On the participation in medium- and long-distance travel: A decomposition analysis for the UK and the Netherlands

Social and economic benefits have accrued from medium- and long-distance travel, but at the expense of the environment. Since the travel behaviour literature tends to concentrate on short-distance trips or trips within daily urban systems, a better understanding of the factors shaping medium- and long-distance travel is needed. Using the 1998 National Travel Surveys for the UK and the Netherlands, the study reported here characterises medium- and long-distance travellers in terms of socio-economic attributes, time availability, day of travel, and land-use related factors. The results suggest that, in both countries, males and individuals with a higher socio-economic status are more likely to engage in medium- and long-distance travel. The analysis further shows that the overall structure of the urban system in combination with the size of the country and the local population density affect the participation in medium- and long-distance travel. Such factors should be considered explicitly in future studies of medium- and long-distance travel.