12 weeks of leisure tarvel survey

Abstract

This survey was conducted with the research project „73/00 Determinanten des Freizeitverkehr“ of the Swiss Association of Transport Engineers (SVI) and the research project “Kontrasträume und Raumpartnerschaften (BMBF)”. It produces descriptive analyses as well as models of the variability of leisure travel (with hazard models), the impact of living conditions on leisure activities (with linear regression and Poisson regression), determinants of destination and mode choice in leisure travel (with multinominal and nested logit models). Additional travel group surveys looked at the motives behind leisure activities. All analyses focused on differences between week- and weekend leisure days. The discussions are based on our own surveys as well as on analyses of national datasets. The following surveys were conducted within this research project are: A survey which covered a period of 12 weeks of the leisure behaviour of 71 persons. They reported nearly 6000 leisure activities. This survey was the main source for the analysis of intrapersonal variability in leisure; Four focus groups, which enabled an analysis of personal attitudes and motives. Besides, the following datasets were used for modelling mode- and destination choice The National surveys of the Federal Office of Spatial Development (ARE) (“Mikrozensus 1994 und 2000”), die “Kontinuierlichen Erhebung Personenverkehr” of the Swiss Federal Railway (KEP 1999 und 2000) and the “Zusatzmodul Reiseverhalten der Einkommens- und Verbrauchserhebung 1994” (EVE) of the Federal Office of Statistic (BfS). A database covering all Swiss municipalities with information about their leisure infrastructure was collected from various sources during the research project. The results of the research can be summarised very briefly as follows: Attributes of leisure activities. The research confirms that different leisure activities are very distinct from each other in their travel characteristics. As most leisure activities are performed in groups, the spatial distribution of social networks and their development over time becomes crucial for the growth of leisure traffic. Because social networks are spatially distributed widely it is difficult to influence leisure traffic. Rhythms and Variability: It is too simplifying to assume, that daily leisure activities are mostly performed regularly or routinely - although aspects of leisure travel like the mode choice might be to a high degree routine. The analysis show that the majority of activities - and especially those that are performed most often, like visist of friends - do not take place within a rhythm. Impact of residential situation: The residential situation has statistically significant impact on the frequency of leisure activities out of home. Nonetheless this influence is weak compared to other influences like sociodemographic differences. Motives: Motives behind leisure are different for activities performed in everyday life compared to motives of holiday trips. For both categories of leisure activities social contacts and the search for variability are dominant motives. Destination choice: Main result of the destination choice modelling for short excursions (with less than two nights at the destination) is the fact, that the choice of a destination depends on the accessibility of them. Traveller evaluate a destination dependant on the distance and the travel time to the alternatives of a choice set. The influence of leisure infrastructure for the destination choice of shorter excursions is weak, but still detectable. Further research: All results show that the reasons of the growth of leisure activities are still not completely known. Because of the low goodness of fit of the models and the fact that new variables were found to have a significant influence (e.g. social networks) it is clear that the modelling approaches used so far in Switzerland need improvement. Additionally, the joint consideration of different leisure activities is not sufficient. Hence, further research is necessary. Social contact is a major motive of leisure traffic. Because of the spatially disperse distribution of acquaintances and friends - which is a problem to public transport - and indications, that the spatial spread of those networks has increased over the last years, those contacts are a main contributor to the growth of leisure traffic. It would be useful to get to know more about this spatial distribution and the development of these networks so that first trends can be derived. A second focus of further research should be the common separation of leisure into daily leisure, weekend leisure and holidays. Due to the growing number of short trips and new living forms (e.g. weekly commuter with second flats) they cannot be separated unambiguously. Besides, one can assume, that the performance of one type of leisure depends on the others- for instance that changes in daily leisure could possibly cause changes in holidays. The link between the times and activities need to be explored in more detail.