DAILY VARIATION OF TRIP CHAINING, SCHEDULING, AND PATH SELECTION BEHAVIOR OF WORK COMMUTERS

Abstract

This study addresses the variation of three key aspects of the home to work commute, the time of departure from home, the frequency, purpose and duration of intervening stops between home and work,and the path actually followed through the network. It is based on detailed two-week diaries of actual commuting trips completed by a sample of auto commuters in Austin, Texas. The paper examines alternative definitions and measures of variability in the context of the daily commute by comparing a day-to-day approach to a deviation from usual approach for defining individual switching behavior. Models are developed to relate observed trip chaining route, and departure time switching patterns to the commuters' characteristics, such as workplace conditions, socio-economic attributes, and network performance characteristics. In addition, the study provides valuable confirmation of insights previously suggested in stated preference laboratory experiments involving actual commuters in a simulated traffic system. (A)