ROUTE CHOICE ANALYZED WITH STATED-PREFERENCE APPROACHES

Abstract

An application of scenario-based, or stated-preference, survey and analysis techniques is described in the context of cyclists' route choice. Route choice modeling with observed choice data is hampered by the cost of processing network data and by the difficulty of assessing the alternative routes and the perceived attributes of the routes considered by individual travelers. An alternative approach is to obtain stated evaluations of well-defined hypothetical routes. Such data were collected from commuting cyclists in the city of Delft in the Netherlands and analyzed by using functional measurement to estimate the relative importance placed on such route attributes as time, traffic level, and surface quality. Though the techniques used are well founded in the marketing and psychology literature, the route choice context raises issues that are particularly important for their application in transport analysis. A case study of the application of stated-preference techniques to route choice is discussed and empirical results obtained for urban bicycle trips are presented.