Evaluating the Urban Commute Experience: A Time Perception Approach

Abstract

Abstract Abstract Abstract IntroductionLike many other domains of consumer behavior, travel behavior has conventionally been studied with the approach that treats all (including monetary and temporal) aspects of evaluation of a travel experience as a single dimension. A traveler is assumed to view temporal and monetary expenditures alike, and trade one for another on a compensatory basis. In the transportation literature, this single measure is referred to as the "generalized cost," and represents the overall utility (or Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2003 4 2 disutility) of a given commute. The conventional approach, despite its prevalence in transportation research, has devoted inadequate attention to possible distinctive features of temporal experience and expenditures. In consumer research literature, time behavior has received increasing interest over the past decade with the growth of service industries (Carmon 1991). Yet, most of the studies have been conducted primarily with waits (see Durrande-Moreau 1999 for a review) among experiences of time consumption. While waiting time is just one episode of a travel journey, the temporal experience of an urban commuter over the entire journey has rarely been examined in sufficient detail.Given the fact that daily commutes incur a rather substantial amount of temporal rather than monetary expenditures, investigation of commuters' perceptions of the travel time and their evaluation of the travel experiences is justified. This article discusses the perceived time (i.e., psychological time) vis-à-vis objective clock time that one spends in daily commutes, and examines how it relates to the evaluation of one's travel experience. This proposed research approach is of potential to expand the extant body of knowledge in travel behavior that rests primarily on utilitarian assumptions. It illuminates the human processes, such as perception, underlying the evaluation of travel experiences, rather than the evaluative outcomes per se. The time perception approach is promising not only because it opens up new venues for transportation research, but also because of its implication for the design and planning of transportation systems and the formulation of transport policy. Advances in knowledge and practice as a result of innovative research approaches should be pursued by transport planners and policy-makers who have endeavored to promote the use of public transportation while auto dominance (ownership and use) has been on the rise during the past decades. It is, therefore, particularly worthwhile to focus the research context on public transportation.This article begins with a brief review of the potential contribution of time perception research to the understanding of a traveler's temporal experience in daily commute. Next, findings from the time perception literature are drawn and discussed as pertinent to the specific context of urban commute, with tentative conclusions proposed in the form of research hypotheses. Then commuter e...

Psychological Effects of and Design Preferences for Real-Time Information Displays

“…How can this effect be explained? One possible explanation is that wait time for public transport is considered negative and wait time is perceived as longer than any other part of journey (Li 2003). It is, therefore, considered unused or wasted time.…”

“…Finally, an unpredictable setting is expected to result in a longer perceived journey time. Li (2003) called this aspect expectancy. These effects in combination cause discomfort and dissatisfaction that lead to the overestimation of the traveler's temporal judgment.…”

“…Hence, the traveler's mood is influenced positively and a good mood allows subjective time to pass faster. Another aspect can be that the display installation enhances the traveling environment by providing higher comfort, which also according to Li (2003), reduces perceived wait time.…”

“…Wait time holds a negative quality for transit users (Li 2003;Karlsson 1997). Thus, reducing actual wait time or decreasing the perceived wait time can make PT systems more attractive.…”

Estimating Crowding Costs in Public Transport

“…Crowding on PT networks reduces the probability that passangers find a seat in carriages and prevents individuals from using time for other activities (polychronic use of time). Congestion in PT may also induce security fears, increase noise levels and reduce hygiene (Li (2003), CRCFRI (2012)). All these effects increase personal stress, with effects found on mortality and productivity losses at the workplace (Wener et al (2005), Evans and Wener (2007), Cox et al (2006)).…”