Travel behavior

Travel behavior is the study of what people do over space, and how people use transport. The questions studied in travel behavior are broad, and are very much related to activity analysis and time use studies.

• How many trips do people make?
• Where do they go? (What is the destination?)
• What mode do they take?
• Who accompanies whom?
• When is the trip made? What is the schedule?
• What is the sequence or pattern of trips?
• What route do people take?
• Why do people travel? (Why can't people stay at home and telecommute or teleshop?)

These questions can be answered descriptively using a travel diary, often part of a travel survey or travel behavior inventory. Large metropolitan areas typically only do such surveys once every decade, though some cities are conducting panel surveys, which track the same people year after year.

That data is generally used to estimate transport planning models, so that transport analysts can make predictions about people who haven't been surveyed. This is important in forecasting traffic, which depends on future changes to road networks, land use patterns, and policies.