Coast-to-coast comparison of time use and activity patterns

Activity-based travel analysis has been gaining increasing attention in travel demand research during the past decade. Activity and trip information collected at the person level aids in understanding the underlying behavioral patterns of individuals and the interactions among their activities and trips. Activity and time use patterns across geographical contexts are compared. Such a comparison could shed light on the differences and similarities in travel behavior that exist between areas. To accomplish this objective, activity, travel, and time use information derived from surveys conducted in the San Francisco Bay and Miami areas has been analyzed to identify differences in activity engagement patterns across different sample groups. In general, it was found that activity and time use patterns are comparable across the two areas as long as the commuting status and demographic characteristics of the individuals are controlled for. In addition, the time-of-day distributions of various events such as wake-up time, sleeping time, time of departure and arrival at home, and work start and end times were compared. These events were considered important in defining the temporal constraints under which people exercise activity and travel choices. Once again, it was found that the distributions followed similar trends as long as the commuting status and the demographic characteristics of the individual were controlled for. However, there were noticeable differences that merit further investigation.