Examining the effect of life course events on modality type and the moderating influence of life stage

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated the relevance of life events to explain changes in travel behavior. Less clear is the moderating role played by life stages on the relationship between life events and travel behavior. Our goal in this study is to explore how the influence of life events on travel behavior differs by life stage. We use data from a travel survey of faculty, staff and students at a US university. We define four life stages: millennials living in shared apartments or alone, millennials living with partners, parents (of any generation) living with their children, and non-millennial adults living without children. Four modality types were defined: active travelers, car users, transit users, and multimodal travelers. We use a Manifest Markov Model to estimate probabilities of switching modality types between two waves of the survey. Life stage does not significantly moderate effects of life events on change in travel behavior but does affect modality type: the prevalence of active travel modality types, particularly the share of women who are active travelers, decreases throughout the life stages. Millennials living with their partners and parents living with their children relocate to another town more often than those in other life stages, a life event associated with a higher probability of switching to car use only. Our results identify “windows of opportunity”, such as residential relocation, that planners can use to promote sustainable travel behavior.