Activity sequencing, location, and formation of individual non-mandatory tours: application to the activity-based models for Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, OH

Most of the earlier activity based models (ABMs) largely relied on a tour-based modeling paradigm which explicitly predicts tour frequency and then adds details including stop frequency, order, and location of stops within each tour. The current study is part of new tour formation design framework for an ABM in which the underlying tour structure and the stop frequency within tours emerge from temporal, sequencing, and locational preferences of activities that the traveler intends to participate during the day. In order to do this, the study developed a modified rank-ordered logit (ROL) framework that is capable of modeling sequence, locations, as well as the underlying tour structure of all activity episodes simultaneously in an integrated manner. Model estimation with the household survey data, provided several important behavioral insights into underlying choices that drive tour formation. Specifically, the study uncovered pairwise ordering preferences among episodes of different activity purposes, clustering tendencies among episodes of same activity purpose, the impact of supply side activity opportunities on the location and sequence choice dimensions, and impedance effects (including distance and mode and time-of-day logsums) on location and tour break dimensions. The developed models are incorporated in the operational ABM structure adopted for three major cities (Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati) in Ohio.