INTERCITY PASSENGER DECISION MAKING: CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURE AND DATA IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Understanding intercity passenger travel behavior is important to the analysis of policies that affect intercity travel. Most studies of intercity travel behavior are based on analysis of aggregate data and lack a behavioral basis. The models developed in these studies are biased or insensitive to the effect of important policy measures, or both. A conceptual structure of the intercity passenger decision process is presented. In this behavioral framework, the first stage is to link the intercity travel decision to the individual's general process of decision making in the context of his life style and activities. In the second stage, the intercity travel decision process is grouped into four interrelated decision categories: trip generation, destination choice, mode choice, and at-destination decisions. Each of these categories has several dimensions, some of which have been studied in the past but not in a comprehensive framework. The conceptualization of the decision structure leads to the identification of the structure of the travel demand models needed to represent this behavior and the variables to be included in the models. The data requirements to support the proposed behavioral framework are discussed, and some methodological issues are addressed. It is concluded that the adoption of a disaggregate approach to intercity travel analysis offers substantial potential for development of improved intercity travel analysis and forecasting capabilities.

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