Formulation of an activity-based utility measure of time use: Application to understanding the influence of constraints

This paper presents and demonstrates a methodology to compute a composite time use utility measure that accounts for in-home and out-of-home activity engagement and time allocation patterns of individuals. The measure could be used for welfare analysis in the context of a policy intervention and to model the search and adaptation routine that individuals may follow in choosing an alternative activity travel pattern in response to a policy intervention. The proposed measure can be implemented as a postprocessor for activity-based model systems to evaluate the satisfaction that travelers derive from their overall daily activity travel pattern. With data from the 2005 American Time Use Survey, the analysis was performed for a sample of women stratified by employment status, income, and presence of children. Comparisons of time use utility measures across these cross-classified groups offer insights into the influence of temporal (employment), monetary (income), and household obligation (children) constraints on the utility individuals derive from their activity travel pattern. In general, it was found that time use utility values were affected most adversely by temporal constraints, followed by monetary constraints, and then by the presence of children.