Abstract
This paper has two goals. One is to offer a new way to analyze traveler behaviors of choice of different transportation services based on the conception of marginal rate of substitution (MRS) and the other is to propose a method to calculate MRS with travel demand functions instead of marginal utility which is difficult to obtain. The MRS can be used to describe how much a traveler is willing to substitute one transportation service for one unit of another service while maintaining his/her originally achieved utility. This methodology applies to all substitution relationships among different trip modes, time periods, etc. An example is given to illustrate the calculation of the MRS between transit and private car services and the impacts of each variable or parameter on MRS are analyzed. The proposed methodology can help analyze travel behaviors of choice of transportation services and evaluate policies for travel demand management.
