Multivariate Analysis of Trip-Chaining Behavior

This paper examines the relationship between patterns of trip chaining and urban form. The goal is to examine whether lower density environments are related to more frequent reliance upon trip chaining and more complex tours. The analysis uses the 2001 National Household Travel Survey to evaluate household individual travel and trip characteristics alongside a basic measure of residential density. Two estimation techniques, the ordered probit and the negative binomial model, are used to evaluate the factors associated with the tendency to combine trips into more complex tours, measured as the number of stops. The results indicate that, accounting for key household and traveler characteristics, lower density environments lead both to a greater reliance upon trip chaining and to tours that involve more stops along the way. This is followed by a household level analysis of tour generation. Crane and Krizek have suggested that more accessible areas will tend to generate more tours. However, we found no evidence for this in our analysis.