01593603

Component

Out-of-home activities of the elderly are usually influenced by their physical limitations. However, having a companion may encourage them to engage in different social events and avoid social exclusion. Thus, such dependencies of senior citizens affect the travel behavior of both seniors and their family members and friends. This paper argues that “activity type” and “accompaniment pattern” are two decisions that have to be modeled jointly for elders; since they may not accomplish some activities, unless they find a companion. To achieve this, the authors developed a three-level nested logit model, in which the activity type and accompaniment patterns of seniors are analyzed simultaneously. The results are then compared to a two level nested logit model that conventionally predicts type of activities regardless of the escort decision. In terms of goodness-of-fit, the model experiences a 47-percent increase in the percentage of correctly-predicted activity types, as the joint modeling approach is adopted instead of the conventional method. Further, the elasticity values and coefficients are, understandably, different. An analysis of the explanatory variables also revealed that age, gender, race, having disability, work-related characteristics and household structure significantly influence activity type and accompaniment decisions.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADB10 Standing Committee on Traveler Behavior and Values.

01584066

16-6915

English

16p

2016

Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Activity choices; Aged; Logits; Methodology; Travel behavior

Nested logit models

Data and Information Technology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2016 Paper #16-6915

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 12 2016 7:00PM