Quantifying Travel Physical Energy Expenditure for Urban Travellers – A Case Study of Beijing

Travel physical energy expenditure for travellers has impact on travel mode choice behaviour. However, quantitative study on travel physical energy expenditure is rare. In this paper, the concept of travel physical energy expenditure coefficient has been presented. A case study has been carried out of young travellers in Beijing to get the value of physical energy expenditure per unit time under three transport modes, walking, car and public transportation. A series of experiments have been designed and conducted, which consider influence factors including age, gender, travel mode, riding posture, luggage level and crowded level. By analysing the travel data of money, travel time and physical energy expenditure, we determined that the value of travel physical energy expenditure coefficient δ is 0.058 RMB/KJ, which means that travellers can pay 0.058 RMB to reduce 1 KJ physical energy expenditure. Next, a travel mode choice model has been proposed using a multinomial logit model (MNL), considering economic cost, time cost and physical energy cost. Finally, the case study based on OD from Xizhimen to Tiantongyuan in Beijing was conducted. It is verified that it will be in better agreement with the actual travel behaviour when we take the physical energy expenditure for different types of travellers into account.