Within the transportation research literature, the attempt to understand and predict the level of car ownership is probably one of the most popularareas of study. The primary reason for this is understandable, having access to a vehicle increases an individualÆs (or their householdÆs) travel options, leading to greater mobility. Secondary reasons for this scrutiny include the need to predict future transport investment in road infrastructure and the commercial demand for new vehicles. This paper attempts to predict the level of household car ownership as a function of the characteristics of the household and the individuals that make up the household. The primary data source for this study comes from the 2001 United Kingdom Census and the analysis methods used are from the discipline of data mining. The results of this study are in line with those from previous research butshow a potential to predict the higher levels of household car ownership with greater accuracy than other similar studies. (A) Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
Abstract