Citation

Golob TF, Burns LD. Transp. Res. Rec. 1978; 673: 137-145.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A disaggregate automobile ownership choice model is applied to estimating the elasticities of automobile ownership with respect to household income, fixed costs of automobiles, travel times on urban roadways, and public transit service in a case study urban area. Focus is on the aggregate stock of automobiles held by all households and on the distribution of households owning zero, one, two, and three or more autos. Automobile ownership behavior of sociodemographic segments in the total population is also compared.

RESULTS indicate that the total number of automobiles owned is approximately three times more sensitive to household income than to automobile travel times. Furthermore, automobile ownership is twice as sensitive to automobile travel times as it is to public transit travel times. Finally, the automobile ownership decisions of inner-city dwellers and older families are more sensitive to all of these factors than are the decisions of suburban dwellers and younger families. It is demonstrated that transportation policies affecting urban traffic efficiency and public transit service are likely to impact on automobile ownership and these impacts will vary with geographical location and population sociodemographic segment.