A multidimensional mixed ordered-response model for analyzing weekend activity participation

The objective of this paper is to examine the frequency of participation of individuals in out-of-home non-work and non-school episodes over the weekend. A multivariate mixed ordered response formulation accommodating the effects of explanatory variables and capturing the dependence among the propensity to participate in different activity types is presented and applied using a San Francisco Bay area travel survey conducted in 2000. The results indicate the important effects of household sociodemographics (income, household structure, and bicycle ownership), individual sociodemographics (age, employment status, gender, and availability of driver's license), internet use, location effects, and day of week/seasonal effects. Interestingly, the results show that motorized vehicle ownership and urban form characteristics of the individual's neighborhood (land-use mix and density) do not have a statistically significant effect on stop-making propensity for any of the activity purposes. The lack of effects of these variables may be due to self-selection of individuals and households into neighborhoods based on their travel preferences. That is, individuals and households may locate themselves based on their motorized vehicle ownership preferences and mobility preferences. In addition to the effect of several variables on stop-making, the model also reveals substitution and complementarity effects among different activity types due to unobserved factors. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.