The effect of psychological traits on mode choice behaviour: an application to a new water transit system in Seoul, Korea

Abstract

In this paper, we use revealed preference (RP), stated preference (SP) and attitudinal survey data to analyse the behaviour changes caused by a new water transit system on the Han River in Seoul, Korea and to identify the effects of psychological traits on mode choice behaviour. The results confirm that conventional variables, such as individual, household and mode attributes, are significant for mode choice, and that the latent variables, including water transit preference, environmental preferences, comfort and attitudes towards driving and haste, are also very important. In addition, by comparing the estimated scale parameters among a number of scenarios, we also observed the additional impacts of these effects. The latent traits had a more substantial impact on actual mode choice behaviour than on hypothetical behaviour. We systematically captured the taste variation with respect to travellers' latent traits, finding that these significantly reduce or increase the disutility produced by a travel time or cost increase. This heterogeneity was also confirmed in the different willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures at different levels of each latent trait.