Accessibility and the role of the Consideration Set in Spatial Choice Modelling: A Simulation Study

The paper presents a simulation analysis of the effects of geographical accessibility on consideration and choice in the context of motorists' decisions where to refuel. It simulates a grid road network where the motorists' access to petrol stations is constrained by the geographical location of the alternatives, the availability of network connections between them and the decision makers' time budgets. In this hypothetical spatial environment the study simulates consideration and choice processes for refuelling options under different conditions of petrol station access, (non-spatial) station attractiveness, and heterogeneity in the decision maker's time budget.