Changes In Travel Behavior Research Articles

The socio-ecological determinants of change in school travel mode over the transition from childhood to adolescence and the association with physical activity intensity.

School active travel contributes to young people's physical activity levels, yet the prevalence is low, and declines with age. Based on determinants from the social-ecological model we investigated changes in school travel behaviour over the transition from childhood to adolescence in participants from the baseline and four-year follow-up of the SPEEDY cohort. Descriptive analysis examined how travel behaviours changed and were related to physical activity. Multinomial logistic regression investigated determinants. Some 38% of participants changed travel mode; 66% from active to passive. Passively traveling participants at follow-up showed a decrease in physical activity. Several social-ecological domains were associated with change. Findings suggest multicomponent interventions are required to support active travel in youth.

Promoting sustainable mode choice for commuting supported by persuasive strategies

• Investigate how persuasive strategies can be included in an application. • Create a multiobjective utility function supporting the suggestion process. • Analyze what factors influence individual travel behavior in an urban area. • Cycling suggested as the best mode choice, but acceptance rate is the lowest. • Assess user features, mode choice, feedback, acceptance, and interconnections. A personalized route planner is elaborated to support commuting, where soft measures are applied to influence the intentions of individual travel behavior. In order to do that a utility function is created, which consists of four attributes (travel time, travel cost, environmental effect, and health effect) to reflect on user preferences and considers four transport modes (walking, cycling, public transport, and car) as alternatives. The outcome of the utility function is a suggested transport mode based on the attributes, where the travelers may provide a feedback, whether they would really choose the suggested transport mode. During the analysis, statistical methods are used to determine the most substantial factors affecting transport mode choice and trip characteristics. Based on the analysis, travel time is still the most determinant attribute in transport mode choice. Considering the results, the web application suggests in most cases cycling as the best mode choice, and almost half of all users agree to choose the best transport mode, which is suggested by the application. The acceptance rate is much higher in case of public transportation and walking. The applicability of reduction, tunneling, suggestion, personalization, and simulation strategies are demonstrated. The elaborated method supports finding a solution to change travel behavior by understanding the affecting factors of the individual decision-making process, which might help promoting the choice of environmentally friendly transport modes.

Rekayasa Model Perencanaan Transportasi dalam Menciptakan Mobilitas yang Aman pada Masa Pandemi Covid 19 (Studi Kasus : Mobilitas Mahasiswa di Jawa Timur)

The mobility restriction policy imposed in response to the increasing transmission of Covid-19 brought changes in people's travel behavior, both at the global and local levels. The four traditional models at the transportation planning stage became biased because the need for travel was different during this pandemic. This study aimed to create a modification of transportation planning, where the mobility continues to use the existing four-stage transportation planning model but at the same time ensures safety from the dangers of Covid-19 transmission. The survey was conducted online on students (N=100) spread across cities in East Java Province, where the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the implementation of higher education, especially student mobility. The research findings indicated that students still travel actively to universities. The student's motive for traveling was only because of important and urgent matters dominated by work and receiving news of death from family. In contrast, the majority used private vehicles, especially on trips within the city. However, the tendency to use public transportation when traveling long distances was also still in demand by respondents.

COVID-19 impact on daily mobility in Slovenia

The Slovenian subsample (n=415) of an international online survey about changes in daily mobility during the COVID-19 outbreak in the spring of 2020 was analysed from a geographical perspective. The dataset was split into three spatial classes (urban, transitional and rural) according to the respondents’ place of residence. People’s behaviour before and during the COVID-19 lockdown was compared and analysed in terms of commuting frequency, changes in mode choice for commuting and style of grocery shopping. The results show that commuting was reduced drastically during the lockdown while the car remained the main transport mode both for commuting and shopping, especially in rural areas. The study provides an unprecedented insight in travel behaviour changes due to the pandemic and congruously argues for improved transport policies to meet climate change and public health challenges.

Predictors of Changes in Travel Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Tourists' Personalities.

This study investigates travel behavior and psychosocial factors that influence it during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a cross-sectional study, using an online survey, we examined changes in travel behavior and preferences after lifting travel restrictions, and how these changes were influenced by exposure to COVID-19, COVID-19 travel-related risk and severity, personality, fear of travel, coping, and self-efficacy appraisals in the Romanian population. Our results showed that participants traveled less in the pandemic year than the year before—especially group and foreign travel—yet more participants reported individual traveling in their home county during the pandemic period. Distinct types of exposure to COVID-19 risk, as well as cognitive and affective factors, were related to travel behavior and preferences. However, fun-seeking personality was the only major predictor of travel intention, while fear of travel was the only predictor of travel avoidance. Instead, people traveled more cautiously when they perceived more risk of infection at the destination, and had higher levels of fear of travel, but also a high sense of efficacy in controlling the infection and problem-solving capacity. The results suggest that specific information about COVID-19, coping mechanisms, fear of travel, and neuropsychological personality traits may affect travel behavior in the pandemic period.

Effects of COVID-19 on rail passengers' crowding perceptions.

Understanding changes in travel behavior during the spread of pandemic diseases such as COVID-19 is important to develop a resilient transportation system. Since one of the most important ways to prevent the spread of this virus is to keep a safe distance from other people (i.e. social distancing), it has implications for the operations of public transportation as compared to other modes of transportation due to the confinement of a large number of passengers in enclosed space. This study investigated the effect of the spread of COVID-19 on crowding perception and crowding disutility in metro rail system of Tehran. Two surveys were conducted before and during the COVID-19. The stated preference data were analyzed by mixed logit models with the lognormal distribution. Results revealed that the value of crowding increased during the pandemic. Tracking the changes of crowding perception caused by COVID-19 shows that low comfort scores were observed at crowding levels where seats were taken, and the density of standees was high (i.e. not possible to maintain social distancing). During the outbreak of COVID-19, crowding has more disutility for rail passengers and the value of having a seat while traveling increased. Understanding passengers’ perceptions of crowding as examined in this study will assist transport operators, and planners maintain the critical functionality of public transport systems and manage risks of mass transportation during the pandemic and beyond.

Brace for impact! COVID-19, lockdown and the initial reaction and adaptability of Flemish travel consumers

Purpose: To determine the influence of COVID-19 and the first 2020 lockdown on Flemish people's initial travel behaviour perceptions, a hypothetical scenario was posed to respondents where they were asked to keep in mind a situation where they might be able to travel again during the summer of 2020 (July/August). This research had two main aims: i) the pre-lockdown travel plans for summer 2020 were determined; ii) the extent to which respondents would adapt their travel behaviour if they were hypothetically allowed to travel again by summer 2020. Methods: This exploratory research was done by means of an online quantitative questionnaire of which 1803(n) complete responses were obtained through convenience and snowball sampling. Results: The results revealed that respondents did have initial travel plans for the 2020 summer (July/August) period, but that they adjusted their planning to mostly travelling nationally/locally, potentially benefitting the local tourism industry. These findings (i) indicate the importance of directing marketing efforts towards the local travel market and (ii) contribute to literature regarding the resilience of the (local) tourism industry. Additionally, the research unveils how the industry should do long-term planning by taking the immediate travel behaviour changes of the Flemish travel consumers into account through regular intervals of consumer research so that it can pick up on possible behavioural trends and ready itself. Implications: Government, together with the industry, can work towards policies that act as a safety net during possible future industry disasters to minimize the negative impacts and foster a swift recovery.

Quantifying the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Passenger Vehicle Drivers' Willingness to Pay for Travel Time Savings and Reliability.

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally disrupted travel behavior and consumer preferences. To slow the spread of the virus, public health officials and state and local governments issued stay-at-home orders and, among other actions, closed nonessential businesses and educational facilities. The resulting recessionary effects have been particularly acute for U.S. toll roads, with an observed year-over-year decline in traffic and revenue of 50% to 90% in April and May 2020. These disruptions have also led to changes in the types of trip that travelers make and their frequency, their choice of travel mode, and their willingness to pay tolls for travel time savings and travel time reliability. This paper describes the results of travel behavior research conducted on behalf of the Virginia Department of Transportation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the National Capital Region of Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia. The research included a stated preference survey to estimate travelers' willingness to pay for travel time savings and travel time reliability, to support forecasts of traffic and revenue for existing and proposed toll corridors. The survey collected data between December 2019 and June 2020. A comparison of the data collected before and during the pandemic shows widespread changes in travel behavior and a reduction in willingness to pay for travel time savings and travel time reliability across all traveler types, particularly for drivers making trips to or from work. These findings have significant implications for the return of travelers to toll corridors in the region and future forecasts of traffic and revenue.

Saudi Women and Vision 2030: Bridging the Gap?

(1) Background, Travel characteristics of Saudi women contrast significantly from those in the west. This is not only because they have different culture, attitudes and preferences but also until recently, Saudi women were not allowed to drive. In 2018, they were granted the right to drive. It has been anticipated that enabling women to drive will improve their mobility and employability. (2) Methods: This study presents a qualitative study into factors affecting Saudi women’s travel decisions “before” and “after” enabling women to drive in the Kingdom. Two six “before” and “after” focus groups have been carried out to investigate the decision-making process associated with Saudi women’s travel, available options of travel and perception of Saudi women towards private car driving. (3) Results: The results reveal that main travelling options for professional and high-income women is a private driver in the “before” scenario and a ride-share option with a family member. In the “after” scenario, high income professional women prefer “drive own car” option. Moreover, many of the participants indicated that it is likely that they might keep private drivers as well. (4) Conclusion. The results from this research indicate that there has been significant change in travel characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of Saudi women since they were granted the right to drive. This is likely to have significant implications for decision and policy makers. Further research into potential impacts of the current situation on car ownership and use, impacts on public transport system, environmental impacts and sustainability is needed.

Mobility-as-a-Service as a transport demand management tool: A case study among employees in the Netherlands

This paper examines the potential role of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) as a transport demand management (TDM) tool to influence commuting mode choice. A stated choice experiment was conducted among employees in the Netherlands to capture the effect of integrating TDM measures with MaaS on mode choice behavior. We found that the train and car-sharing attributes’ variations are influential factors on employees’ mode choice behavior. Moreover, the mobility package price played a significant role in mode choice even though most employees in the Netherlands receive a full or partial travel allowance from their employers. Similarly, the increase in parking tariffs was an influential measure for car users who used street/garage parking spaces. However, the effects were not equal for all respondents. Young, low-income and multi-modal commuters are more susceptible to travel behavior changes than old, high-income, and car-dependent employees. In conclusion, MaaS could be seen as a promising element in TDM strategies combining carrots (enablers) and sticks (deterrents), albeit for specific groups users.

Modelling school travel mode choice – the case of hanoi, vietnam

The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in adopting massively social distancing measures to tame the human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus and protect public health. These intervention policies have caused changes in travel behavior, thereby expressing a need to update profiles of factors associated with mode choice. To respond to this research gap in part, this current study aims to model children’s mode decisions for school trips in the post-pandemic time in Hanoi. As regards mode usage, cycling is the main mode of active transport with a share at 23.3%, doubling the rate of 11% for walking. The dominant mode of traveling to school is the motorized modes (i.e., cars and motorcycles) with a proportion of 60%, meanwhile, school buses account for only 6.2%. As regards the determinants, when growing up, children tend to shift from being driven to traveling actively. The availability of cars increases the likelihood of using other modes compared to cycling. An opposite association is seen for the availability of bicycles. The flexibility in terms of a mother’s job is involved in a higher possibility of being driven for a child. A home-school distance less than 1 km is more suitable for walking compared to cycling; however, an inverse relationship is witnessed for a distance between 1 and 2 km. A distance over 2 km is more appropriate for motorized modes and school buses. To promote active transport to school, children’s travel demand should be taken transport planning into consideration. Developing cycling and walking facilities is essential, especially in urban districts. Additionally, limiting the use of private motorized modes would be useful.

Exploring the changes in travel behavior in a developing country amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from Metro Cebu, Philippines

This article investigates changes in travel behavior from selected urban cities in Metro Cebu, Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic a year after the first lockdown. Different categories of community quarantine and granular lockdowns have since been imposed to curb the spread of the virus. An online survey was distributed to analyze socio-demographic characteristics and reasons for traveling in relation to weekly trip frequency before and during pandemic. These are presented and analyzed through data visualization and multinomial logistic regression. Results show that the major reason for traveling before pandemic was work-related but has since shifted to buying essentials or for leisure or recreation. Weekly trip frequencies were lesser when compared before pandemic, but several socio-demographic groups have shown otherwise. There is statistical significance for those less likely to travel when commuters are employed, self-employed or students compared to unemployed, earning PHP 10,000 or less compared to those earning above PHP 50,000, in a household size of 10 compared to all other household sizes, and those with college degree against elementary or no formal education. By determining the travel behavior of commuters when they have ample time to adjust to the new normal, their mobility needs can be best understood and consequently satisfied. Interventions in fulfilling the travel needs for those belonging to socio-demographic groups that are highly affected by the pandemic, such as the working class, blue-collar workers, and have limited financial capabilities, can also be developed when a similar outbreak in the future is imminent.

Using Probability Distributions for Projecting Changes in Travel Behavior

Mobility is a must for human life on this planet, because important activities like working or shopping cannot be done from home for everyone. Present modes of transports contributes significantly to green house gas emissions while the efforts to reduce these emissions can be improved in many countries. Pathways to a more sustainable form of mobility can be modelled using travel demand models to aid decision makers. However, to project human behavior into the future one should analyze the changes in the past to understand the drivers in mobility change. Mobility surveys provide sets of activity diaries, which show changes in travel behavior over time. Those activity diaries are one of the inputs in activity-based demand generation models like travel activity pattern simulation (TAPAS). This paper shows a method of using probability distributions between person and diary groups. It offers an opportunity for an increased heterogeneity in travel behavior without sacrificing too much accuracy. Additionally it will present the use case of temporal back- and forecasting of changes in activity choices of existing mobility survey data. The results show the possibilities within this approach together with its limits and pitfalls.

The impact of COVID-19 on trips to urban amenities: Examining travel behavior changes in Somerville, MA.

While there has been much speculation on how the pandemic has affected work location patterns and home location choices, there is sparse evidence regarding the impacts that COVID-19 has had on amenity visits in American cities, which typically constitute over half of all urban trips. Using aggregate app-based GPS positioning data from smartphone users, this study traces the changes in amenity visits in Somerville, MA from January 2019 to December 2020, describing how visits to particular types of amenities have changed as a result of business closures during the public health emergency. Has the pandemic fundamentally shifted amenity-oriented travel behavior or is consumer behavior returning to pre-pandemic trends? To address this question, we calibrate discrete choice models that are suited to Census block-group level analysis for each of the 24 months in a two-year period, and use them to analyze how visitors' behavioral responses to various attributes of amenity clusters have shifted during different phases of the pandemic. Our findings suggest that in the first few months of the pandemic, amenity-visiting preferences significantly diverged from expected patterns. Even though overall trip volumes remained far below normal levels throughout the remainder of the year, preferences towards specific cluster attributes mostly returned to expected levels by September 2020. We also construct two scenarios to explore the implications of another shutdown and a full reopening, based on November 2020 consumer behavior. While government restrictions have played an important role in reducing visits to amenity clusters, our results imply that cautionary consumer behavior has played an important role as well, suggesting a likely long and slow path to economic recovery. By drawing on mobile phone location data and behavioral modeling, this paper offers timely insights to help decision-makers understand how this unprecedented health emergency is affecting amenity-related trips and where the greatest needs for intervention and support may exist.

Exploring the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in travel behaviour: A qualitative study

During the COVID-19 crisis, a series of measures were taken to restrict travel and social activities outside the home in order to curb the pandemic and ameliorate its negative effects. These unprecedented measures have had a profound impact on the number and purposes of trips and modes of travel. In China, although the pandemic is now generally under control and transport availability has returned to nearly normal, the extent of the changes in travel behaviour wrought during and after the pandemic still remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the differences in individual travel behaviours during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, using Huzhou as an example. Semi-structured interviews were used to examine the influence of COVID-19 on the travel behaviour and perceptions of different groups. The results indicate that, initially, travel demand was greatly reduced. Second, decreased travel reduced participation in activities, which can have adverse effects on people’s health as well as their subjective well-being. Third, the degree and duration of such impacts varied from person to person. Students, lower income cohorts, groups living in small communities with insufficient green spaces, and those working in tourism, catering, informal businesses and transport-related sectors were more vulnerable than others. Policymakers, urban and transport planners should therefore pay attention to the social inequities that arise from unequal access to transport and heterogeneity between individuals. Additionally, public transport systems require further development to promote social cohesion.

Impacts of long-term service disruptions on passenger travel behaviour: A smart card analysis from the Greater Copenhagen area

Disruptions in public transport are a major source of frustration for passengers and result in lower public transport usage. Previous studies on the effect of disruptions on passenger travel behaviour have mainly focused on shorter disruptions, while the few studies on impacts of long-term disruptions have had limited focus on individual passenger behaviour. This paper fills the gap in research by proposing a novel methodology based on smart card data for analysing the impacts of long-term planned disruptions on passenger travel behaviour. We use k-means clustering to group passengers based on their travel behaviour before and after the closure. We can thus observe how different passenger groups changed travel behaviour after the disruption. We compare these observations to a group of reference lines without disruption to account for general trends. Using hierarchical clustering of daily travel patterns, we are able to in-depth analyse the reactions of certain passenger groups to the disruption. We apply the method on a 3-month closure of a rail line in the Greater Copenhagen area. The results suggest that, in particular, passengers with an everyday commuting behaviour have decreased after the disruption. The proposed methodology enables explicit analysis of the impact of disruptions on diverse passengers segments, while the specific results are useful for public transport agencies when planning long-term maintenance projects.

Impact of TNC on travel behavior and mode choice: a comparative analysis of Boston and Philadelphia.

We compare responses from an online survey among 700 customers of transportation network companies (TNC) in Boston and Philadelphia to investigate TNC’s impact on vehicle ownership, trip making, and mode choice. We first use a qualitative comparative analysis to examine changes in respondents’ travel behavior and vehicle ownership after adopting TNC. We then use a random parameter logit regression analysis to investigate customers’ preferences between transit and TNC based on a choice experiment. We find that in both cities, TNC allows customers, including those who currently do not own a car, to either delay purchasing a car or forgo a car altogether. TNC enables customers across income levels to take trips that they otherwise would not have taken. Meanwhile, TNC substitutes for more than complementing transit. The random parameter logit analysis indicates that when choosing between TNC and transit, individuals in both cities consider waiting time and overall travel time for transit to be more burdensome than those for TNC. Bostonians perceive the time spent walking to and from transit to be less burdensome, and the time spent traveling in vehicle to be more burdensome than do Philadelphians. Differences in built environment, mode share within transit systems, and income likely contribute to respondents’ different values of time between the two cities. Our paper is the first to compare individual trade-off between transit and TNC in two cities with different urban settings and transit services. The findings have implications on transit service planning, station area improvements, parking regulations, and traffic management.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11116-021-10220-5.

Impacts of light rail in a mid-sized city: Evidence from Olsztyn, Poland

Investments in light rail transit (LRT) have become increasingly popular solutions to promote sustainable urban transportation. However, their impacts on cities are still subject to discussion in the academic community. There is a clear need to better understand the potential impacts of LRT projects, particularly in contexts other than major cities. In this study, we focus on the Olsztyn tram project, which has been implemented in a city of 173,000 residents situated in northeastern Poland. The paper combines different perspectives and data sources, including a study of residents’ stated preferences concerning travel behavior and modelling of housing price effects using the difference-in-differences approach. Our results suggest that the Olsztyn tram project led to a moderate change in travel behavior by increasing the frequency of public transport use but did not result in a substantial shift away from car commuting. Concerning the property market, a decline in prices was observed during the construction phase, but no statistically significant effects were found after completion.

The end-user benefits of smartphone transit apps: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT Transit apps are cost-efficient strategies to facilitate transit use. This study is the first systematic review that synthesises the literature on these apps’ end-user benefits. We identified limitations in the existing knowledge in terms of study methods, population, and scopes. This review offers insights to guide researchers and policymakers to unlock the potential of transit apps in promoting the use and experience of public transit. We conducted the literature searches in August 2020, covering studies published between 2010 and 2020 from TRID, Compendex, Business Source Ultimate Ebsco, and Acad Search Ultimate Ebsco. Articles were screened and reviewed based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. In total, 13 out of 3,812 articles met our pre-specified eligibility criteria. We identified key user benefits in three domains: perception and psychological changes, time savings on trips, and travel behaviour changes. These studies found that smartphone transit apps may improve the perceived reliability of transit services, increase perceived safety, reduce anxiety while waiting, and build a positive image of transit. Also, transit apps could help users reduce wait time at transit stops. Studies further reported that smartphone transit apps have the potential to boost ridership. After critically assessing the articles, we recommended future studies to improve study designs, adjust study populations, and expand study scopes. First, future studies about travel behaviour impacts would need to adopt more rigorous study designs and methods. Second, more studies about infrequent riders and non-riders are needed. Third, current studies have not paid enough attention to the important subgroup of captive riders, such as riders in rural areas who rely on infrequent and unreliable transit services. Fourth, more empirical evidence is needed to quantify the impacts of public sector transit apps. Trip planning and mobile ticketing functions of transit apps are overlooked. Fifth, the established theoretical framework about travel behaviours and emerging technologies could serve as solid theoretical bases and would need to be integrated into future research designs.

Analysis of travel behaviors during floods in Ubon Ratchathani city, Thailand

Cities in Southeast Asia frequently face urban floods, and transportation is often disrupted due to road closures. To reduce road transport vulnerability, the road network should be properly adapted for the flooding condition. To generate suitable adaptation measures for road transportation, travel behaviors under flooding condition, and their differences under normal conditions should be clarified. We aimed to understand the changes in travel behaviors caused by urban floods to compare with normal and flooding conditions in Ubon Ratchathani City, Thailand. A questionnaire survey was applied to understand the travel behaviors under both conditions, and its comparison revealed that under flooding, people prefer early departure time, and reduce the trip frequency depending on trip purpose. Moreover, we compared the route choice behaviors under both conditions using geographic information system (GIS) from collected data. Comparison with travel behaviors under both conditions, we clarified the change in travel behaviors under flooding and that differed from the affected extent depending on trip purpose.