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Commuting trip satisfaction in Beijing: Exploring the influence of multimodal behavior and modal flexibility

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  • Mao, Zidan
  • Ettema, Dick
  • Dijst, Martin

Abstract

In the past decade, many studies have explored the relationship between travelers’ travel mode and their trip satisfaction. Various characteristics of the chosen travel modes have been found to influence trip experiences; however, apart from the chosen modes, travelers’ variability in mode use and their ability to vary have not been investigated in the trip satisfaction literature. This current paper presents an analysis of commuting trip satisfaction in Beijing with a particular focus on the influence of commuters’ multimodal behavior on multiple workdays and their modal flexibility for each commuting trip. Consistent with previous studies, we find that commuting trips by active modes are the most satisfying, followed by trips by car and public transport. In Beijing, public transport dominates. Urban residents increasingly acquire automobiles, but a strict vehicle policy has been implemented to restrict the use of private cars on workdays. In this comparatively constrained context for transport mode choice, we find a significant portion of commuters showing multimodal behavior. We also find that multimodal commuters tend to feel less satisfied with trips by alternative modes compared with monomodal commuters, which is probably related to their undesirable deviation from habitual transport modes. Furthermore, the relationship between modal flexibility and trip satisfaction is not linear, but U-shaped. Commuters with high flexibility are generally most satisfied because there is a higher possibility for them to choose their mode of transport out of preference. Very inflexible commuters can also reach a relatively high satisfaction level, however, which is probably caused by their lower expectations beforehand and the fact that they did not have an alternative to regret in trip satisfaction assessments.

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  • Mao, Zidan & Ettema, Dick & Dijst, Martin, 2016. "Commuting trip satisfaction in Beijing: Exploring the influence of multimodal behavior and modal flexibility," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 592-603.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:94:y:2016:i:c:p:592-603
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2016.10.017
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    Cited by:

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    7. Lei Gong & Tianxu Wang & Tian Lei & Qin Luo & Zhu Han & Yihong Mo, 2023. "Daily Travel Mode Choice Considering Carbon Credit Incentive (CCI)—An Application of the Integrated Choice and Latent Variable (ICLV) Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-16, October.
    8. Hui Zhang & Li Zhang & Yanjun Liu & Lele Zhang, 2023. "Understanding Travel Mode Choice Behavior: Influencing Factors Analysis and Prediction with Machine Learning Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-20, July.
    9. Wang, Xize & Liu, Tao, 2022. "The Roads One Must Walk Down: Commute and Depression for Beijing’s Residents," SocArXiv dj8av, Center for Open Science.
    10. Wang, Fenglong & Mao, Zidan & Wang, Donggen, 2020. "Residential relocation and travel satisfaction change: An empirical study in Beijing, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 341-353.
    11. Kunbo Shi & Long Cheng & Jonas De Vos & Yongchun Yang & Wanpeng Cao & Frank Witlox, 2021. "How does purchasing intangible services online influence the travel to consume these services? A focus on a Chinese context," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2605-2625, October.
    12. Patrick A. Singleton & Kelly J. Clifton, 2021. "Towards measures of affective and eudaimonic subjective well-being in the travel domain," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 303-336, February.
    13. Zhao, Pengjun & Wan, Jie, 2021. "Land use and travel burden of residents in urban fringe and rural areas: An evaluation of urban-rural integration initiatives in Beijing," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    14. Gao, Yanan & Rasouli, Soora & Timmermans, Harry & Wang, Yuanqing, 2018. "Trip stage satisfaction of public transport users: A reference-based model incorporating trip attributes, perceived service quality, psychological disposition and difference tolerance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 759-775.
    15. Yuwei Liu & Hong Sheng & Norbert Mundorf & Colleen Redding & Yinjiao Ye, 2017. "Integrating Norm Activation Model and Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand Sustainable Transport Behavior: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, December.
    16. Van Acker, Veronique & Ho, Loan & Mulley, Corinne, 2021. "“Satisfaction lies in the effort”. Is Gandhi’s quote also true for satisfaction with commuting?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 214-227.
    17. John Zacharias & Xinyi Liu, 2022. "The Role of the Access Environment in Metro Commute Travel Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-18, November.
    18. Liao, Feixiong & Tian, Qiong & Arentze, Theo & Huang, Hai-Jun & Timmermans, Harry J.P., 2020. "Travel preferences of multimodal transport systems in emerging markets: The case of Beijing," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 250-266.
    19. Krister Ian Daniel Roquel & Raymund Paolo Abad & Alexis Fillone, 2021. "Proximity Indexing of Public Transport Terminals in Metro Manila," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-16, April.
    20. De Vos, Jonas & Witlox, Frank, 2017. "Travel satisfaction revisited. On the pivotal role of travel satisfaction in conceptualising a travel behaviour process," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 364-373.
    21. Lades, Leonhard K. & Kelly, Andrew & Kelleher, Luke, 2020. "Why is active travel more satisfying than motorized travel? Evidence from Dublin," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 318-333.
    22. Sun, Shichao & Yao, Yukun & Xu, Lingyu & He, Xuan & Duan, Zhengyu, 2022. "The use of E-moped increases commute satisfaction and subjective well-being: Evidence from Shanghai, China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 60-73.
    23. De Vos, Jonas, 2018. "Do people travel with their preferred travel mode? Analysing the extent of travel mode dissonance and its effect on travel satisfaction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 261-274.
    24. Xize Wang & Tao Liu, 2022. "The Roads One Must Walk Down: Commute and Depression for Beijing's Residents," Papers 2207.07990, arXiv.org.

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