EXPLORATION OF A BOX COX LOGIT MODEL OF INTERCITY FREIGHT MODE CHOICE

During the past years, the linear legit model has been used extensivel y in modal choice analysis. More recently, the introduction of Box-Cox transformations on the explanatory variables in passenger studies hav e generally shown the superiority of the Box-Cox legit over the linear legit. Nevertheless, we have found only one such application in freig ht transportation. This study is devoted to filling this gap by testin g different configurations of the Box-Cox legit over the linear legit. Our results confirm the usefulness of the nonlinear Box-Cox specifica tion found in passenger studies. We have used an original data bank de veloped for Canada. The bank contains, for 64 commodity groups, the 19 79 domestic flows among 67 geographical zones, by three transportation modes: truck (private and for hire), rail and ship. To the authors' k nowledge, this is the first Canadian study on mode choice that takes i nto account private trucking; since Canadian private trucking is at le ast as important as for hire trucking, this could have contributed to the results obtained. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserv ed.