a hypothetical reconstruction scenario in which the Parkway East is totally closed during its reconstruction.

The evolution of Canadian international travel documentation

Canada's geographic position, adjacent to the United States and comparatively distant from other countries, has concentrated a very large part of the foreign travel into a north-south flow. The development of international travel statistical methodologies has been patterned upon this heavy preponderance of travel. The evidence shows that the magnitude and scope of the flow of people and money between Canada and the United States necessitated that a cooperative approach be taken by both countries in undertaking this large-scale, continuous statistical operation. Canada's international travel statistical methodologies have demonstrated a flexibility to adapt to changing travel patterns and the reduction in border restrictions and documentation. At the same time, the statistical systems have had to meet increased demands of international tourism on a global scale.