TACA Sim: a survey for adaptability assessment

Uncertainty of future fuel supplies and a requirement to reduce green house gas emissions are two pressures that may cause significant travel behavior change in the long-term. Understanding how people can change to carry out their activities without using a car; i.e. how adaptable they are, and how this adaptability depends on urban from, will aid local authorities planners and policy makers to develop transport systems and urban forms that are resilient to fuel shortages and high prices.This paper describes TACA Sim online travel survey in which one of the questions was “Could you get to the activity another way” The answer to this question for each trip taken was used to measure the adaptability of the survey participant. The results from a case study of two areas: the city of Christchurch and the small rural town of Oamaru showed that most participants did have another transport mode. Although participants were given the option of participating in the activity without travelling (i.e. working from home) this choice was not a popular alternative. From comparison between two groups, the surveyed group in Oamaru had a lower adaptability than the surveyed group in Christchurch, primarily due to the lack of public transport services in Oamaru. The results from this study are expected to contribute Oamaru authorities in improving local transport services and long-term planning for resilient urban form in the future

Travel adaptive capacity assessment for particular geographic, demographic and activity cohorts. NZ Transport Agency research report 486

Transport infrastructure and network planning must now consider oil shocks and future demand growth for more energy efficient transport modes. However, data and models for this type of fuel reduction planning are not available. Travel adaptive capacity is proposed as a measure of the resilience of travel demand to a reduction in fuel use for personal vehicle trips while not reducing participation in activities. Travel adaptive potential characterises the ways that populations can change modes to reduce fuel use without reducing participation in activities. The travel adaptive capacity assessment (TACA) survey can capture the data needed to assess adaptive capacity and the preferred mode alternatives. The survey asks for the essentiality of each trip and the alternative travel modes currently available. TACA surveys were carried out in Christchurch, Oamaru and Dunedin. Over 550 participants completed the survey in 2008–2010. The survey participant demographics, trip generation and mode data compared well with government data. The report found that for these three South Island centres, some adaptive capacity is possible, with Christchurch participants showing the greatest adaptive capacity. The TACA survey is a useful tool for further research into travel behaviour and mode choice

Travel Adaptive Capacity Assessment Simulation (TACA Sim)

More than 95% of fuel used for personal transportation is petroleum-based (Environment and Development Division (EDD), 2005). The peak and decline of world oil production is producing price and uncertainty pressures that may cause significant travel behaviour change in the future. Current travel behaviour has developed during conditions of low cost fuel and government investment in private vehicle mobility. Current urban forms and land use have also been developed during a period of growth in vehicle travel demand. Research that explores the long term (permanent oil supply reduction period) implications of reduced fuel demand on private travel behaviour is needed. Local and national government investments in transport infrastructure and urban development will be used and require maintenance for decades. Research is needed to assess long-term mode choice and car travel demand as a function of urban form and demographic indicators. This type of travel behaviour adaptive potential should be relevant to transport planning decision making. Literature review shows that there are a few available long-term planning methods, models, or tools in transportation engineering for future oil depletion. Transportation engineers need information of how current travel demand patterns may change over the lifetime of infrastructure investments in response to oil supply depletion. Behaviour change data for long term future situations would be difficult to obtain using traditional survey methods because most people have never experienced oil depletion situations. This research proposes that immersing people into the situation of oil depletion through sharp price rise would be necessary to generate relevant behaviour change decisions. The thesis is that the long term behaviour change can be assessed by characterising current adaptive capacity. Adaptive capacity is defined in this thesis as the travel demand pattern with maximum fuel reduction without reducing participation in activities. The reasons why people might change travel demand to reduce fuel use is not part of the definition. This research also proposed that an immersive sim game environment could be used to prompt behaviour change decisions relating to fuel price shocks. Research into sim game surveys and travel behaviour surveys was used to inform the design of a Transport Adaptive Capacity Assessment (TACA) Sim survey tool. The TACA Sim survey was designed to assess capacity to adapt travel behaviour to reduce fuel use, and to characterise the potential for mode change. Participants experience the TACA Sim survey as a self assessment or transport energy audit. The survey provides a personal feel, focuses on the usual weekly activities, and provides feedback to participants about their fuel use and car dependence. Participants supply their normal travel activities over a week, and three weeks of sim play includes a steep fuel price rise while people are allowed to change their travel behaviour in response. The TACA Sim survey was evaluated through a case study of surveys of staff and students at the University of Canterbury. A second version of the TACA survey was developed that surveyed the one week of normal travel, but then probed adaptive capacity by asking a simple question after each travel activity was entered “Could you get to the activity another way?” The sim game travel adaptive capacity is compared with the available alternative adaptive behaviour for participants in a case study at the University of Canterbury. The results of the case study show that the participants responded well with the simulated situation. This reflects that the TACA Sim is successful in helping participants to perceive the situation of fuel price rise and think about their alternatives to car travel. Asking people “Could you get to the activity another way?” was found to effectively probe their adaptive capacity which agreed well with the virtual reality survey. The virtual reality survey yields more details of what people can do such as moving house, chaining trips, combining trips and buying a more efficient vehicle. The web-based TACA survey has been developed and deployed in two further research projects

Transport Behaviour Assessment for Adaptability

Personal travel demand behaviour (TDB) will change in the future due to a range of factors including high price, supply reduction, insecurity and perception. We have proposed that adaptation will depend on a new metric called essentiality as well as more common variables such as income and transport networks. A new type of virtual reality, immersive game travel survey has been developed with the purpose of probing adaptive behaviour change. There are two issues addressed by the survey tool; (1) rapid, low-cost travel surveys to track TDB change, and (2) a way to survey adaptation behaviour before fuel shortages

Travel adaptive capacity assessment for particular geographic, demographic and activity cohorts

Transport infrastructure and network planning must now consider oil shocks and future demand growth for more energy efficient transport modes. However, data and models for this type of fuel reduction planning are not available. Travel adaptive capacity is proposed as a measure of the resilience of travel demand to a reduction in fuel use for personal vehicle trips while not reducing participation in activities. Travel adaptive potential characterises the ways that populations can change modes to reduce fuel use without reducing participation in activities. The travel adaptive capacity assessment (TACA) survey can capture the data needed to assess adaptive capacity and the preferred mode alternatives. The survey asks for the essentiality of each trip and the alternative travel modes currently available. TACA surveys were carried out in Christchurch, Oamaru and Dunedin. Over 550 participants completed the survey in 2008–2010. The survey participant demographics, trip generation and mode data compared well with government data. The report found that for these three South Island centres, some adaptive capacity is possible, with Christchurch participants showing the greatest adaptive capacity. The TACA survey is a useful tool for further research into travel behaviour and mode choice

Assessment of personal travel adaptive capacity using a participatory survey approach

Fuel supply issues have the potential to cause significant travel behaviour change as pressure on oil production spare capacity increases into the future. Transportation planners need information on the transport options available to people and their ability to change to reduce fuel demand. This paper investigates a new transport parameter, travel adaptive capacity, the capability to reduce fuel demand without reducing participation in activities. An online survey, the Travel Adaptive Capacity Assessment (TACA), was used to capture travel activities in a normal week. The interactive survey asks for selection of up to three possible alternatives for each trip including modes, destinations and doing the activity without travel. We propose that these alternatives an be used to calculate travel adaptive capacity (TAC). The survey was conducted in the city of Christchurch and the small rural town of Oamaru, New Zealand. The survey results show a surprisingly high adaptive capacity for a cohort with normally very high level of personal automobile use. We report statistical relationships between adaptive capacity and transport, demographic and geographic factors

Assessment of personal travel adaptive capacity using a participatory survey approach

Fuel supply issues have the potential to cause significant travel behaviour change as pressure on oil production spare capacity increases into the future. Transportation planners need information on the transport options available to people and their ability to change to reduce fuel demand. This paper investigates a new transport parameter, travel adaptive capacity, the capability to reduce fuel demand without reducing participation in activities. An online survey, the Travel Adaptive Capacity Assessment (TACA), was used to capture travel activities in a normal week. The interactive survey asks for selection of up to three possible alternatives for each trip including modes, destinations and doing the activity without travel. We propose that these alternatives an be used to calculate travel adaptive capacity (TAC). The survey was conducted in the city of Christchurch and the small rural town of Oamaru, New Zealand. The survey results show a surprisingly high adaptive capacity for a cohort with normally very high level of personal automobile use. We report statistical relationships between adaptive capacity and transport, demographic and geographic factors