The fundamental tenet of the activity approach to transport modelling is that travel decisions are driven by a collection of activities that form an agenda for participation and, as such, cannot be analysed on an individual trip basis. Thus, the choice process associated with any specific travel decision can be understood and modelled only within the context of the entire agenda. The collection of activities and trips actually performed comprise an individual's activity pattern, and the decision processes, behavioural rules, and the environment in which they are valid, which together constrain the formation of these patterns, characterize complex travel behaviour. A household activity pattern represents a bundle of individual member's patterns, which reflect the household activity program, the household transportation supply environment, and the constrained, interactive decision processes among these members. The household activity program, representative of the demand for activity participation within the household, is transformed through various activity demand and transportation supply allocation decisions into a set of individual activity programs, each an agenda for participation reflecting the constraints that influence the choice process. The actual scheduling and implementation of the program is completed by the individual, producing the revealed behaviour of the individual activity pattern.
Abstract