Human Travel Behavior Analysis Using Private Car Data

The controversy over whether human travel distance distribution follows a power-law distribution is a focal point in travel research. This paper delves into the private car travel data of six major Italian cities to test the hypothesis that human travel adheres to a power-law distribution. Using travel time to measure travel utility, we constructed a travel mode choice function encompassing walking, driving and taking a train or plane. Our findings indicate that the model parameters align with the actual traffic conditions in these cities, with a fit goodness exceeding 0.99. These results provide robust support for the hypothesis and hold significant implications for understanding human travel choices.