Assessing the Impact of Public Holidays on Travel Time Expenditure

Abstract

The impact of public holidays on the underlying reasons for travel behavior, namely, the activities people perform and the trips made, is seldom investigated. Therefore, the effect of holidays on travel time expenditure in Flanders, differentiated by trip motive, is examined. The data used for the analysis stem from a household travel survey carried out in 2000. The zero-inflated Poisson regression approach is used; it explicitly takes into account the inherent contrast between travelers and nontravelers. The zero-inflated Poisson regression models yield findings that are harmonious with international literature: sociodemographic variables, temporal effects, and transportation preferences contribute significantly to unraveling the variability of travel behavior. In particular, it is shown that the effect of public holidays on daily travel behavior cannot be ignored. Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative techniques is a solid basis for insight into the underpinnings of travel behavior.