Modeling route choice of car travelers using an activity-based segmentation

Abstract

The aim of this research is to identify the relationships between activity patterns and route choice decisions. The focus is turned to the relationship between the purpose of a trip and the road categories used for the relocation. The data for this study were collected in 2006 and 2007 in Flanders, the Dutch speaking and northern part of Belgium. To estimate the relationship between he primary road category traveled on and the corresponding activity-travel behavior a multinomial logit model is developed. The results point out that route choice is a function of multiple factors, not just travel time or distance. Crucial for modeling route choices or in general for traffic assignment procedures is the conclusion that activity patterns have a clear influence on the road category primarily driven on. Particularly, it was shown that the likelihood of taking primarily through roads is highest for work trips and lowest for leisure trips. This certainly suggests that traffic assignment procedures should be developed that explicitly take into account an activity-based segmentation. In addition, it was shown that route choices were similar during peak and off-peak periods. This is an indication that car drivers are not necessarily utility maximizers. A potential pathway for further investigating route choice decisions might lie in the roots of more psychological underpinnings.