Travel Characteristics on Weekends: Implications for Planning and Policy Making Ram M. Pendyala Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of South Florida, Tampa Ashish Agarwal Cambridge Systematics, Cambridge, MA National Household Travel Survey Conference November 1-2, 2004 Washington, D.C.
Introduction Focus of travel demand analysis: Weekday travel behavior (typical) Weekday peak period travel demand Strategies to alleviate weekday peak period congestion Travel surveys heavily oriented towards weekday trip data collection Little attention, if any, paid to weekend travel demand characteristics
Motivation Growing congestion on weekends Different nature and spatial-temporal characteristics of trips on weekends Meeting people s weekend travel needs Infrastructure Strategies and policies Address explicitly in planning process
Motivation NCHRP 365 resource for estimating travel demand in urban areas Based on 1990 NPTS data Provides detailed travel demand characteristics for weekdays Update information using 2001 NHTS and supplement weekday information with weekend data
2001 NHTS: Sample Characteristics Characteristic Households Persons Hhld Size Auto Ownership # Drivers % Sngl Fam DU % $25K-$55K % MSA > 1 mil % Zero Travel Weekday 14,470 (60.6 mil) 32,917 (153.9 mil) 2.52 1.79 1.73 60.3% 35.5% 66% 5.8% Weekend 5,318 (24.8 mil) 12,262 (63.3 mil) 2.56 1.84 1.75 60.8% 36.0% 65% 8.4%
2001 NHTS: Sample Characteristics Characteristic Age in years % Female % Coll Degree % Worker Weekday 35.3 51.3% 32.8% 52.8% Weekend 35.3 51.3% 31.8% 52.3%
Household and Person Trip Rates 10 9 8 Weekday Weekend 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Prsn Trips/Hhld Veh Trips/Hhld Prsn Trips/Male Prsn Trips/Female Veh Trips/Male Veh Trips/Female
Distribution of Person Trips by Purpose 35 30 Weekday Weekend Percent of Trips 25 20 15 10 5 0 HBW HBShop HBSoc HBOther NHB
Average Trip Length by Purpose Trip Miles (Length) and Minutes (Duration 25 20 15 10 5 0 Weekday Trip Length Weekend Trip Length Weekday Trip Duration Weekend Trip Duration HBW HBShop HBSoc HBOther NHB
Daily VMT/PMT/PTT by Purpose Daily Miles or Minutes 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Weekday Hhld VMT Weekend Hhld VMT Weekday Prsn PMT Weekend Prsn PMT Weekday Prsn PTT Weekend Prsn PTT HBW HBShop HBSoc HBOther NHB All
Daily VMT/PMT/PTT by Gender 35 30 Weekday Weekend 25 Daily Miles 20 15 10 5 0 Male VMT Female VMT Male PMT Female PMT
Mode Split: MSA Size 1-3 million Percent of Trips 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Weekday HBW Weekend HBW Weekday All Weekend All 0 SOV HOV Bus/LRT Metro/Hvy Rail Com Rail Walk Bicycle
Mode Split: MSA Size 3 mil w/hvy Rail Percent of Trips 70 60 50 40 30 20 Weekday HBW Weekend HBW Weekday All Weekend All 10 0 SOV HOV Bus/LRT Metro/Hvy Rail Com Rail Walk Bicycle
Average Vehicle Occupancy by Purpose Average Vehicle Occupancy 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 Weekday Weekend 0 HBW HBShop HBSoc HBOther NHB All
Time of Day Distribution of Trips 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% Weekday HBW Weekend HBW Weekday All Weekend All 9:00 PM 10:00 PM 11:00 PM Percent of Trips 12:00 AM 1:00 AM 2:00 AM 3:00 AM 4:00 AM 5:00 AM 6:00 AM 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:00 PM
9:00 PM 10:00 PM 11:00 PM Time of Day Distribution of Trips 10 9 8 7 Weekday Male Weekend Male Weekday Female Weekend Female 6 5 4 Percent of Trips 3 2 1 12:00 AM 1:00 AM 2:00 AM 3:00 AM 4:00 AM 5:00 AM 6:00 AM 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:00 PM 0
Daily Activity and Travel Durations (min) Category Subsistence Maintenance Recreational Social Weekday Activity Travel 289 20 64 26 15 4 32 5 Weekend Activity Travel 71 5 88 29 19 5 93 13.5
Weekend Travel Demand Weekend travel behavior characterized by: Larger amounts of non-work travel Longer trip lengths, but shorter trip durations Lower levels of daily VMT and PMT Substantially lower SOV and higher HOV mode shares (higher auto occupancy rates) Flat and wide midday peak in temporal distribution Noticeable differences between weekday and weekend travel
Conclusions NHTS is a powerful resource for analyzing/ modeling weekend travel demand Special considerations for weekend travel modeling: Time of day distribution Auto occupancy joint trip making Activity type choice Location choice Activity duration to travel duration ratio Explore trip chaining patterns in detail
Implications Development of parallel stream of weekend activity-travel models Interdependency between weekday and weekend activity and travel engagement Towards models of weekly (or multiday) activity-travel behavior Consideration for making NHTS a multiday travel survey weekend and weekday data
Policy Considerations Land use transport infrastructure, travel choices, and public health Social and recreational activity engagement higher on weekends; greater scope for active living Examine auto dependency on weekends Equity/access considerations access to jobs Weekend travel greater proportion that offers positive utility? Congestion mitigation in non-work locations