Is self-selection as important as behavior modification in changing travel choice?
The concept of residential self-selection is based on the idea that those who live close to high quality transit service to some degree choose to do so because they have a predisposition to use transit. This results in an expectation that, if residential density is increased around transit stations, ridership will increase for two reasons. Firstly, because the transit service is now accessible to more people, and secondly, those additional people who now have convenient access to transit choose to use transit more than the average person would. Direct Ridership forecasting methods account for these two effects integrally by basing forecasts of travel by people living near transit on observed behavior of others who also live in areas of high transit accessibility. These two effects are investigated individually through use of a nested logit approach by Dr. Robert Cervero. For more information refer to “Residential Self Selection and Rail Commuting: A Nested Logit Analysis” Cervero, R. a
