Travel Choice Inertia: The Joint Role of Risk Aversion and Learning

This paper shows how travellers that are faced with a series of risky choices become behaviourally inert due to a combination of risk aversion and learning. Our theoretical analyses complement other studies that conceive inertia as resulting from the wish to save cognitive resources. We first present a model of risky travel mode choice. We show that if travellers dislike risk, and part of the quality of travel alternatives is only revealed upon usage, inertia emerges due to a learning-based lock-in effect. We extend our analyses to capture forward-looking behaviour and the provision of travel information. © 2012 LSE and the University of Bath