HOUSEHOLD TRIPMAKING TO MULTIPLE DESTINATIONS: THE OVERLOOKED URBAN TRAVEL PATTERN

This article describes how conventional models of intra-urban household travel make the convenient simplifying assumption that all trips by the household are single destination trips; that is, they originate at the residence, visit a single destination, and return. The article examines the consistency of that assumption with actual travel behavior and considers both the prevalence and the implications of complex patterns associated with household travel. The assumption that all destinations are visited using single destination trips in generally not valid. In a major California urban area in 1971, only about 43 percent on nonwork destinations were accomplished using single-destination trips. The growing concern about environmental issues and recent changes in the cost of intra-urban household travel have the assumption that all travel done via single-destination trips is increasing inappropriate.