Transport Research Needs

Transport is a large, multidisciplinary and fascinating field, encompassing vastly different areas of research. In fact transport interests span from not very well understood (in fieldwork) issues related with survey methods to highly complex questions associated with the dynamic equilibration of supply and demand in strategic planning contexts; the latter involving large zoning systems, huge multimodal networks and highly complex dynamic modelling approaches (Mahmassani, 2001). But questions also arise at a more macro level (and in a different time span) regarding the interaction of transport and land use, and also at the more micro level with the dynamics of road traffic and public transport modelling, an area which is particularly interesting due to its high complexity in less developed nations (de Cea et al., 2005). We do not have the expertise or the space to dwell on all these issues. For these reasons, in this chapter we will just concentrate on issues related with modelling the demand for travel in the relatively short term. In particular, we will refer to modelling discrete short-term choices, such as mode, route and/or trip timing; although in our analysis we will pay attention to research and policies oriented to eco-sustainable transport, we will not cover broader issues of recent interest such as ‘behave green’ (which may span from choosing green holidays to choosing eco-food).