transportationfrequently

Transportationfrequently is a proposed metric used in transportation planning and mobility research to quantify how often trips are made. It refers to the average number of transportation trips undertaken by individuals within a specified period, such as per day or per week, and can be calculated for a defined population, geographic area, or transportation mode. It is distinct from total travel demand or modal share, instead focusing on the cadence of trips and the regularity of use.

Measurement and data: Data sources include household travel surveys, transit smart-card records, ride-hailing logs, and anonymized mobile location data. Common forms include trips per person per day and trips per person per week, optionally broken down by mode or purpose. The metric can be complemented by trip chaining measures and inter-trip time distributions.

Applications: Transportationfrequently can help assess service reliability and the intensity of transportation activity, guide scheduling for buses or trains, and model demand under different pricing or land-use scenarios. It supports comparisons across neighborhoods, cities, or countries with similar definitions and periods.

Limitations: Definitions of what constitutes a trip vary (direct trips versus legs of multi-leg journeys), and data quality affects accuracy. Daily or weekly patterns can differ by weekday versus weekend, season, or special events. Privacy considerations and data access constraints can limit use.

While not yet standard, transportationfrequently appears in some academic studies as a complementary signal to understand transport cadence and user engagement.