THE DETERMINANTS OF DAILY TRAVEL-ACTIVITY PATTERNS: RELATIVE LOCATION AND SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS

Abstract

In an effort to explore the determinants of urban travel behavior, this paper examines the effects of two sets of variables on different aspects of individuals' complex travel-activity patterns: (1) sociodemographic variables (attributes of the individual and household) and (2) spatial variables (the location of the individual relative to potential destinations). The paper reviews earlier work that has investigated the relationships between these factors and travel and finds that (1) studi,es investigating the impact of sociodemographics on travel have generally not controlled for variation in spatial constraints and (2) few empirical studies have examined the relationship between travel and spatial constraints. Using the Uppsala travel-diary data, this study assesses the role of spatial and sociodemographic factors in explaining each of a number of different aspects of travel (e.g., frequency of travel, dispersion of destinations visited). The significance of the regression coefficients in stepwise regre...