Graduation Year

2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.S.C.E.

Degree Granting Department

Civil Engineering

Major Professor

Ram M. Pendyala, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Steven E. Polzin, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Jian J. Lu, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Xuehao Chu, Ph.D.

Keywords

national household travel survey, nationwide personal transportation survey, budget, discretionary travel, socio-demographic

Abstract

Literature on transportation planning and modeling is replete with the concept of a travel time budget. According to this concept, average daily travel times tend to be relatively constant. However, evidence from the 1983 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey and the 2001 National Household Travel Survey suggest that the average daily travel time has increased by 1.9 minutes per year.

Understanding travel time expenditures is important for forecasting travel demand, especially future vehicle miles of travel. Historically, travel demand models considered vehicle availability and income as limiting factors for travel, but going forward time may be the constraint. As individuals spend more time devoted to travel, less time will be available for other activities. Therefore, future travel demand is dependent on people's willingness to spend time traveling.

Growth of travel demand has been per capita based not just population based. This has been enabled by several cultural trends, including fewer children to care for; specialization of activities; multitasking during travel, for example, cell phone use can add value to travel time; seeking socialization away from home; and increases in real income enabling more activity participation.

This study will report the increase in average daily travel time expenditures and analyze the increase by various demographic segments of the population. Travel time expenditures are also related to activity participation, the characteristics of the area, and many other interrelated factors at the person level. Aggregate values will be used to investigate the general relationships between daily travel time expenditures and socio-demographic characteristics.

Careful consideration of the implications of the increase in travel time, as well as the changes in society that have contributed to these changes will be explored. The increase in travel time expenditures is likely to play a significant role in future travel demand growth in the United States and will impact the performance of the transportation system going forward. If travel time expenditures continue to grow, the hope for slowing VMT growth may not materialize. Understanding the mechanics of why people are traveling more will aid planners and modelers in estimating future travel demand.

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