Travel demand and response analysis—Some integrating themes

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Travel demand and response analysis—Some integrating themes

Williams, Huw / de Dios Ortuzar, Juan

Abstract In spite of the intensive study of urban transportation and the use of demand models over two decades, we would argue that relatively little is known of the response of travellers—and more generally an urban system—to different policy measures. The failure to produce a testable body of knowledge associated with demand and response models has led, among other reasons, to a disintegration of faith in model based forecasts and a fragmentation of the field into many research areas which relate to the understanding of traveller behaviour and its adaptation in a changing environment. This is proving as stimulating to resarchers as it is frustrating to practitioners who seek to identify “best practise”. In this paper we examine certain integrating themes in the development, specification and use of models with particular reference to the critical environment within which both research and practise are conducted. The themes include: an identification of alternative models and methods of analysis for generating comparable information; the general relationship between descriptions, explanations and forecasts of travel behaviour; and the issue of model design. Within these general contexts we shall make special reference to aspects of British practice.