Drs. Levine and Yan study transportation behavior and choice as part of the RITMO project, to improve the understanding of the feasibility of a university ride-sharing program. They used the U-M Sustainability Cultural Indicators Program (SCIP) data set to help identify the travel modes of university affiliates, such as the percentage of faculty or students using buses, the percentage that own cars, etc. SCIP data provides the “revealed preference” for transportation, a measure of what people are actually doing. Revealed preference data is input into Mode Choice models to allow researchers to examine current behavior. Using the model, researchers can review behaviorial prevalence (i.e., how frequently people actually exhibit a certain behavior). In Levine and Yan’s study, it will help them model potential use of a university ride-share program. The other piece they need for their Mode Choice model is “stated preference” data, which is data on what people say they will do in the future-a statement of what they would like to do, not what they are actually doing. Levine and Yan are collecting stated preference data by re-surveying people who have already taken the SCIP survey.

Keywords: Case Study, SCIP, Campus Transport, RITMO