•The over-time relationships between the travel patterns of couples in two-partner households are explored.•The paper applies the relatively novel method of latent class transition ...analysis.•Bidirectional influences between the travel patterns of male and female household heads are revealed.•The results suggest that social norms play an important role at the household level.
To better understand the role of social norms in relation to people’s travel behavior this study addresses the question whether and to what extent partners in two-partner households influence each other’s travel patterns. For example, is the male household head more likely to start using the bicycle if the female household head also uses the bicycle (and vice versa)? While this is a straightforward question, it has, to the best of the author’s knowledge, not been explored in previous research. Using data from 958 couples from the German Mobility panel, the bidirectional effects between the travel patterns of male and female household heads are explored. To this end, the relatively new method of latent class transition analysis is used. The results show that, over time, travel pattern membership of the male household head influences travel pattern membership of the female household head and vice versa. Given that the effects are controlled for a range of individual and shared household characteristics, these results suggest that social norms at the household level play an important role. The paper concludes with an outlook on how the developed framework can be extended in the future.
•Travel attitudes and behaviors mutually influence each other over time.•Contrary to assumptions in most models, behavior influences attitudes more than vice versa.•Dissonant travelers are more ...likely to switch to another attitude-behavior pattern.•Dissonant travelers are more likely to adjust their attitudes than their behavior.
Attitudes are thought to play an important role in determining people’s travel behavior, although researchers have acknowledged the possibility of a reverse relationship. Given the importance of knowledge about the direction of causation as a basis for policies and programs designed to effect behavioral change, the scarcity of in-depth research on this subject is surprising and problematic. The aim of the present paper is twofold: first to assess the bidirectional relationships between attitudes and behavior (in a transport context) and second to present a new framework to study attitude-behavior (in)consistency over time. To achieve these aims, we use data from a two-wave mobility panel to estimate cross-lagged panel models and latent transition models. Results indicate that use of a mode and the attitude towards using that mode mutually influence each other over time. As expected, we find that people who have dissonant (i.e., non-aligned) attitude-behavior patterns are less stable than those who have consonant patterns. Contrary to conventional wisdom and commonly used model structures, however, the effects of behaviors on attitudes are much larger than vice versa. That is, dissonant travelers are more inclined to adjust their attitudes to align those with their behavior than vice versa. Based on these results, we outline several implications for research and policy.
•(Multi)modal travel groups are identified by applying latent class cluster analysis.•Attitudes are included in addition to structural variables to explain group membership.•In four of the five ...groups, attitudes are congruent with travel mode use.•The group who uses public transport most often has only average PT attitudes.•Challenges for sustainable policies are formulated for each of the identified groups.
For developing sustainable travel policies, it may be helpful to identify multimodal travelers, that is, travelers who make use of more than one mode of transport within a given period of time. Of special interest is identifying car drivers who also use public transport and/or bicycle, as this group is more likely to respond to policies that stimulate the use of those modes. It is suggested in the literature that this group may have less biased perceptions and different attitudes towards those modes. This supposition is examined in this paper by conducting a latent class cluster analysis, which identifies (multi)modal travel groups based on the self-reported frequency of mode use. Simultaneously, a membership function is estimated to predict the probability of belonging to each of the five identified (multi)modal travel groups, as a function of attitudinal variables in addition to structural variables. The results indicate that the (near) solo car drivers indeed have more negative attitudes towards public transport and bicycle, while frequent car drivers who also use public transport have less negative public transport attitudes. Although the results suggest that in four of the five identified travel groups, attitudes are congruent with travel mode use, this is not the case for the group who uses public transport most often. This group has relatively favorable car attitudes, and given that many young, low-income travelers belong to this group, it may be expected that at least part of this group will start using car more often once they can afford it. Based on the results, challenges for sustainable policies are formulated for each of the identified (multi)modal travel groups.
This study is the first to systematically and quantitatively explore the factors that determine, the length of charging sessions at public charging stations for electric vehicles in urban areas, ...with, particular emphasis placed on the combined parking- and charging-related determinants of connection, times. We use a unique and large data set – containing information concerning 2.6 million charging, sessions of 64,000 (i.e., 60% of) Dutch EV-users – in which both private users and taxi and car sharing, vehicles are included; thus representing a large variation in charging duration behaviour. Using, multinomial logistic regression techniques, we identify key factors explaining heterogeneity in charging, duration behaviour across charging stations. We show how these explanatory variables can be used to, predict EV-charging behaviour in urban areas and we derive preliminary implications for policy-makers, and planners who aim to optimize types and size of charging infrastructure.
•This research analyses over 3.7 million charging sessions from public charging stations.•User types such as regular chargers, taxis & car sharing users are examined.•Connection times are an interplay between refueling and parking behaviour.•Connection times far exceed the time needed to recharge electric vehicles.•The start time and day of the week are dominant predictors for connection times.
This study aimed to identify and assess empirically the various pathways through which commute time may influence subjective well-being. On the basis of a literature review, possible pathways and ...their underlying mechanisms were identified. A structural equation model was specified to assess the relative strengths of these pathways. Commuting mode (car and bicycle) was taken into account as a moderating variable. Data used to estimate the models were drawn from the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences Panel, a representative sample of Dutch individuals. The results of the analysis indicated that, insofar as commute time had an effect on subjective well-being (only for bicycle commuters could a significant effect be established), this effect was likely mediated by a person's satisfaction with his or her social contacts. No effects between commute time and perceived health, body mass index (BMI), and job satisfaction were found, even though such effects have been reported in previous studies. In addition, commuting mode (car or bicycle) itself had no effect on any of the endogenous variables (except for BMI). In contrast to the findings of previous research, the results indicated that, at least for the Dutch population, commuting patterns (mode and commute time) mattered little in how people subjectively evaluated various aspects of their lives. From a practical point of view, the results of the analysis do not warrant policy intervention. In addition, insofar as policy intervention is desirable, extreme commute behavior should be addressed as a social problem and not a health problem.
Using laser-induced fluorescence-dip Stark spectroscopy, we performed time-resolved, direct measurements of electric-field strengths during the breakdown phase of a low-pressure, pulsed discharge in ...xenon. With this experimental technique we could for the first time quantitatively measure the time evolution of the driving force of the plasma breakdown process: the electric field. Moving ionization fronts were measured with submicrosecond resolution. These ionization fronts were sustained by a spatially narrow, rapidly moving region of strong electric field.
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