Get Distracted or Missed the Stop? Investigating Public Transit Passengers’ Travel-Based Multitasking Behaviors, Motives, and Challenges

Fragmented Moments, Balanced Choices: How Do People Make Use of Their Waiting Time?

“…They are, by nature, distinctive from activities considered suitable for selfcontrolled and, sometimes, pre-planned work breaks [54]. They also differ from activities that are common during the estimable time public transit takes to arrive at one's destination [29].…”

“…During work breaks, for instance, knowledge workers have been found to leverage information and communications technology to fulfil home responsibilities from their offices, aiming to strike a balance between work and life [54]. In the case of public transit time, people adapt their tasks to fit the commuting environment so that they can effectively engage in routine activities and perform light work [29].…”

“…A small set of studies have operationalized gap time as transit time, investigating the time usage of commuters or train-riders [e.g., 3,25,29,36]. As Lee et al have pointed out, during transit time, people must cope with the instability of their physical and social surroundings [29]. Their choices of activities were also limited by the lack of privacy [3].…”

“…Participants may alter their behavior knowing they are being observed or recorded or due to privacy concerns. The number of participants involved in this area of research is usually small [e.g., 29,54].…”

“…For instance, it is hard for participants to file reports detailing a sequence of activities performed over the same waiting 3 for a summary). Specifically, previous time gap studies collected data with shadowing observation [29] or wearable cameras (e.g., Autographer [54]). Although these methods do not rely on participants' selfreports as ESM does, they are more intrusive.…”