CTRF 2025: Full Schedule

Welcome to CTRF’s 60th Annual Conference! Enjoy Ottawa

10:30am EDT

Integrated decision-making for residential, workplace, and work modality choices in two-worker households

Monday May 26, 2025 10:30am - 10:50am EDT

Telecommuting has transformed the way two-worker households approach long-term decisions regarding residential location, workplace, and work modalities. This study explores the interconnections among these choices using data from the 2018 Okanagan Travel Survey conducted in British Columbia, Canada. This study employs random utility maximization-based discrete choice modelling approaches, specifically Cross-Nested Logit (CNL) models. The results show that households are more likely to adjust their work modalities, such as telecommuting, rather than altering their residential or workplace locations. Key factors shaping these choices include vehicle ownership, mobility challenges, age, and type of employment. Households with fewer vehicles exhibit a higher tendency to telecommute, while preferences favour residential areas with strong neighbourhood characteristics and workplaces near commercial centres or central business districts. Moreover, reducing commuting distances emerges as an essential aspect in balancing commuting burdens for two-worker households. These insights contribute to a nuanced understanding of the interconnected nature of household decisions and provide valuable input for promoting sustainable urban planning. The developed model will be integrated into the Simulator for Transportation, Energy, and Land Use for Regional Systems (STELARS), currently under development at The University of British Columbia.

Speakers

Mahmudur Fatmi

Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia - Okanagan

Dr. Mahmudur Fatmi is a transportation professor at UBCO. He has started as an assistant professor at UBCO since July 2018. Dr. Fatmi contributes by developing advanced econometric modelling methods and agent-based microsimulation modelling techniques to assist in making effective... Read More →

Md Nobinur Rahman

7. RahmanFatmi Paper CTRF2025 pdf

Monday May 26, 2025 10:30am - 10:50am EDT
Desmarais 1130 55 Laurier Ave E, Ottawa ON K1N 6N5

Vehicle of choice

10:50am EDT

Has anything changed yet? Insights from Okanagan travel survey

Monday May 26, 2025 10:50am - 11:10am EDT

Desmarais 1130

Rural areas and smaller cities often face unique challenges related to transportation and environmental considerations. In this context, the present study aims to understand mode choice behaviour of smaller cities in Canada which remain underrepresented in the literature. The data comes from the 2018 and 2024 Okanagan Travel Surveys (OTS) conducted in the Central Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada. The study develops a multinomial logit model to test the influence of sociodemographic, mobility tool ownership, built environment and neighborhood attributes on mode choice outcomes. Furthermore, a comparative analysis between the two datasets provides a unique opportunity to assess how mode choice patterns have evolved over time. The findings of the study highlights similarities and dissimilarities in mode choice between the time points, and confirm that such outcomes are sensitive to sociodemographic, vehicle and bike ownership levels, and neighborhood characteristics. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to investigate how changes in vehicle and bike ownership, land use mix, and active transportation infrastructure influences the overall mode share. Overall, the findings of the study assist transportation professionals in developing robust policies for effective sustainable transportation planning.

Speakers

Shivam Khaddar

City of Vernon

Imrul Kayes Shafie

University of British Columbia, Okanagan

Mahmudur Fatmi

Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia - Okanagan

Monday May 26, 2025 10:50am - 11:10am EDT
Desmarais 1130 55 Laurier Ave E, Ottawa ON K1N 6N5

Vehicle of choice

11:10am EDT

Developing a joint discrete-continuous machine learning model for travel mode and trip departure: A multi-task learning approach

Monday May 26, 2025 11:10am - 11:30am EDT

Desmarais 1130

In travel behavior research, joint modeling of multiple interdependent decisions has primarily relied on theory-based econometric models, with limited exploration of data-driven multi-task learning (MTL) methods. Existing MTL studies have mostly focused on discrete-discrete outputs, overlooking mixed-type decisions such as travel mode (discrete) and departure time (continuous"”though some studies have treated it as discrete). This study develops a joint artificial neural network (ANN) to simultaneously model travel mode and trip departure time. We evaluate two MLT-ANN architectures: hard-parameter sharing MTL (HP-MTL) and cross-stitch MTL (CS-MTL). Additionally, we compare them against single-output neural networks (SO-NNx) and econometric models. The results indicate that the more complex CS-MTL performed similarly to SO-NNx in most measures but was outperformed by HP-MTL, likely due to negative learning from increased complexity given task interdependencies. In contrast, HP-MTL showed significant improvements: for trip departure time prediction, it enhanced RÂ² and mean squared error (MSE) by 21.4% and 8.3% over SO-NNx, and by 4.7 times and 27% over the hazard model. For travel mode choice, HP-MTL achieved slight accuracy gains, notably improving transit mode predictions by ~10%. This research contributes to transportation modeling literature by demonstrating the effectiveness of ML, particularly HP-MTL, in modeling joint discrete-continuous decisions.

Speakers

Mahmudur Fatmi

Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia - Okanagan

Mohamad Khalil

Monday May 26, 2025 11:10am - 11:30am EDT
Desmarais 1130 55 Laurier Ave E, Ottawa ON K1N 6N5

Vehicle of choice

11:30am EDT

How can land developers contribute more to reducing single-occupancy vehicle use?

Monday May 26, 2025 11:30am - 11:50am EDT

Desmarais 1130

The development of high-rise condominiums in response to population growth in large cities has noticeably contributed to traffic congestion, parking shortages, and, indirectly, greenhouse gas emissions. Among proposed solutions to tackle car dependency in today's societies, high-rise condominiums, and apartment buildings hold the latent potential to shape the behavior of residents toward using active modes or public transportation. This paper aims to understand the effect of Transportation Demand Management (TDM) policies implemented in high-rise condominiums in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area on residents' mode choice and mobility patterns. A web-based stated adaptation survey was designed and conducted in the study area, and the collected data were used to estimate a series of multinomial logit models, highlighting effective policies and factors influencing condo residents' modal shifts. The model results suggested that an innovative condo-specific parking policy, along with transit fare incentives, and the provision of e-bike share stations, and e-bike share membership discounts, could encourage residents to adopt sustainable modes and reduce private car use. The model findings were further utilized to develop an Excel-based forecasting tool that could support land developers in predicting the effectiveness of TDM policies in residential developments prior to their implementation.

Speakers

Adam Weiss

Carleton University

10. Azhdar Weiss Paper CRTF2025 pdf

Monday May 26, 2025 11:30am - 11:50am EDT
Desmarais 1130 55 Laurier Ave E, Ottawa ON K1N 6N5

Vehicle of choice

11:50am EDT

Do improvements in sustainable mobility systems drive changes in car ownership?

Monday May 26, 2025 11:50am - 12:10pm EDT

Desmarais 1130

Car ownership remains a key determinant of mode choice, shaping daily mobility patterns. In response, many cities are investing substantial resources in sustainable transport systems to reduce dependence on private cars. But do these improvements in mobility services and infrastructure actually lead to lower car ownership, or at least slow its growth?

This research investigates the evolution of key indicators related to private car access, such as driving license ownership, household car ownership, and access-to-car ratios (the ratio of driving licenses to cars). A range of methodologies is employed to analyze trends, with a particular focus on aggregate trend analysis and the estimation of a difference-in-differences model. This model is applied to zones where significant enhancements to sustainable transportation systems have been implemented.

The findings provide insights into whether such changes have measurable impacts on car dependency. By addressing this critical question, the study contributes to understanding how sustainable mobility strategies influence broader transportation behaviors and supports decision-makers in designing effective policies to promote sustainable urban mobility.

Speakers

Antoine Laporte

Polytechnique Montréal

Catherine Morency

11. Laporte Morency Paper CTRF2025 pdf

Monday May 26, 2025 11:50am - 12:10pm EDT
Desmarais 1130 55 Laurier Ave E, Ottawa ON K1N 6N5

Vehicle of choice

12:10pm EDT

Is one-day travel data enough? A comparative analysis of 1-day and 7-day data in BC

Monday May 26, 2025 12:10pm - 12:30pm EDT

Desmarais 1130

Traditional travel surveys, typically capture activity patterns for a single weekday, operate on the assumption that daily travel behaviors remain consistent throughout the week. However, recent shifts, such as hybrid work arrangements, challenge this assumption by introducing significant variations in daily travel patterns across the week. To address this limitation, the British Columbia Activity Time Use Survey (BC ATUS) collected one-day web-based activity data and seven-day smartphone app-based GPS data in the Greater Vancouver and Greater Kelowna regions. The passive nature of the seven-day data collection captured a higher number of trips compared to the one-day survey, highlighting the limitations of single-day surveys in representing comprehensive travel behavior. Analysis reveals that hybrid workers, who exhibit greater scheduling flexibility during the weekdays, display distinct travel patterns compared to traditional commuters. Hybrid workers' midweek travel peaks near home are more pronounced, and they engage in recreational, shopping, and personal business activities later in the day. Conversely, traditional commuters exhibit clearer morning and afternoon work-related peaks alongside evening dining and shopping trips. These findings emphasize the necessity of seven-day data in capturing nuanced travel behaviors, providing critical insights for equitable and effective post-pandemic urban planning.

Speakers

Imrul Kayes Shafie

University of British Columbia, Okanagan

Mahmudur Fatmi

Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia - Okanagan

12. Shafie Paper CTRF2025 pdf

Monday May 26, 2025 12:10pm - 12:30pm EDT
Desmarais 1130 55 Laurier Ave E, Ottawa ON K1N 6N5

Vehicle of choice

CTRF 2025