Activities Conducted while Traveling: What is Their Impact on Mode Choice and the Value of Travel Time?

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 for such a trip. In previous phases of this multi-year study, the project developed a fundamental conceptualization of polychronicity (multitasking) attitudes and behavior, and created and administered a survey to measure multitasking attitudes and behavior specifically while commuting, together with general attitudes, mode-specific perceptions, and standard socioeconomic traits (N = approximately 3020 Northern California commuters). This proposed continuation of the research will fund the development of first-of-their-kind revealed preference mode choice models accounting for the impact of multitasking attitudes and behavior on the utility for various alternatives. The resulting insights will inform and improve policies and services promoting more sustainable forms of travel, and lead to more realistic models and forecasts.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $85000
• Contract Numbers:

  7868

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Department of Transportation

  Office of the Secretary
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Performing Organizations:

  University of California, Davis

  Institute of Transportation Studies
  Davis, CA  United States  95616
• Principal Investigators:

  Mokhtarian, Patricia

• Start Date: 20120801
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• Source Data: RiP Project 33496

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Commuting; Mode choice; Multitasking; Traffic forecasting; Travel behavior; Travel time; Utility theory
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01471037
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: University of California Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 7868
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jan 31 2013 1:01AM