Lifestyles and modal choices: a value-based approach

Travel behaviour research has long been dominated by a rational perspective considering primarily objective factors such as price, travel time and speed. Only at the end of the 1990s, attention was also paid to subjective factors such as perceptions and attitudes. Since then, a growing number of studies combine objective and subjective factors in explaining travel behaviour. This paper adds to this by focusing on the influence of lifestyles on modal choices. To this end, an online survey was carried out in Belgium, completed successfully by 334 respondents. Lifestyles were measured based on a psychographic or value-based approach using the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) developed by Schwartz. Results indicate that using value-based lifestyles adds new insights to modal choices. Personal values not only have a direct effect on modal choices, but also an indirect effect due to interactions with urban residential location choices, car ownership decisions and activity patterns.