Transferability of Mode Choice Models of Urban Travel

Transferability is an important issue in travel demand analysis and forecasting. Without transferability in time, the use of models for forecasting has no foundation; without transferability between regions, models developed in one region cannot be applied elsewhere; and without transferability of models from one part of a region to another part of the same region, taste and value differences then would make the use of models a fortuitous exercise. In sum, if transferability of models of travel behavior is not observed, the content of the underlying theory does not have a firm basis. The task in this chapter is to conduct a series of tests to examine whether transferability of extant mode choice models is a reasonably maintained hypothesis.