Up256 (Travel Behavior Analysis)

Front 1

What percentage of trips in the United States are work-based trips?

Back 1

15%. (source?)

Front 2

What are some differences in travel behavior patterns among racial groups (holding other factors constant)?

Back 2

1) African-Americans use public transit more frequently.

2) Latinos use carpools more frequently, at twice the percentage rate of non-Latinos. (Pisarksi 2006)

Front 3

What are the four steps of the four-step travel forecasting model?

Back 3

1) Trip generation 2) Trip distribution 3) Mode choice 4) Trip assignment (source?)

Front 4

How have carpooling rates changed?

Back 4

They have declined from 20% in 1980 to about 12% in 2000. (Pisarski 2006)

Front 5

How have average national travel times changed?

Back 5

They have grown from 21.7 minutes in 1980 to 22.4 minutes in 1990. (Pisarski 2006)

Front 6

In "The Pedigree of a Statistic," what did Shoup say about statistics for the percent of land in US cities that is paved for cars?

Back 6

Shoup said that the statistics appear to have been made up.

Front 7

What recommendations does Koppelmann make for traffic modelers in "Innovations in Traffic Modeling?"

Back 7

- Develop an integrated system of models that builds on advances in knowledge about human decision-making, development patterns, and transportation system operations
- Validate models by checking the performance of past models against current conditions
- Gather more data about land use, populations, and transport facilities
- Get more government funding for research
- Find ways to present model results to non-technical audiences

Front 8

What transportation challenges for low-income families do Blumenberg and Waller identify in "The Long Journey to Work?"

Back 8

- Jobs are in suburbs, but many families are in the central city
- Fixed-route public transit is poorly suited to dispersed travel patterns
- Low-income families have high car access rates (86%) but they own older, less reliable cars
- Transit is burdensome: time cost is high and trip chaining is difficult

Front 9

According to Sheppard's "Modeling and Predicting Aggregate Flows," what are some trip categories used in trip generation models?

Back 9

- Home-based work
- Home-based non-work
- Non-home based
- Goods (industry oriented)
- Goods (consumer oriented)

Front 10

In "Reflections on the Planning Process," Wachs lists three factors transportation policy must consider. What are they?

Back 10

Effectiveness, efficiency, and equity.

Front 11

The Papacostas and Prevedouros reading on "Traffic Impact and Parking Studies" lists four major measurements for parking. What are they?

Back 11

- Occupancy (percent spaces occupied of available spaces)
- Accumulation (number of vehicles parked at a given time)
- Turnover (number of vehicles utilizing the same stall over given period of time)
- Average duration of occupancy (total vehicle hours/total number vehicles parked)

Front 12

According to Blumenberg, what are three strategies to improve transportation to connect low-income workers with jobs?

Back 12

- Enhance existing fixed-route transit in dense urban areas
- Create demand-responsive service in areas with densities too low for fixed route serivce
- Give low-income workers access to cars

Front 13

In Doyle and Taylor's "Variation in Metropolitan Travel Behavior by Sex and Ethnicity," what are their four findings on travel mode?

Back 13

- Women hold driver's licenses at nearly the same rate
- Ethnicity and income predict licensing, auto availability, and mode choice better than gender
- Men are more likely to drive alone and women are more likely to carpool and ride transit
- Women make more daily trips on average

Front 14

In Black's "The People Who Ride Transit," what are the two types of modal split models?

Back 14

- Trip end models
- Trip interchange models allocate trips according to attractiveness of transit versus automobile

Front 15

In Johnston's "The Urban Transportation Planning Process," what is the typical margin of error for travel forecasts?

Back 15

1% margin of error for each year.

Front 16

What variables does Johnston find influence mode choice in "The Urban Transportation Planning Process?"

Back 16

Trip costs, household income, household car ownership, and car accessibility.

Front 17

In "The Urban Transportation Planning Process," what improvements to future models does Johnston mention?

Back 17

- Including land use
- Incorporating alternative (non-motorized) transportation
- Using micro-simulation of goods movement
- Using disaggregate models

Front 18

What share of U.S. households own at least one car?

Back 18

91.7% in 2001. (Source?)

Front 19

In Pucher and Renne's "Socioeconomics of Urban Travel: Evidence from the 2001 NHTS," what are the common reasons for walking and biking?

Back 19

Social and recreational trips (and much less common for work and shopping).

Front 20

What effect does income have on travel, according to Pucher and Renne's "Socioeconomics of Urban Travel: Evidence from the 2001 NHTS?"

Back 20

- Higher-income workers make more frequent and longer trips.
- Low-income workers have lower mobility because of lower employment rates and their location in congested central cities.

Front 21

According to Pisarski's "Commuting in the Nineties," what is happening to the peak travel periods?

Back 21

The peaks are spreading because people are traveling earlier and later around those times.

Front 22

How many motor vehicles are there for each licensed driver?

Back 22

1.1 in 2001 -- the highest in the world. (Pucher and Renne, "Socioeconomics of Urban Travel: Evidence from the 2001 NHTS?")

Front 23

According to Pucher and Renne's "Socioeconomics of Urban Travel: Evidence from the 2001 NHTS," what is the main determinant of auto ownership?

Back 23

Income.

Front 24

In Pucher and Renne's "Socioeconomics of Urban Travel: Evidence from the 2001 NHTS," how does income affect transit mode?

Back 24

- The poor are eight times more likely to use buses.
- The affluent are three times more likely to use rail.
- Subway use is consistent across incomes.
- Walking declines with income.

Front 25

On what mode of travel do the elderly depend, according to Pucher and Renne's "Socioeconomics of Urban Travel: Evidence from the 2001 NHTS?"

Back 25

Automobile. (They also make over half of their automobile trips as drivers.)

Front 26

What four reasons do Blumenberg and Waller identify for the geographical isolation of the poor in "The Long Journey to Work: A Federal Transportation Policy for Working Families?"

Back 26

- Years of urban disinvestment
- Lack of affordable housing
- Residential segregation
- Lack of transportation options

Front 27

What four challenges do Blumenberg and Waller identify for working families in "The Long Journey to Work: A Federal Transportation Policy for Working Families?"

Back 27

- The spatial mismatch between suburban jobs and families living in the central city
- Fixed-route public transit is poorly suited to dispersed travel patterns
- The families tend to own older and less reliable cars
- Transit is burdensome due to time costs and lack of suitability to trip chaining

Front 28

According to Blumenberg and Waller in "The Long Journey to Work: A Federal Transportation Policy for Working Families?", what three strategies will link low-income workers with jobs?

Back 28

- Urban reinvestment
- Increasing housing mobility to let workers move closer to jobs
- Improving transportation mobility strategies

Front 29

According to Pisarski's "Commuting in the Nineties," what share of transit trips to work are made in New York City?

Back 29

38%.

Front 30

What three elements of modal distribution does Sheppard identify in "Modeling and Predicting Aggregate Flows?"

Back 30

- Number of trips generated by a place
- Attractiveness of a place (dependent on type of trip)
- Inhibiting factors from distance

Front 31

What are the three types of parking studies in Papacostas and Prevedouros' "Traffic Impact and Parking Studies?"

Back 31

- Comprehensive
- Limited
- Site-specific

Front 32

Name the three types of trip distribution models in Sheppard's "Modeling and Predicting Aggregate Flows."

Back 32

- Gravity
- Intervening opportunities
- Entropy

Front 33

According to Doyle and Taylor's "Variation in Metropolitan Travel Behavior by Sex and Ethnicity," where are single mothers most likely to live?

Back 33

In the central city (where trips are shorter).

Front 34

What are the three ways to collect data for parking studies in Papacostas and Prevedouros' "Traffic Impact and Parking Studies?"

Back 34

- Ins and outs (count all vehicles in the beginning, then count entering and exiting vehicles)
- Fixed period (count all vehicles in an area and repeat the count every 15-60 minutes)
- License plate surveys (get the license plate number for vehicles in every stall every 30 minutes)

Front 35

What percentage of adults have drivers' licenses?

Back 35

86% (89% men and 84% women).

Front 36

According to Pisarski's "Commuting int he Nineties," how do transit times compare with driving alone?

Back 36

The average transit travel time roughly doubles that of driving alone, with commuter rail having the longest travel times.

Front 37

What does Downs describe as the most powerful predictor of transit use in _Still Stuck in Traffic_?

Back 37

Area density.

Front 38

How do Meyer and Miller define spot speed data in _Urban Transportation Planning_?

Back 38

The amount of time is takes for a group of cars to travel a measured distance.

Front 39

What percentage of people drive alone to work according to Pisarski's "Commuting in the Nineties?"

Back 39

- 80% for metropolitan areas over 5 million
- 90% for metropolitan areas under 5 million

(Note that New York City, as always, skews the data.)

Front 40

What does Downs say in _Still Stuck in Traffic_ about how transit can contribute to congestion?

Back 40

- Buses (on which people make 60% of their transit trips) get stuck in traffic
- Buses impede traffic because of frequent stops and their size

Front 41

Why does Downs say in _Still Stuck in Traffic_ that reducing traffic congestion is not a valid reason for expanding transit capacity?

Back 41

Induced demand: increased transit capacity lowers congestion in the short run, but less congested freeways draws other drivers

Front 42

What is the incremental assignment approach in Sheppard's "Modeling and Predicting Aggregate Flows?"

Back 42

It allocates a limited number of trips at a time along the cheapest available route and updates data after each allocation so that the cheapest route available changes to reflect congestion.

Front 43

What is triple convergence (found in Downs' _Still Stuck in Traffic_)?

Back 43

People shifting from different times, different routes, and different modes of transportation to take advantage of expanded roadway capacity.

Front 44

What barriers prevent agencies from adopting advanced modeling practices?

Back 44

- Lack of evidence that the new practices would yield notably better forecasts
- Unavailability of software
- Resource and staff limitations
- Belief that current models do an adequate job

(Transportation Research Board, "Metropolitan Travel Forecasting")

Front 45

According to Cervero's "Are Induced Travel Studies Inducing Bad Investments?", what are two methodological problems with induced-demand studies?

Back 45

- Causality (does expanded road capacity cause higher traffic or vice versa?)
- Attribution (have studies specified events that have taken place between expanded road capacity and rising traffic?)

Front 46

What are some issues that Johnston identifies with transportation modeling in "The Urban Transportation Planning Process?"

Back 46

- Problem identification
- Formulation of objectives
- Data collection
- Generation of alternatives
- Definition of evaluation
- Alternatives are usually analyzed in terms of differences from the preferred plan
- Rarely considers equity or economic welfare
- Garbage in, garbage out

Front 47

According to the TRB "Metropolitan Travel Forecasting" report, what four improvements have agencies have made to four-step trip-based models?

Back 47

- Improved measures of arterial congestion
- Inclusion of highway and transit travel in trip distribution
- Improved modeling of non-motorized travel
- Improved sensitivity testing and testing of reasonableness of models based on what they currently observe

Front 48

In Sheppard's "Modeling and Predicting Aggregate Flows," what are the two most important factors in determining modal split?

Back 48

Differences in travel times and differences in costs.

Front 49

What are the four different types of sampling in Meyer and Miller's "Data Management and Use in Decision Making?"

Back 49

- Simple random sampling
- Sequential sampling
- Stratified random sample
- Cluster (area) random sampling

Front 50

What are the three basic tasks of transportation planning according to Sheppard's "Modeling and Predicting Aggregate Flows?"

Back 50

- Describing trips
- Discovering how traffic flows are related to geography
- Determine inequities associated

Front 51

What are some modeling innovations Koppelman describes in "Innovations in Traffic Modeling?"

Back 51

- Account for interactions among household members concerning travel purposes, modes, and destinations
- Account for temporal effects such as peak-period traffic
- Can provide better understanding of the complexity of human travel behavior
- Can take changes in land use into account

Front 52

How do intervening opportunity models differ from gravity models?

Back 52

- The in situ characteristics of a destination are simply measured as the number of opportunities available there.
- Distance is measured differently.

(Source?)

Front 53

What is Wardrop’s first principle of network equilibrium (mentioned in Sheppard's "Modeling and Predicting Aggregate Flows")?

Back 53

The perceived costs of travel between each origin and each destination are the same no matter which route travelers use. Travelers have no unused, cheaper alternative available.

("The journey times on all routes actually used are equal and less than those which would be experienced by a single vehicle on any unused route.")

Front 54

Since 1950, what percent of the labor force growth is due to women joining the labor force?

Back 54

50%. (Pisarski, "Commuting in the Nineties")

Front 55

What percentage of the U.S. labor force is foreign-born?

Back 55

16% for men and 12% for women. (Source?)

Front 56

According to Lave's "Love, Lies, and Transportation in LA," how do the average commutes for Los Angeles and New York compare?

Back 56

Los Angeles commutes are 29 minutes long, and New York's are 34 minutes long (on average).

Front 57

According to Downs in _Still Stuck in Traffic_, has expanding capacity reduced traffic congestion in the past?

Back 57

No -- the TTI reports high travel times for cities with a high percentage of transit riders.

Front 58

What does Down suggest to encourage greater use of current public transit in _Still Stuck in Traffic_?

Back 58

- Increasing density
- Increasing the cost of owning and operating private vehicles

Front 59

When in the day do most recreation trips take place?

Back 59

7-11 PM. (Barber, "Aggregate Characteristics of Urban Travel")

Front 60

According to Barber's "Aggregate Characteristics of Urban Travel," what issue does peaking play in congestion and capacity?

Back 60

- If existing capacity can only handle the average traffic, there will be tremendous delays at peak hours
- If enough capacity is provided for peak periods, there will be excess capacity for most of the day, leading to increased demand and eventually congestion.

Front 61

What examples of TDM (transportation demand management) does Barber provide in "Aggregate Characteristics of Urban Travel?"

Back 61

- Staggering work hours
- Ridesharing
- One-way streets
- Enforcing parking violations
- User parking costs

Front 62

Who is most likely to use transit at off-peak hours?

Back 62

Low-income people.

(Barber, "Aggregate Characteristics of Urban Travel.")

Front 63

What percentage of travel takes place on transit, according to Barber's "Aggregate Characteristics of Urban Travel?"

Back 63

Less than 10%.

Front 64

According to Barber's "Aggregate Characteristics of Urban Travel," what percentage of trips are by automobile?

Back 64

About 75%.

Front 65

At what time during the day do traffic peaks take place?

Back 65

7-9 AM and 4-6 PM (Barber, "Aggregate Characteristics of Urban Travel")

Front 66

In "Describing Disaggregate Flows," what reasons do Hanson and Schwab offer for using disaggregate data?

Back 66

- Constructing theories
- Analyzing policies and their effects

Front 67

What variables have the greatest effect on individual travel in Hanson and Schwab's "Describing Disaggregate Flows?"

Back 67

- Gender and employment status that describe individual roles within the household

(These have a greater effect than social status variables like income and occupation.)

Front 68

According to Pisarski's "Commuting in the Nineties," what explained the unexpected population growth in 2000?

Back 68

Immigration (concentrated in the 25-45 age group).

Front 69

What share of workers will be 65 or older in 2020 and 2030, according to Pisarski's "Commuting in the Nineties?"

Back 69

16% in 2020 and 20% in 2030. (The percentage is 13% in 2000.)

Front 70

What percentage of trips are working, shopping, and social?

Back 70

10-15% each. (Barber, "Aggregate Characteristics of Urban Travel")

Front 71

What is the most important travel destination according to Barber's "Aggregate Characteristics of Urban Travel"?

Back 71

The home, with 40% of trips.

Front 72

Five characteristics of urban travel… (Barber)

Back 72

1) Trip purpose, 2) Temporal distribution, 3) Modal split, 4) Distribution trip lengths, 5) Spatial pattern of trip making

Front 73

What share of immigrants live in central cities?

Back 73

Around 30% live in central cities; over time, they move to suburbs. (Handy, "Key Findings on Immigrant Travel")

Front 74

Who has the longest commute time? (Doyle, Taylor)

Back 74

Married fathers (longer commute by choice), urban single mothers (transit-dependent, spatial mismatch)

Front 75

How is trip utility measured? (Barber)

Back 75

Trip’s desirability à depends on activity, purpose, traveler, time, cost and distance

Front 76

Changing household roles (Rosenbloom)

Back 76

Women more likely to make stops on way home from work; women still do majority of housework; since 1980s, men participate in more traditionally female chores; 71% of married women + 82% of single mothers with children under 18 are employed full-time

Front 77

Do single fathers and mothers have similar travel patterns? (Rosenbloom)

Back 77

NO. Single fathers and mothers have different family sizes; more men are full-time; men earn more; different activity, travel decisions; even w/ lower incomes, female single parents make more trips and are more constrained by children’s needs

Front 78

What share of trips are for shopping, personal, and HH-serving purposes? (Doyle and Taylor)

Back 78

50% trips for men; 70% trips for women… leads to more trip-chaining among women

Front 79

Why is transit so insignificant in U.S.?

Back 79

Most Americans live in low density areas (need 7 units/acre of 4200+/sq. mile to support most transit); traveling in POVs offers advantages

Front 80

According to Handy's "Key Findings on Immigrant Travel," what fraction of transit riders in Los Angeles are immigrants?

Back 80

Two thirds.

Front 81

What immigrant groups carpool the most/least?

Back 81

Most: Mexicans, 29%; least: Iranians = 11%

Front 82

What share of daily local travel in 2001 was by car?

Back 82

86%. (Pucher and Renne, "Socioeconomics of Urban Travel")

Front 83

What are weaknesses with primary methodology for analyzing aggregate flows and forecasting (Mitchelson)

Back 83

1) Goals are unstated or not specific enough—better goals would be “goo” level of accessibility, energy conservation, service to elderly, etc. 2) Gravity model’s impedance factors for trip duration are based on car travel; 3) Impedance mechanism based on fixed trip duration à factors are descriptive instead of causal

Front 84

What do all MPOs require as input to travel forecasting process?

Back 84

Population, households, and employment. (TRB, "Metropolitan Travel Forecasting.")

Front 85

How many trip purposes used in large MPOs?

Back 85

9 purposes in large MPOs, fewer in smaller

Front 86

Interest in time/cost/distance of urban trips and twofold

Back 86

1) Data on time/cost used to forecast travel, 2) principal motivation behind new investments is savings in travel times

Front 87

What federal requirements mandate regional transportation planning?

Back 87

Clear Air Act of 1970s: required states to adopt State Implementation Plans (STP)

1977 amendment to Clean Air Act: required all regional transportation plans to show attainment of emissions reductions in STP through modeling of travel and vehicle emissions

Clear Air Act of 1990: tied funding to actual attainment

Surface Transportation Act 1991: reinforced Clean Air Act, emphasized multi-modal planning, public participation, interagency consultation

Front 88

What is transportation asset management?

Back 88

Decision-making process for making cost-effective decisions for managing assets; inventory data, attribute data, performance prediction models, alternative selection models, priority assessment methods, validation procedures

Front 89

Why do women have shorter commutes?

Back 89

1) Lower skill jobs w/ lower wages; 2) Constraints due to HH responsibilities; 3) women’s jobs more spatially ubiquitous; 4) employers who need women locate near them; 5) spatial mismatch: minority women commute just as long as men; 6) mode differences

Front 90

What is most effective method of serving disadvantaged populations?

Back 90

Invest in improving safety, convenience, feasibility of walking in cities, poor concentrated in inner cities; transit trips necessitate walking

Front 91

What share of CA’s population is composed of immigrants?

Back 91

About 25%

Front 92

What are the most important service characteristics (Barber)?

Back 92

Average speed of mode and ability to offer accessibility throughout city

Front 93

Which immigrants use car more than natives?

Back 93

Korean, Vietnamese, Iranian, and Taiwanese

Front 94

What percentage of Americans live in HH with at least one other worker?

Back 94

About 70%; foreign-born constitute about 5% of workers living in HH with 3+ workers

Front 95

5 Gender trends?

Back 95

1) Women make more trips but fewer miles; 2) Women less likely to be licensed; 3) More likely to make trip for purpose of serving passenger; 4) More likely to link or chain trips together; 5) Less likely to have car crashes, but more likely to be injured

Front 96

What are personal vehicle use rates in cities vs. suburbs?

Back 96

81% vs. 91% largely attributable to transit

Front 97

Which groups retain higher rates of transit?

Back 97

Hispanics; although assimilate into auto use quickly b/c of demands of employment

Front 98

What are Rosenbloom's three major findings on gender and travel behavior in "Understanding Women's and Men’s Travel Patterns: The Research Challenge"?

Back 98

- Although men and women's behavior is converging, they are still far from equal and trends toward convergence are slowing
- Disaggregate data suggest that, when other variables are controlled, major differences appear
- Most underlying variables (household role, income) are closely linked to gender

Front 99

What states had more than 10% of workers commuting over an hour?

Back 99

NY, NJ, MD, IL, almost CA

Front 100

What is the state of commercial and freight models?

Back 100

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT; lack data within beyond metro area; only modeled by ½ small MPS; 80% of large MPOS model some trips

Front 101

What are some suggestions for travel forecasting improvement?

Back 101

- Less k factors
- Address freight and commercial travel
- More validation including historic data and backcasting - More sensitivity assumptions independent of model

Front 102

What are some weaknesses of current transportation modeling practice?

Back 102

- Weakness of models
- Errors introduced by modeling practice
- Lack of or questionable reliability of data
- Biases arising from institutional climate in which models are used

Front 103

What percentage of women are in the labor force?

Back 103

(2002) 62% of women 16 or older
(2002) 75% of women 25-34
(2001) 70% of women 45-54

Front 104

What are some weaknesses of the four-step model process?

Back 104

- Inability to represent individual decisions
- Effects of value of time and reliability
- Continuous time of day variations in travel
- Goods movement
- Other issues: pricing, time policies, hourly speeds, improvements in traffic operations, non-motorized travel, peak spreading

Front 105

What about older women?

Back 105

1) Older women self-regulate more; 2) older women (65+) constitute 80% of all elderly who live alone, don’t have driver’s license, exist below poverty, have no access to HH driver; 65+ take at least 88% trips in private auto; Most of these HH in low-density by suburbs or rural where transit not available

Front 106

What is systematic optimism bias?

Back 106

Overestimating performance (transit, full roads)

Front 107

What is the ecological fallacy in disaggregate flows?

Back 107

Assuming that relationships that exist at the aggregate level exist at the disaggregate level

Front 108

According to "The People who use transit," what is the order of
"peaked modes?"

Back 108

burban RR (78% of trips taken in peak period), Subway/elevated (67%), and bus (56%)

Front 109

How does occupation affect transit use?

Back 109

White collar workers more likely to use transit b/c clerical & sales jobs tend to be concentrated in central cities while blue collar jobs are located in suburbs (plus factory jobs unionized, which leads to higher incomes & car ownership)

Front 110

Is the gender gap more pronounced in commute distance or time?

Back 110

Distance (20% vs. 11%)

Front 111

What percentage of workers work a “normal” working schedule (33-40 hrs/week)?

Back 111

50%

Front 112

What is the geographical distribution of urban population growth?

Back 112

50% of pop growth in suburbs, 30% in central city, and 20% in nonmetro areas

Front 113

Put the following in order in terms of growth (1969-2001) from low to high: drivers, households, vehicles, population, workers

Back 113

Population, households, drivers, workers, vehicles