Activities Conducted while Traveling: An Empirical Examination of their Impact on the Value of Travel Time Savings

From early studies of time allocation onward, it has been acknowledged that the "productive" nature of an activity such as travel could affect its utility. Yet until recently, there has been very little empirical assessment of such an effect, in particular the potential effect of activities conducted while traveling on the (dis)utility of the trip and thence the value of travel time savings for such a trip. In previous phases of this multi-year study, the researchers developed a fundamental conceptualization of polychronicity (multitasking) attitudes and behavior. Currently, they are in the process of creating a survey to measure those general constructs, together with multitasking attitudes and behavior specifically while commuting, and standard socioeconomic traits. This proposed continuation of the research will fund (1) the administration of the survey to a choice-based sample of California commuters; (2) data entry, cleaning, and management; and (3) initial empirical analysis. The study has attracted the interest and support of the planning manager of the Capitol Corridor (Amtrak) service linking Sacramento and San Francisco, for its potential to illuminate the impact of multitasking on the utility of using public transportation.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $66486.00
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRT06-G-0022

  R06-3

• Sponsor Organizations:

  California Department of Transportation

  1227 O Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95843
• Performing Organizations:

  Sustainable Transportation Center/ITS-Davis

  ITS-Davis
  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States  95616
• Principal Investigators:

  Mokhtarian, Patricia

• Start Date: 20111001
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20120930
• Source Data: RiP Project 32356

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Commuters; Commuting; Empirical methods; Multitasking; Travel time
• Uncontrolled Terms: Passenger activity
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Passenger Transportation; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01466952
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: University of California Transportation Center/Institute of Transportation Studies
• Contract Numbers: DTRT06-G-0022, R06-3
• Files: UTC, RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 3:25PM