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A survey to measure cognitive biases in mobility choices and responses to urban policy

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  • Adam, Carole

Abstract

Recent urban policies are trying to encourage soft mobility, yet observations show an inertia or a slow evolution: people tend to still stick to the individual car despite policies inciting them to switch to other modes. We suggest that this can be explained by cognitive biases influencing the perceptions of the different mobility modes. In this paper, we describe a survey about the perceptions of 4 mobility modes (car, bus, bicycle, walking) and the preferences of users for 6 modal choice factors. This survey has gathered 650 answers in 2023, that are published as open data. In this study, we analyse these answers to highlight the influence of 3 cognitive biases on mobility decisions: halo bias, choice-supportive bias, and reactance. Our results support the hypothesis that cognitive biases are a plausible explanation to the (lack of) response to urban policies. Our biased decision model and collected data can serve several purposes. It can be used to initialise a virtual population with realistic attributes, and simulate their mobility decisions in reaction to various urban policies. The decision model can also be implemented in interactive simulators to illustrate the impact of cognitive biases on decisions. Work is also ongoing to design a simulation-based serious game where the player takes the role of an urban manager faced with planning choices to make their city more sustainable.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam, Carole, 2026. "A survey to measure cognitive biases in mobility choices and responses to urban policy," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:179:y:2026:i:c:s0967070x25005311
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.103988
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    References listed on IDEAS

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