Route choice behavior in a radial structured urban network: Do people choose the orbital or the route through the city center?

We use a license plate survey to study route choice through the city center of a medium-sized Dutch city, in which car drivers can basically choose between the orbital and center ring. For a sample of 1397 trips, we fitted a multinomial logit regression model. According to this model, route choice is relatively little influenced by actual travel time. This corresponds with the fact that many drivers did not choose the shortest time route. Travel distance in combination with one “route type velocity” for all orbital routes, and one route type velocity for all center routes is the most decisive factor. The route type velocity indicates how fast and attractive routes of that type are (being perceived). The results support the hypothesis that orbital routes are more attractive as these routes avoid the busy city center. This effect is however partly offset by the fact that drivers also prefer routes in the direction of their destination. These direct routes are mainly center routes. The results show the importance of considering complete routes in relation to their location and not only as a set of links and nodes when modeling route choice.