Daily travel behaviour in Beijing, China. An analysis of workers' trip chains, and the role of socio-demographics and urban form

Tour or trip chain based travel analysis has been a feature of transportation research for several decades, but has largely been the preserve of developed countries. Furthermore, the important associations between urban form and trip-chaining behaviour have received little attention. Based on detailed land use data and an activity dairy survey for workers in Beijing, China, this paper investigates how socio-demographic attributes of households, individuals and urban form characteristics at both residence and workplace, correlate with the tour-based travel decision process. We focus on tour frequency, tour scheduling (type and order of stops made) and tour interdependence mechanisms. Empirical results show that socio-demographic attributes and commuting time strongly correlate with tour decisions, but that there is no significant gender difference in tour frequency, as seen in developed countries, although women tend to make more stops within a tour. Urban form characteristics at home and at workplace are significantly associated with tour frequency, but differ with respect to tour complexity. For example, higher residential density is associated with more home-based tours with fewer stops, while mixed land use at workplaces having higher density and accessibility is associated with more stops within one work tour, or a more complex tour pattern. The research also reveals, for the first time, a tour interdependence effect for workers who undertake multiple tours.