Activity timing choice

An activity timing choice model is developed to generate the activity start time and duration within POLARIS using data from a GPS-based prompted recall activity-travel survey, UTRACS survey, that collected detailed information of activity planning and scheduling of the households in the Chicago region (Frignani et al., 2010). The model is primarily estimated as a joint discrete-continuous model (Hybrid Random Utility Maximization (RUM)-Random Regret Minimization (RRM) Copula model), where the variables in the discrete component (activity start time) are treated by both utility maximization and regret minimization decision rules and the continuous component (activity duration) is estimated using a hazard duration model. Then, the two activity components of start time and duration are linked through their stochastic error terms using the copula approach. This approach uses the marginal distribution of two random variables and estimates their joint probability distribution without imposing any restrictions. The current POLARIS model utlizes the RUM portion of the start time model to generate the activity start time, and randomly draws the activity duration from a joint distribution of start time-duration based on activity types.

References

• Golshani, N., Shabanpour, R., Auld, J., & Mohammadian, A. (2018). Activity start time and duration: incorporating regret theory into joint discrete–continuous models. Transportmetrica A: transport science, 14(9), 809-827.

• Frignani, M. Z., Auld, J., Mohammadian, A., Williams, C., & Nelson, P. (2010). Urban travel route and activity choice survey: Internet-based prompted-recall activity travel survey using global positioning system data. Transportation research record, 2183(1), 19-28.