Classification of Tours in the U.S. National Household Travel Survey through Clustering Techniques
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 6
Abstract
Tours are increasingly being considered as an appropriate unit of observation of mobility behaviors and are one of the key ideas underpinning contemporary activity-based modeling approaches. Identifying typologies of tours would benefit both modelers and decision makers, striving to set up more tailored actions aimed at promoting environmentally benign travel choices. Different a priori classifications based on activity kinds have been proposed, none of which seems clearly preferable on empirical grounds. This paper takes a complementary approach and defines a data-driven segmentation through a cluster analysis of tours that were derived from the trip records from a United States national survey. The socioeconomic characterization of each cluster is finally carried out to link travelers’ profiles with specific kinds of tours. Four main tour clusters have thus been identified: nonwork tours for compulsory activities done by young individuals, tours done by elder or retired persons, short and secondary tours within the travel day, and tours dominated by the working activity. Their relevance on a modeling and policy viewpoint is discussed.
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Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 6 • June 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 15, 2015
Accepted: Dec 22, 2015
Published online: Mar 2, 2016
Published in print: Jun 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Aug 2, 2016
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