Changes to commute mode: The role of life events, spatial context and environmental attitude

Clark, Ben; Chatterjee, Kiron; Melia, Steve

doi:10.1016/j.tra.2016.05.005

Cited by 154 publications

(156 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

143

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…We examined the prevalence of commute mode changes occurring from one observation to the next and found that a change in commute mode occurred for 18% of observations. Consistent with a previous study (Clark et al 2016), driving is found to be the most stable commuting mode compared to alternative options. For example, 91 per cent of car drive commutes were still being driven by the following observation, compared to just 12 per cent of walking commutes.…”

Section: Changes To Commuting Behavioursupporting

confidence: 90%

How commuting affects subjective wellbeing

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Commuting between home and work is routinely performed by workers and any wellbeing impacts of commuting will consequently affect a large proportion of the population. This paper presents findings from analyses of the impact of commuting (time and mode) on multiple aspects of Subjective Well-Being (SWB), including: satisfaction with life overall and the SWB sub-domains of job satisfaction, satisfaction with leisure time availability and self-reported health. Measures of strain and mental health (GHQ-12) are also examined. Six waves of individual-level panel data from Understanding Society (2009/10 to 2014/15) are analysed, providing a sample of over 26,000 workers living in England. Associations between commuting and SWB are identified, paying particular attention to those arising from individual changes in commuting circumstances over the six waves. It is found that longer commute times are associated with lower job and leisure time satisfaction, increased strain and poorer mental health. The strongest association is found for leisure time satisfaction. Despite these negative associations with the SWB sub-domains, longer commute times were not associated with lower overall life satisfaction (except where individuals persisted with them over all six waves). Workers in England appear to be successful in balancing the negative aspects of commuting against the wider benefits, e.g. access to employment, earnings and housing. Differences amongst selected population sub-groups are also examined. The job satisfaction of younger adults and lower income groups are not found to be negatively associated with longer commute times; longer commute times are more strongly negatively associated with the job satisfaction of women compared to men. With respect to mode of transport, walking to work is associated with increased leisure time satisfaction and reduced strain. The absence of the commute, via working from home, is associated with increased job satisfaction and leisure time satisfaction. Overall, the study indicates that shorter commute times and walkable commutes can contribute to improved SWB-particularly through the release of leisure time. But life satisfaction overall will only be maintained if the benefits of undertaking the commute (earnings and satisfactory housing/employment) are not compromised.

show abstract

Section: Changes To Commuting Behavioursupporting

confidence: 90%

How commuting affects subjective wellbeing

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This has been referred to as the habit discontinuity hypothesis (Verplanken et al, ). There is growing empirical support for this hypothesis in a variety of contexts (see, e.g., Bamberg, ; Clark et al, ; Fujii et al, ; Jones and Ogilvie, ; Rogers et al, ; Thøgersen, ; Thomas et al, ; Verplanken and Roy, ; Walker et al, ), although the evidence in most of these studies is correlational, leaving questions about causality. Perhaps the most robust test to date was provided by Verplanken and Roy (), who demonstrated in a field experiment that an intervention that promoted 25 sustainable behaviours was more effective compared with a non‐intervention condition if participants had recently relocated and were compared with a matched non‐relocated group.…”

Section: Changing Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Sustainability: Towards a Segmentation Model of Individual and Household Behaviour and Behaviour Change

Verplanken

2017

Sustainable Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Behaviours of individuals and households have major and cumulative impacts on the ecology and sustainable development. A generic segmentation model of sustainable behaviour is presented based on three fundamental drivers of behaviour: motivation, opportunity and habit. Four segments of consumers are distinguished: low motivation/low opportunity, high motivation/high opportunity, low motivation/high opportunity and high motivation/low opportunity. Strong unsustainable habits are likely to be found among low motivation/low opportunity consumers, while high motivation/high opportunity consumers have the propensity to adopt sustainable lifestyles and form strong sustainable habits. This model is then used to highlight how different intervention techniques may be effective for the different population segments. Traditional interventions to promote sustainable behaviours (e.g. goal setting, feedback), as well as alternative approaches, are discussed, including using habit discontinuities, mental models, choice architecture and systemic approaches. The model may thus form a starting point for selecting optimal behaviour change strategies in specific contexts. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

show abstract

“…Switching to commuting by car was associated with birth of the first child, changing employer, and separation from a partner. Clark et al (2015) quantified the effect of life events on the likelihood of changing commute mode for a large, representative sample of the English working population. Commute mode changes were strongly predicted by changes to distance to work associated with home moved and job changes.…”

Section: Predictors Of a Change In Mode Usementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mobility biographies approach argues that travel behaviour changes are linked to life course events or changes in the urban environment and associated accessibility. Such events and changes may cause mismatch between an individual's situation and his/her behaviour that results in stress, and this stress may trigger short-term or longer-term (lagged) learning and adaptation processes that eventually lead to behaviour change (Clark et al, 2015). This paper utilises ideas of the mobility biography approach (Müggenburg et al, 2015;Chatterjee and Scheiner, 2015) to study changes in multimodality over time at the individual level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Key events and multimodality: A life course approach

Scheiner

Chatterjee

Heinen

2016

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since the large majority of households have access to one or more cars in the developed world, encouraging multimodal travel behaviours has become a goal for many cities. Multimodality refers to the use of more than one transport mode within a given period of time. While correlates of multimodality have been identified from cross-sectional data, there is very little known about the circumstances over time in which individuals become more or less multimodal. This paper is the first to fully adopt the mobility biography approach to study changes in multimodality over time at the individual level. Multimodality is measured using four continuous indicators of mode use in a seven-day period: the share in trips made by the most commonly used mode (primary mode), the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, Shannon's entropy, and the number of modes used. The paper uses the German Mobility Panel (GMP) for the period 1994 to 2012. The results demonstrate that some of the life course events studied are significantly associated with changes in multimodality. Specifically, a child moving out of the household increases the multimodality of parents. Leaving the labour market increases multimodality, while entering the labour market conversely reduces multimodality. Changes in car access and driver licence holding have significant effects as well. An improvement to the public transport system in the neighbourhood increases multimodality, and vice versa. Reduced parking space availability also increases multimodality. The latter two findings endorse 'carrot and stick' transport policies as means of creating a more balanced use of transport modes.

show abstract

Changes to commute mode: The role of life events, spatial context and environmental attitude

Cited by 154 publications

References 15 publications

How commuting affects subjective wellbeing

How commuting affects subjective wellbeing

Promoting Sustainability: Towards a Segmentation Model of Individual and Household Behaviour and Behaviour Change

Key events and multimodality: A life course approach

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About