Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate bias that may threaten the generalizability of welcome center auto visitors as a sampling frame to represent interstate highway auto travelers. The methods were designed specifically to compare auto visitors who stopped at one of two Texas welcome centers from auto visitors who did not stop at these welcome centers, referred to as "stoppers" and "nonstoppers," respectively. Results indicate significant differences between the stopper and nonstopper samples. When compared to nonstoppers, stoppers were more likely to reside in a nonadjacent state, were older, drove more miles within Texas, were associated with a longer trip planning horizon, had higher expenditures per party, and were more likely to be on a vacation/leisure trip.
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