Examining Trip-Chaining Behavior: Comparison of Travel by Men and Women

TLDR

Gender, household life cycle, and women’s increasing labor force participation shape daily travel behavior, yet planners have largely overlooked how these factors influence transportation choices. The study seeks to determine how evolving workplace status and household dynamics for women will influence travel behavior of both genders. Using the 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey, the authors analyzed trip‑chaining patterns of adult men and women during weekdays. Women, particularly those with children, make more household‑sustaining trips and are more likely to chain them to work trips, implying that shifts in women’s workplace status will significantly impact transit, land‑use, and automobile‑related programs.

Abstract

Gender and household life cycle together affect daily travel behavior. Although this makes intuitive sense, transportation planners and policy makers have done little to understand what effect and impact these factors have on daily transportation choices. The 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey was used to examine trip-chaining behavior of adult men and women traveling Monday through Friday. The data show that women continue to make more trips to perform household-sustaining activities such as shopping and family errands to a greater extent than men. Women, especially with children in the household, are more likely to chain these household-sustaining trips to the trip to and from work. Women’s participation in the labor force is at an all-time high, but women’s patterns in travel to work are different from men’s patterns, and they vary with family and life-cycle status. The type and location of jobs that women take are likely affected by their greater household and family responsibilities. The biggest question for the future is whether and how the changes in women’s status in the workplace, and perhaps the concomitant change in the household dynamics and responsibilities, will affect travel behavior of both men and women. These changes will deeply affect the development of programs related to transit, land-use planning, work schedules, telecommuting, and other programs related to automobile use.