Multi-stage trips: an exploration of factors affecting mode combination choice of travelers in England

A tremendous growth has been observed in the use of personal vehicles. Increase in private vehicle use has created many environmental, social and economic problems. A multi-stage trip can help to elevate the problems of delays, environmental degradation, and congestion. Multi-stage trips provide the benefits of smarter, cleaner and sustainable transport. This paper focuses on the organization of different multi-stage trips with respect to first mile, main stage, and last mile and factors that influence the choice of these mode combinations. A multinomial logistic regression (MNL) model is used to evaluate the factors that affect the choice of different mode combinations in a multi-stage trip. For most of the combinations, the trip purpose is significantly associated with mode choice for these combinations. In most cases, availability of the car results in a decline of probability for choosing a combination involving walk. The families with children prefer to take a combination involving a car or public transport at the first or last mile. This study only focuses on the mode combination of 3-stage trips so, an analysis can also be made for multi-stage trips having more than 3 stages.