New approach reveals different demand behaviors among population segments.
Discrete Choice models are commonly used for travel-demand studies, but current methods may not capture individual differences well. A new approach called Flexible Model Structure (FMS) was developed to account for varying demand elasticities among different groups of people. FMS includes segmentation and model structure search to improve model accuracy. A case study showed that segmenting populations based on demand differences significantly improved estimation results, and model structures varied across segments.