Induced Travel

Question 1

What is action space?

Answer 1

• The set of spatial opportunities available to an individual
• Defined by three constraints:
  o Capacity constraints: Time and monetary budgets
  o Coupling constraints: Restrictions on linking of activities.
  o Institutional constraints: Opening hours or fees.

Question 2

What is UMOT?

Answer 2

• Is the Unified Mechanism of Travel theory. This theory establish that all households have a monetary and time budget that influence their mobility decisions. Additionally, it states that the change of this budget available for transport can change at a very slow rate. Finally, the goal of each household is to maximize their spatial opportunities within their travel budget.

Question 3

What is induced travel (explain with diagram)

Answer 3

• Induced travel is the increase in travel demand resulting from a improvement in the transportation system (decreases of generalized cost of travel).
• It is the combined effect of land development decisions and the individual travel choices as a response to the improved situation.

Question 4

Different level of induced travel. Can they be represented in model?

Answer 4

• Near term mobility decisions (1st level) such as:
  o Destination choice: Choosing more distant activity locations
  o Trip generation: Doing more frequent activities.
• Long term mobility decisions (2nd level):
  o Car ownership
  o Land use changes: Choosing more distant residential locations.
• Yes, they can be represented in a model by introducing a feedback cycle that model the impacts of congestion on travel behaviours and long-term transport & land use decisions.

Question 5

What is the elasticity of induced demand and induced investment

Answer 5

• The elasticities are born from the problem of identifying cause effect relationship between supply and travel demand.
• The elasticity of induced demand is measured as the change on VMT with the change in lane miles from the new project or to the benefit od time acquired by the project. I.d=0.6
• Elasticity of induced investment is measured by the relationship between traffic demand and road capacity built. I.i=0.3