Does Space Matter? Travel Mode Scripts in Daily Activity Travel

Abstract

This research project aims at revealing the variety of critical spatial factors in an individual's mental map that influence daily activity travel behavior. A qualitative travel survey and in-depth interviews are used to identify spatial factors that appear in respondents' travel mode decisions when discussing their daily activity space. Recorded interviews are processed through ATLAS. ti. First, representative If-Then (-Else) heuristics used by respondents are identified and framed within the daily activity travel decision process and classified in a script network view. In addition, the spatial elements occurring are indicated. To conclude, this article suggests a new "script" approach to grasp the behavioral mechanisms present in daily activity travel decisions and argues that further research along this line would contribute to the understanding of the impact of travel demand measures and its assessment in activity-based travel demand models by means of an agent-based computational process model.