CE 451 – Transportation Engg.

-III
Assignment
Estimation and Interpretation of Simple Linear Regression Models for Trip Generation

You are provided with data extracted from the 1998 national household travel survey conducted
in the Netherlands. This sample provides the number of weekly trips undertaken by 1631
households (the corresponding variable in the dataset is called ntrips). The dataset also has the
following information which could potentially be used as explanatory factors in trip generation
modeling:

Variable name Description of the variable

hhsize Number of persons living in the household
nchlt12 Number of children < 12 years of age in the household
nchgt12 Number of children >=12 years of age in the household
nworker Number of workers in the household
nstudent Number of students in the household
ncar Number of cars owned by the household
income Household income
resloc Residential location (1=household resides in city, 2=household resides
in suburb, and 3=household resides in rural area)

Problem 1: Exploratory Analysis [Total: 10]

a) Modify the data as instructed in the class. [2]

b) What are the mean, variance, and the range of values of weekly trips, household size,
number of cars and income observed in the sample? [2]

c) In the dataset, create a new variable, nchild, which is the total number of children in the
household (i.e., nchild = nchlt12 + nchgt12). Cross tabulate it against the hhsize variable
show that that number of children in a household is always < household size. Checks like
these help us verify the internal consistency of the dataset. [2]

d) Create a variable named “incat” based on income group. For low-income (income<20000)
group, incat=1; for middle-income (20000≤income≤30000) group, incat=2; and for high-
income (income>30000), incat=3. [2]

e) Cross tabulate resloc against ncar. What can you say about the relationship between
residential location and car ownership in The Netherlands? Explain. [2]

Ahsanullah University of Science & Technology Dr. Md. Shahid Mamun

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Problem 2: Development and testing of specifications for trip generation models
[Total: 40]

1. Use 90% confidence level for determining statistical significance.

2. Provide your estimation results in the following format:

Explanatory variable Parameter estimate (β) t statistic (t-stat)

Constant xxx.xx xxx.xx
Household size xxx.xx xxx.xx
Number of cars xxx.xx xxx.xx
…
…
Goodness of fit measures:
Regression Sums of Squares (SSR) xxx.xx
Residual Sums of Squares (SSE) xxx.xx
Total Sums of Squares (SST) xxx.xx
2
R xxx.xx
2
Adjusted R xxx.xx
Number of cases xxxx

a) Estimate a regression model of ntrips as a function of hhsize, ncar, and income.

1. Interpret the coefficients on each of the three explanatory variables.
2. Are these coefficients statistically significant? Explain. [20]

b) Estimate a regression model of ntrips as a function of hhsize, nchild, ncar, and income.
1. What is the impact of an additional household member who is a child on the
number of trips made by the household?
2. What is the impact of an additional household member who is an adult (i.e., not a
child) on the number of trips made by the household?
3. Explain the sign of the coefficient estimated on the nchild variable.
4. Is the coefficient on the nchild variable statistically significant? [20]

Ahsanullah University of Science & Technology Dr. Md. Shahid Mamun

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