Ram M. Pendyala

Abstract: In this paper the authors illustrate the use of synthetic population generation methods to replace sample weights and expansion weights in household travel surveys. The authors use a combination of exogenous (US Census) and endogenous (the survey) data as the informants and in essence transfer information from the county level sample to the tracts. The method is based on a population synthesis approach called PopGen (PopGen 1.1, 2011) and is applied to the newly collected data in the California Household Travel Survey (CHTS). An illustration of using traditional sampling and expansion weights and synthetic population generation is illustrated at the tract level. The authors show synthetic population methods are able to recreate the entire spatial distribution of households and persons in small areas, recreate the variation that is lost when sampling. This method is capable of reproducing the variation in the real population and enables transferability without having to develop complicated methods. Moreover, it fills spatial gaps in data collection, produces a large database that is ready to be used in activity microsimulation, provides as byproducts sample and expansion weights, and offers the possibility to perform resampling for model estimation. However, additional testing and experimentation is also required.

TL;DR: In an era of big data and emergence of disrupting mobility technologies, statistical models have been utilized to uncover the influence of significant factors, and machine learning algorithms have been used to predict significant factors as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the potential of telecommuting as a trip reduction measure, using data obtained from a tele-commuting pilot project involving State of California government employees.

TL;DR: The first wave of a nationwide longitudinal survey collecting information about travel-related behaviors and attitudes before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic is presented in this paper, where the survey questions cover a wide range of topics including commuting, daily travel, air travel, working from home, online learning, shopping, and risk perception.