Users of different travel modes differ in journey satisfaction and habit strength but not environmental worldviews: a large-scale survey of drivers, walkers, bicyclists and bus users commuting to a UK university

Gregory Owen Thomas, Ian Walker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Citations (SciVal)
54 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

People who travel to the same university workplace by bicycle, bus, car, and walking were compared in a survey (N = 1609). Data are presented on environmental worldviews, journey affective appraisals, and habit strength. Unexpectedly, findings showed comparable levels of environmental worldview across modes. This might reflect the role of attitudes on behaviour, or question the validity of the established environmental worldview scale used here. Results also replicated previous work on affective appraisal, and suggested that whilst walking, bicycling and bus use have distinctive affective appraisals associated with each mode, car driving was affectively neutral, generating no strong response on any dimension - a finding tentatively explained with reference to the normative status of driving. The survey also showed users of active travel modes reported stronger habit strength than car or public transport users, with possible links to the role of affect in formulating habit strength in line with habit theory.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)86-93
Number of pages8
JournalTransportation Research Part F - Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
Volume34
Early online date26 Aug 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Oct 2015

Keywords

  • Affect
  • Environmental worldviews
  • Habit
  • Health
  • Transport choice

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