Car Ownership and the Impact of Built Environment, Demographics and Transport Systems

Auto ownership is one of the most important linkages between travel demand and land use. Residents in denser, urban or more transit accessible neighborhoods tend to own fewer cars. Car ownership influences almost all aspects of travel behavior, including travel frequency, travel distances, mode choice and time-of-day choice. At the same time, car ownership affects residential location choices, as households owning cars are less likely to choose urban neighborhoods than households without cars. This paper describes a new microscopic auto-ownership model that has been estimated with survey data. The model is fully integrated with a land use and a transportation model to capture： （1） how owning a car affects travel behavior and location choice; and （2） how the built environment and the transportation needs affect auto-ownership decisions. The model has been validated against census data and is fully operational.