A Regret Based Model for Choosing the Mode of Children's School Trip by Parents, (Case Study: Kerman)

The reduction in active school travel in recent years has caused traffic problems and have reduced students' physical activity. Parents are the main decision-makers in choosing how their children travel to school. Therefore, knowing the parameters affecting their decision in order to make appropriate management decisions is of great importance. This paper examines the two approaches of maximizing utility and minimizing regret regarding the behavior of parents when choosing a means of travel for children. For this purpose, the structure of both models was prepared in the form of a multinomial logit and in the Nlogit5 software package. In addition to considering the values of ρ2, LL and percent correct for each model, the relative importance of the parameters and the values of the marginal effect in the two models were calculated. The results of this paper show that the regret-based model provides a framework for interpreting parental choice, which is at least as valid and convincing as the behavioral framework of the classical model based on utility. The regret minimization model can be considered as a suitable alternative to the utility maximization model, which is based on fact-based behavioral studies, compared to other introduced alternative models. Also, using two models simultaneously can help make the right management decisions.