01519053

Component

This paper focuses on the mode choice of workers in Chennai city. The main objectives of the study are to: investigate potential variation across respondents in the consideration of alternatives in the choice set; study the preference and response heterogeneity associated with contextual factors namely, captivity status and the presence of copassengers; and examine whether and how these heterogeneity effects differ based on alternative choice set representations. This study is motivated by the following considerations. Existing studies that account for these contextual differences mainly only capture the preference heterogeneity or impose unrealistic restrictions on the utility of non-automobile modes for joint (copassengers > 0) trips. Disregarding preference or response heterogeneity, when present, can lead to poor model fit, erroneous forecasts and misleading policy inferences. Second, each of these three sources of heterogeneity has been studied by researchers to some extent, but in isolation. It is plausible that these three contextual effects are inter-dependent, and need to be studied together to disentangle the effect of each. The performance of alternative models with fixed, deterministically variable, and probabilistically variable choice sets is evaluated. Factors influencing the consideration of alternatives are also identified in this empirical context. Unlike many studies, where captivity is represented by a binary variable, behavioral differences across three levels of captivity (captive by vehicle ownership, captive by driving knowledge, and semi-captive) are investigated. Further, the effect of preference and response heterogeneity is incorporated simultaneously. Finally, the interaction between contextual and choice set heterogeneity is also empirically analyzed. The results show strong evidence of choice set variability and contextual heterogeneity in this empirical context and have important policy implications.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE90 Transportation in the Developing Countries. Alternate title: Choice Set Variability and Contextual Heterogeneity in Work Trip Mode Choice in Chennai City, India.

01503729

14-5203

English

21p

2014

Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

References; Tables

Mode choice; Work trips

Choice set variability; Contextual heterogeneity

Chennai (India)

Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2014 Paper #14-5203

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 27 2014 3:49PM