Research On The Optimization Of Travel Mode Selection Model Considering Travel Scenarios Under The Mental Accounting Theory

The research about how people who are living in the city make their choices about travel modes based on different activities always receives widespread attention in the field of traffic behavior research.Overwhelming majority of the existing researches usually assume that travelers are “people who are completely rational”.Under this condition,traffic choice behavior models based on the theories such as the Expected Utility Theory and the Random Utility Maximization Theory are often used to predict travelers’ choice of traffic mode.Although the Prospect Theory extends the hypothesis of “bounded rationality”,it cannot perform nicely when decision-making problem involves multi-dimensional attributes.In order to further make up for the shortcomings of the decision-making principle of the “bounded rationality”,as well as the description of multi-dimensional attribute decision-making problems,the studies have introduced the Mental Accounting Theory to learn the travel behavior of travelers.However,in the exsisting theoretical models based on the Mental Accounting Theory,the characteristics and forms of both the value function and the weight function are mostly not discussed in the real traffic environment,but directly follow the relevant functions of the previous Prospect Theory.Based on the Mental Accounting Theory,this research discusses the characteristics and forms of the value function and the weight function,making them more suitable to describe travelers’ psychology in traffic scenarios,and builds optimized urban residents’ traffic mode choice behavior models under different travel scenarios.Using the Mental Theory to analyze the travel psychology of travelers,it is possible for planners and decision makers to achieve a more accure understanding of the laws and characteristics of urban residents’ traffic choice behaviors,which is necessary to supplement the scientific formulation and improvement of traffic policies or planning programs.The article builds a theoretical platform in the first place,which are used to analyze the travel mode selection behavior process,and comb the related theories commonly adopted in travel mode selection behavior.Through this step,we can analyze the applicability and superiority of the Mental Accounting Theory.Then,on the basis of the existing application research,the essential characteristics and coding rules of the Mental Accounting Theory are analyzed and combed.Efforts are made to discuss those problems happening in the application of the Mental Accounting Theory into the real travel scenarios,like the characteristics and function form of its value function and decision weight function,the selection rules of key parameters,the form of the transaction utility function,as well as the integration rules of multidimensional attributes.After all that,the study finds and verifies the main influencing factors that play key roles in the selection of traveler’s inner reference point,what are income level and travel purpose.Those two factors both reflected in the model,one as the traveler groups’ different values of time(VOT),another as the travel activity demands.Based on these two factors as dividing standard,the research objects are divided into 6 types of traveler groups,and a behavior model of urban residents’ traffic mode selection considering different travel scenarios under the Mental Accounting Theory is established.Finally,the article compares the predictions of the new model based on the Mental Accounting Theory and the traditional behavior choice model based on the prospect theory from the aggregate and non-aggregate levels,by obtaining data through actual surveys on the choice of urban residents under different travel scenarios.As a result,the goodness of fit of the new model based on the Mental Accounting Theory is verified.The empirical evidence shows that the travel choice behavior model of urban residents based on the Mental Accounting Theory can better describe the travel mode choice behavior of different types of travelers under different life and production activities in the actual travel process.