Mode Choice for the Urban Work Trip

Abstract

<p>This research paper investigates the factors which influence mode choice (choice of car or bus) for the urban journey to work. A main objective of the study is to determine the validity of the attitudinal approach to explaining mode choice which explains mode choice by using the traveller's subjective impressions of the attributes of different modes. The second objective is to study the mode choice decision-making process and its relationship to actual mode choice, socioeconomic, demographic, and transportation characteristics.</p> <p>Information was obtained from a sample of McMaster University employees using a questionnaire which was distributed in November of 1986. Respondents were asked to indicate their degree of preference for car or bus in response to hypothetical mode choice situations. The utility of this controlled simulation approach was also evaluated.</p> <p>The results provide support for the attitudinal modelling of mode choice and for the general paradigm which seeks to explain human travel behaviour through the use of controlled simulation. The results provide information regarding the relative weighting of travel time and travel cost in the mode choice decision process. Also, hypothetical mode choice preference was shown to be related to actual mode choice but not to socioeconomic, demographic or transportation characteristics.</p>