This course will discuss traveler behavior within and relative to transportation systems. One major focus is to read behavioral patterns from data using a variety of econometric tools and understand the relevant theories and mathematics. This course will also explore the cognitive process for travel decision-making at the level of psychological analysis, ultimately seeking to derive its implications in the planning, design, and operation of a transportation system.

This course is highly discussion-oriented. Class participation is strongly recommended and required.

Traveler behavior is the fundamental issue for analyze the performance of a transportation system. Through this course, students will learn the econometric approaches to develop behavior models describing how travelers may behave within a transportation system and how they may evaluate the associated transportation services. Such capability involves the basic understanding of how people behave within transportation systems and relative to their characteristics, principles of questionnaire design, and the mathematic and statistic properties of different models.

This course also aims to explore the psychology and cognitive process in travelers' minds, which enables more detailed and more precise interpretation of traveler behavior. Further, students will be trained to think, to analyze and to criticize existing problems and models during in-class discussion and presentation, which can help them build the proficiency to face future challenges.