Automobile travel costs have long been neglected in travel behavior analyses and travel demand models. The socioeconomic determinants of automobile travel cost choices are explored as part of a study into the effects of quality of work on work-related travel conductedin the road and traffic laboratory, technical research center of finland. The study was motivated by the need to assess driving cost estimates for the mode choice model. It was approached through separate functions for fixed, variable, and total driving costs of the respondent. Within-household effects were examined through driving cost regressions of the household members of the respondent. The within-household regressions indicate that there are within-household work life effects on driving costs. The effects take place on a detailed level, which is not captured in a variable describing the household member's employment status. Rather, it appears that the quality of occupations of the household members has more effect on driving costs than the number or share of employed persons in the household. Automobile operating costs are not equal for everybody. They are an outcome of a choice and are influenced by the characteristics of the individual and his activities and the other household members and their activities. The same applies for automobile capital costs. The operating costs of automobiles had a low statistical significance on modechoice, and high capital costs were associated with automobile choice. These findings are not surprising but ones not believed nor a part of present travel demand model systems. But it is believable thatautomobile operating costs do not influence mode choice, or, that once automobile is chosen, it is an expensive one--comfort costs--by choice. The driving cost models indicate that travel choices are a part of complex behavioral interplay within a household in which the costs of transport have a major role. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1328, Travel demand forecasting: new methodologies and travel behavior research 1991
Samenvatting