Effects of land use patterns on tour type choice : Application of a hybrid choice model

The relationships between travel behavior and land use patterns have been the object of intensive research in the past two decades. Because of their immediate policy implications, mode choice and vehicle miles traveled have been the main focus of attention. Other relevant dimen-sions, such as trip chaining, tour type choice, and number of tours, have received less attention. This paper contributes to research dealing with the role of land use patterns in tour type choice. A tour type choice is modeled with 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, Portugal, metropolitan area in 2009. Various model specifications were built and tested the inclusion of purportedly built land use factors, which have the advantage of better capturing the multidimensionality of the urban environment or land use variables, or a combination of these. The results show significant effects on tour type choice related to land use patterns. Land use patterns influence not only the utility functions but also the propensity to travel. Workers who reside in 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 suburban areas reduces the probability of engaging in more complex tours.