The Effects of Land Use Patterns on Tour Type Choice. The Application of a Hybrid Choice Model

The relations between travel behavior and land use patterns have been the object of intensive research in the last two decades. Due to their immediate policy implications, mode choice and vehicle miles of travel (VMT) have been the main focus of attention. Other relevant dimensions, like trip chaining, tour type choice, and number of tours have received less attention. This work aims to contribute to the research dealing with the role of land use patterns on tour type choice. To pursue this objective, a tour type choice is modeled using a hybrid choice model that allows simulating the effect of the latent propensity to travel in the discrete choice among types of tours. This model is applied to a travel diary of workers collected in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in 2009. Different model specifications were built, testing the inclusion of purportedly built land use factors, which have the advantage of better capture the multidimensionality of urban environment, or land use variables, or a combination of both. The obtained results point to the existence of significant effects on tour type choice due to land use patterns. Land use patterns influence not only the utility functions but also the propensity to travel. Workers who reside in more central, mixed and traditional urban spaces tend to have a higher propensity to travel. Workers who live in more diverse areas have a higher probability of engaging in more complex work related tours. Working in more suburban areas reduces the probability of engaging in more complex tours.