The three-report volume provides guidelines for planning paratransit for off-peak and/or non-work travel. As a summary of off-peak trip characteristics, this volume provides the background for the two subsequent reports. It is not intended to be comprehensive, but rather to furnish the basic nature of off-peak travel. With some exceptions, this report may be viewed as an examination of non-work trips, since most of the travel discussed here relates to other trip purposes. Most of the data are based on the Chicago area, since this area is felt to be representative of many of the transportation problems facing urban areas today. The report presents the characteristics of each of the principal types of non-work trips--shopping; social/recreational; and evening trips. The common denominator among these three types is that they are commonly associated with low travel demand. Information is provided on user, origin, and destination characteristics; the temporal and spatial distribution of the trips; and user attitudes toward paratransit modes for these trips. A survey of modal preference is also presented. The report contains a Bibliography and Appendices A and B: 'Annotated Bibliography for Non-Shopping Off-Peak Trips' and 'Sample of Modal Preference Survey Questionnaire'.
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