Travel and activity time allocation: An empirical comparison between eight cities in Europe

A study of daily time allocation to travel and out-of-home activity is conducted across eight European cities over three countries: France (Lyon, Grenoble, Strasbourg and Rennes), Switzerland (Geneva, Bern and Zurich) and Belgium (Brussels), based on individual travel survey data collected between 1997 and 2006. The effects of socio-demographic, spatial context, transport availability and city-specific variables are investigated thanks to the Cox proportional hazard model. The results indicate that socio-demographic characteristics and city (or country) specific effect play a major role while residential density and proximity to high level road or public transport networks have a very limited impact on time budgets for travel and out-of-home activities.

Research Highlights►Out-of-home activity and travel data across eight cities (France, Switzerland, Belgium). ►Duration models at the individual level of travel and out-of-home activity time budgets and trip durations. ►Influence of socio-demographic, spatial context, transport availability and city-specifics. ►Socio-demographic characteristics and city (or country) specific effect play a major role.