Does weather influence transportation and travel behaviour? The current literature focuses on different aspects of the effects of weather on transportation, ranging from road safety to travel demand. A review of the literature was presented in Chapter 1. The value added of this thesis to previous research is that it uses micro-data for travellers together with a bigger geographic coverage, longer time period, and hourly measured weather conditions. Further, this thesis improves on some methodologies, as will be explained in Section 8.5. The main objective of this thesis is to quantify the influence of weather on travel behaviour, and provide policy recommendations in the context of the possible impacts of climate change on travel behaviour. The results of the thesis can be summarized in few main points, as follows: temperature is the most important weather variable as far as travel behaviour is concerned, followed by precipitation and wind. Cycling is the mode of transportation which is most sensitive to weather conditions. Higher temperatures lead to modal shifts from car and public transport towards cycling. Public transport demand decreases with temperature, but the demand for public transport may increase to certain destinations. Finally, higher temperatures, precipitation and snow are potential hazards for road safety. This thesis was divided into three parts. Part I consisted of three chapters (Chapter 2, 3 and 4). These parts mainly focused on the role of weather in choice decisions regarding mode and destination. Part II consisted of Chapters 5 and 6. This part focused on the role of weather in the travel time of commuting trips. Finally, Part III consisted of Chapter 7 which focuses on the role of weather in road accidents. Parts I, II and III are summarized in Sections 8.2, 8.3 and 8.4. Section 8.5 then describes the policy implications of the findings. Finally, Section 8.6 makes suggestions for future research. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting