Conference Paper

Travel-based Multitasking in Germany– Does Gender matter in Travel Time use?

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Abstract

1 Travel-based multitasking is the outcome of individuals seeking to make optimal use of the available 2 time. Previous research on travel-based multitasking is equivocal, suggesting that an individual's time use 3 during travel is mediated by trip characteristics. From the perspective of time use research, there are no 4 previous studies that specifically focus on the effects of (gendered) time use behavior or spatial attributes 5 on travel time use. To address this research gap, we explore how various time use activities (reading, ICT 6 use and talking) during travel are associated with diverse factors such as demographics, employment, 7 spatial attributes, trip / travel behavior and time use characteristics. The study used the cross-sectional 8 German Time Use Survey 2012/13 data and employed multi-level mixed logistic regression for analysis. 9 Results indicate three important findings: 1) solitary (reading/listening to music) time use is driven by 10 monthly income, working hours, living in semi-urban areas / East Germany, driving or traveling by public 11 transport, primary time spent on reading/ICT use, preference for ICT use; 2) socializing is positively 12 determined by female gender, living with partners, having young children, evening/night/weekend trips, 13 maintenance/leisure trips, traveling with partners or others, traveling by public transport, walking, 14 primary time spent on socializing and time spent on secondary activities); 3) gender interaction is evident 15 as travel companions (partners /others) significantly impact men's socializing, while primary time spent 16 on interaction with children positively determines women's socializing during travel. 17 18

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A study of the frequency and nature of multitasking on Dutch trains is described. Descriptive and model analyses were carried out on the basis of field observations on intercity and regional trains. The most frequent task was "doing nothing," followed by "talking socially" and "reading a newspaper." On average, most time was spent in "study," followed by "reading a book," and "puzzles." A multinomial logistic regression model that describes the relationship between the probability of conducting a particular task and several personal and travel context variables is estimated. The most important variables that influence probability of the distinguished tasks are the presence of accompanying persons, age of traveler, travel day, type of train, crowdedness of train, and time of day. This type of information is useful for train companies to improve service quality and design marketing efforts and pricing regimes.
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The present study considers underground passengers and investigates the ways in which they spend their time during a trip of average length or shorter. Using a structured procedure that had been refined after a preliminary study, more than 1,700 passengers were observed in London. The results showed that even when the length of travel is very short (2–6 stops), underground passengers engage in several occupations, especially those involving the use of mobile Information and Communication Technologies. These occupations depend on the specific spatial and temporal conditions of the travel, as well as on gender and age. These results should be useful in designing travel services that enhance passengers’ experiences; they also suggest a criterion for comparing trips using different transportation modes (i.e., looking at the time point during the trip at which the ratio of active versus passive occupations changes).
Article
With a focus on the multitasking behavior of public transportation users during travel, an examination is made of factors affecting activity participation along the axis of travel time. The probability of participation in an activity is represented by using a scobit (or a skewed logit) model, within which the widely used logit model is nested with the help of a skewness parameter. With this skewness parameter, it is not necessary to assume that individuals with a probability of 0.5 for performing an activity are most sensitive to changes in travel time or other influential factors. This analysis is the first attempt to apply the scobit model to transportation issues. An empirical analysis was conducted by using data (523 individuals) collected in Hiroshima City, Japan, in December 2008. Because multitasking behavior along the axis of travel time may be interrelated, the scobit model is extended to simultaneously incorporate the influences of state dependency and the remaining travel time as well as the other influential factors, by dealing with the data as panel data. As a result, a scobit-based panel model was developed. Model estimation results confirm the effectiveness of the scobit model. It was further revealed that introduction of a heterogeneous skewness parameter is more effective for representing activity participation than assumption of a homogeneous skewness parameter. Calculation results of travel time elasticity show that activity participation is sensitive to change in the travel time up to the first half of travel time and becomes less sensitive to travel time afterward.
Article
Der Beitrag diskutiert die Fragen, (1) inwieweit sich Indizien für eine soziale Exklusion beziehungsweise einen Mangel an gesellschaftlichen Teilhabechancen in der Alltagsmobilität und der Wohnstandortwahl finden und (2) welche Rolle in diesem Kontext subjektive Wohnstandort- und Erreichbarkeitspräferenzen sowie Lebensstile spielen. In zwei empirischen Studien werden zum einen anhand bundesweiter Mikrodaten soziale und räumliche Rahmenbedingungen des Verkehrshandelns - insbesondere des damit verbundenen Zeit- und Entfernungsaufwands - ermittelt. Zum anderen wird auf der Basis einer Haushaltsbefragung in der Region Köln den individuellen Wahrnehmungen, Präferenzen und Lebensstilen nachgegangen, die der Wohnstandortwahl unterliegen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen erhebliche sozial-räumliche Differenzierungen in der Wohnstandortwahl und Alltagsmobilität. Für die Wohnstandortwahl spielen darüber hinaus Präferenzen, Lebensstile und Verkehrsmittelverfügbarkeit eine bedeutende Rolle. Die Indizien für eine Interpretation im Sinne sozialer Exklusion sind eher begrenzt. Der Beitrag schließt mit einer Diskussion politisch-planerischer Konsequenzen der Befunde.
Article
This paper contests the conventional wisdom that travel is a derived demand, at least as an absolute. Rather, we suggest that under some circumstances, travel is desired for its own sake. We discuss the phenomenon of undirected travel – cases in which travel is not a byproduct of the activity but itself constitutes the activity. The same reasons why people enjoy undirected travel (a sense of speed, motion, control, enjoyment of beauty) may motivate them to undertake excess travel even in the context of mandatory or maintenance trips. One characteristic of undirected travel is that the destination is ancillary to the travel rather than the converse which is usually assumed. We argue that the destination may be to some degree ancillary more often than is realized. Measuring a positive affinity for travel is complex: in self-reports of attitudes toward travel, respondents are likely to confound their utility for the activities conducted at the destination, and for activities conducted while traveling, with their utility for traveling itself. Despite this measurement challenge, preliminary empirical results from a study of more than 1900 residents of the San Francisco Bay Area provide suggestive evidence for a positive utility for travel, and for a desired travel time budget (TTB). The issues raised here have clear policy implications: the way people will react to policies intended to reduce vehicle travel will depend in part on the relative weights they assign to the three components of a utility for travel. Improving our forecasts of travel behavior may require viewing travel literally as a “good” as well as a “bad” (disutility).
Article
This paper, focused primarily on UK data and debates, considers the potential significance of travel time use within past, present and future patterns of mobility. In transport scheme appraisal, savings in travel time typically represent a substantial proportion of the benefits of a scheme--benefits used to justify its often enormous financial costs. Such benefits are founded on the assumption that travel time is unproductive, wasted time in-between 'real' activities and which should be minimised. Travel demand analysis treats travel time and activity time as separate, albeit acknowledging an interdependency. The paper challenges these approaches by exploring how travel time can be, and is, being used 'productively' as activity time, and what enhancements to time use might be emerging in the 'information age'. Such undermining of the division between activities and travelling, and between activity time and travel time, may have major implications for future levels of mobility, for the modal distribution of travel, for the validity of current transport appraisal methodology and for the analysis of travelling within the information age. These issues are considered.
Intra-Metropolitan Spatial Patterns of Female Labor Force Participation and Commute Times in Tokyo
  • M Kawabata
  • Y Abe
Kawabata, M., and Y. Abe. Intra-Metropolitan Spatial Patterns of Female Labor Force Participation and Commute Times in Tokyo. Regional Science and Urban Economics, Vol. 68, 2018, pp. 291-303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2017.11.003.
Children's ICT Use and Its Impact on Family Life 0 Bytes
  • T Lorenz
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Lorenz, T., and O. Kapella. Children's ICT Use and Its Impact on Family Life 0 Bytes. DigiGen Working Series, 2020. https://www.oif.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_oif/Working_Paper/Children_s_ICT_use_and_ its_impact_on_family_life_-_literature_review_-_DigiGen_working_paper_series_No._1.pdf
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Activity-Based Approaches to Travel Analysis
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Ettema, D. F., and H. J. Timmermans. Activity-Based Approaches to Travel Analysis. Pergamon, 1997.
  • P Döge
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Döge, P., and R. Volz. Bruchlinien Im MännerLeben. 2004, pp. 1-16.
  • T Bjørner
Bjørner, T. Time Use on Trains: Media Use/Non-Use and Complex Shifts in Activities. Mobilities, Vol. 11, 2016, pp. 681-702.
Welche Paarbeziehungen mobiler Frauen sind gefährdet?
  • S Trennungsrisiko Kley
  • Pendelmobilität
Kley, S. Trennungsrisiko Pendelmobilität. Welche Paarbeziehungen mobiler Frauen sind gefährdet? Eine Fuzzy-Set-Analyse. ZfF, Vol. 28, 2016, pp. 305-327. https://doi.org/10.3224/zff.v28i3.26043.