On Modeling Departure-Time Choice for Home-Based Social/Recreational and Shopping Trips

Abstract

The existing literature on departure-time choice has primarily focused on work trips. Departure-time choice for nonwork trips, which constitute an increasingly large proportion of urban trips, is examined. Discrete choice models are estimated for home-based social/recreational and home-based shopping trips using the 1996 activity survey data collected in the Dallas—Fort Worth metropolitan area. The effects of individual and household sociodemographics, employment attributes, and trip characteristics on departure-time choice are presented and discussed. The results indicate that departure-time choice for social/recreational trips and shopping trips is determined for the most part by individual or household sociodemographics and employment characteristics, and to a lesser extent by trip level-of-service characteristics. This suggests that departure times for social/recreational and shopping trips are not as flexible as one might expect and are confined to certain times of day because of overall scheduling constraints. Future methodological and empirical extensions of the current research are identified.

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