Cross-country comparison of metropolitan area stay coefficients: the relationship between shopping stay time and travel time from person trip surveys

Previous work has calculated the stay coefficient from person trip survey travel time and stay time data to identify common shopping behaviors among different metropolitan areas; however, the applicability of the stay coefficient has only been evaluated within a single country. Therefore, this study extracted weekday “home-to-destination, destination-to-home” shopping behaviors from person trip surveys conducted in metropolitan areas of Japan (Tokyo), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang), Bangladesh (Dhaka), and Kenya (Nairobi) to analyze the relationship between stay time and travel time using the stay coefficient. The results indicated that stay time was consistently three to five times longer than the travel time in all considered metropolitan areas. Four common shopping behavior patterns were identified: “Early departure and home surrounding,” “Early departure and long trip,” “Early departure and long stay,” and “Late departure and home surrounding”; the first and third patterns were the most and least prevalent, respectively. City-level stay coefficients ranged from 1.201 in Nairobi to 1.568 in Da Nang; pattern-level stay coefficients were lowest for “Early departure and long trip” and highest for “Early departure and long stay.” Travel time was the strongest determinant of stay time, followed by departure time and age group.