Browsing by Author "Balbontin Tahnuz, Camila"

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    A comparative analysis of University Sustainable Travel Plans – Experience from Australia
    (2023) Nelson J. D.; Balbontin Tahnuz, Camila; Hensher D. A.; Beck M.
    Travel Demand Management (TDM) initiatives are widely applied by transport planners to establish and enable appropriate use of critical transport infrastructure. Less attention has been given to the specific case of TDM in an education precinct (university) context. Travel Plans have been promoted as a means for an organisation to encourage sustainable travel choices by their employees, visitors and customers. This paper offers an empirical contribution to the literature through a comparative qualitative evaluation of selected University Sustainable Travel Plans (USTPs) in Australia to identify the most important questions that a USTP should address explicitly. The evaluation comprised identification of a set of evaluation questions, completion of a template for each USTP considered and application of a simple scoring exercise. We also identify TDM measures that have been introduced as part of a USTP in response to the typical travel patterns exhibited in university settings. A contribution of this paper is to create a means of comparison of USTPs and to establish the components of a comprehensive travel plan.
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    Experience as a conditioning effect on choice: Does it matter whether it is exogenous or endogenous?
    (2021) Hensher, David A.; Balbontin Tahnuz, Camila; Greene, William H.; Swait, Jofre
    Previous choice studies have proposed a way to condition the utility of each alternative in a choice set on experience with the alternatives accumulated over previous periods, defned either as a mode used or not in a most recent trip, or the mode chosen in their most recent trip and the number of similar one-way trips made during the last week. The paper found that the overall statistical performance of the mixed logit model improved signifcantly, suggesting that this conditioning idea has merit. Experience was treated as an exogenous infuence linked to the scale of the random component, and to that extent it captures some amount of the heterogeneity in unobserved efects, purging them of potential endogeneity. The current paper continues to investigate the matter of endogeneity versus exogeneity. The proposed approach implements the control function method through the experience conditioning feature in a choice model. We develop two choice models, both using stated preference data. The paper extends the received contribution in that we allow for the endogenous variable to have an impact on the attributes through a two stage method, called the Multiple Indicator Solution, originally implemented in a diferent context and for a single (quality) attribute, in which stage two is the popular control function method. In the frst stage, the entire utility expression associated with all observed attributes is conditioned on the prior experience with an alternative. Hence, we are capturing possible correlates associated with each and every attribute and not just one selected attribute. We fnd evidence of potential endogeneity. The purging exercise however, results in both statistical similarities and diferences in time and cost choice elasticities and mean estimates of the value of travel time savings. We are able to identify a very practical method to correct for possible endogeneity under experience conditioning that will encourage researchers and practitioners to use such an approach in more advanced non-linear discrete choice models as a matter of routine.
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    How are life satisfaction, concern towards the use of public transport and other underlying attitudes affecting mode choice for commuting trips? a case study in Sydney from 2020 to 2022
    (2023) Balbontin Tahnuz, Camila; Hensher D. A.; Beck M. J.
    COVID-19 had unprecedented consequences in our daily routines and habits. From a transportation context, there is the potential for unintended positive consequences on sustainability made possible by working remotely or from home (WFH) which reduced mobility significantly. However, there were some significant negative effects such as the increase of car use leading to congestion and erosion of sustainability gains. This paper uses data collected during the three years of the pandemic (2020, 2021 and 2022) in two metropolitan areas in Australia to estimate the changes in workers’ daily decision to not work, WFH or to commute by different modes of transport with a special focus on active modes and public transport. A hybrid choice model is estimated which includes three latent variables: life satisfaction, concern towards the use of public transport, and social-meeting loving attitude. Results suggest that WFH has settled as a valid and efficient alternative to a regular workplace, given the reduced stigmas employers increasingly support this flexible hybrid working model. Moreover, results show that the majority of these “saved” commuting trips were previously by car, and not by more sustainable options such as public transport and active modes. If respondents do not have the option to WFH and thus have to attend the workplace, the increase in commuting trips tends to be by car, despite evidence of some amount of return to public transport.
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    Impact of COVID-19 on the number of days working from home and commuting travel: A cross-cultural comparison between Australia, South America and South Africa
    (2021) Balbontin Tahnuz, Camila; Hensher, David A.; Beck, Matthew J.; Giesen, Ricardo; Basnak, Paul; Vallejo Borda, Jose Agustin; Venter, Christoffel
    The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we go about our daily lives in ways that are unlikely to return to the pre-COVID-19 levels. A key feature of the COVID-19 era is likely to be a rethink of the way we work and the implications on commuting activity. Working from home (WFH) has been the 'new normal' during the period of lockdown, except for essential services that require commuting. In recognition of the new normal as represented by an increasing amount of WFH, this paper develops a model to identify the incidence of WFH and what impact this could have on the number of weekly commuting trips. Using data collected in eight countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and South Africa), we developed a Poisson regression model for the number of days individuals worked from home during the pandemic. Simulated scenarios quantify the impact of the different variables on the probability of WFH by country. The findings provide a reference point as we continue to undertake similar analysis at different points through time during the pandemic and after when restrictions are effectively removed.
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    Relationship between commuting and non-commuting travel activity under the growing incidence of working from home and people's attitudes towards COVID-19
    (2023) Balbontin Tahnuz, Camila; Hensher, David A. A.; Beck, Matthew J. J.
    The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the way we live and travel, possibly for many years to come. The 'New Normal' seems to be one that is best associated with living with COVID-19 rather that 'after COVID-19'. After a year or more since the pandemic spread throughout the world, we have amassed a significant amount of evidence on what this is likely to mean for patterns of commuting activity in a setting where working for home (WFH) is becoming a more popular and legitimate alternative to choosing a commuting mode. With WFH continuing to some extent, non-commuting travel is also likely to change as workers and their families have greater flexibility in when and to what extent they conduct their shopping, social-recreation and other non-commuting trip activity. This paper recognises that all trip purpose activity is being impacted by the pandemic and that the drivers of changing number of trips by each and every trip purpose need to be identified as a way of establishing likely future levels of frequency of all trip making. In this paper we develop a series of trip making models for workers and non-workers in New South Wales and Queensland in a metropolitan and a regional setting, using data collected in late 2020. The influence of the number of days WFH is identified as an important influence on the number of one-way weekly trips for various trip purposes, which together with socioeconomic, geographic and attitudinal variables enable us to gain an understanding of what is driving levels of trip-purpose-specific travel during the pandemic. Elasticities and simulated changes are presented as a behaviourally rich way to understand the sensitivity of influences on the frequency of travel.
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    The influence of working from home and underlying attitudes on the number of commuting and non-commuting trips by workers during 2020 and 2021 pre- and post-lockdown in Australia
    (2024) Balbontin Tahnuz, Camila; Hensher D. A.; Beck M. J.
    Since the start of 2020, we have seen major changes in the way communities operate. Mobility behaviour has been drastically impacted by work from home (WFH) and by lockdowns and restrictions in different jurisdictions. This study investigates the influence of WFH and different lockdown patterns on commuting and non-commuting trips in Australia by workers between early 2020 and late 2021. The data includes three waves of data collection to represent different lockdown periods. A multiple discrete–continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model is estimated to represent the number of one-way trips undertaken weekly with different purposes (commuting, work-related, education, shopping, personal business/social recreation), and by different modes (car, public transport, active modes). Explanatory variables include socioeconomic characteristics, location, the time period during the pandemic (i.e., waves). In addition, latent variables were included representing underlying attitudes such as satisfaction towards life or concern about the use of public transport – which might certainly play an important role in understanding individual weekly travel behaviour decisions. The model structure has the advantage that it estimates commuting and non-commuting activity together, allowing for a substitution effect between them. The results suggest that across all waves and jurisdictions, respondents who WFH more are more likely to have a higher number of shopping trips and personal business/social recreation trips, perhaps substituting these trips in replacement of their lesser commuting trips. Interestingly, all other influences held constant, individuals who are more concerned about the use of public transport are more likely to undertake commuting trips by all modes, more likely to do shopping trips, and less likely to undertake personal business/social recreation trips – suggesting they are prioritising essential trips rather than social/personal trips and perceive the risk of COVID-19 to be higher due to this travel.
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    Working from home 22 months on from the beginning of COVID-19: What have we learned for the future provision of transport services
    (2023) Hensher, David A.; Beck, Matthew J.; Balbontin Tahnuz, Camila
    COVID-19 has delivered an unintended positive consequence through working from home (WFH). While it may be some time until we are able to indicate, with some confidence, the impact that WFH will have on traffic congestion and crowding on public transport, there is a sense already that it is a game changer, and indeed is one of the most effective policy levers that the transport sector has had for many years in 'managing' the performance of the transport network. This paper draws on multiple ways of survey data that have been collected since March 2020 when the pandemic first resulted in severe restrictions in Australia. We present the evidence up to December 2021 on the incidence of WFH in two geographical jurisdiction - the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area (GSMA) and South-East Queensland (SEQ) -and how it has been received by employees and employers from the height of restrictions up to a period when restrictions were relaxed, followed by further lockdowns throughout Australia. We show what this might mean for work productivity, lifestyle, and the changing pref-erences for passenger modes. With a growing preference, within some occupation classes, to WFH 1-2 days a week, and a good spread through the weekdays, we discuss what this means for the way we analyse the impact of transport initiatives on the performance of the transport network with a particular emphasis on the growth in suburbanisation of transport improvements, less costly service and infrastructure improvements, and the changing role of public transport.