Preferences for travel-based multitasking: Evidence from a survey among public transit users in the Chicago metropolitan area

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical analysis of a survey among public transit users in the Chicago metropolitan area. The survey collected information about travelers’ general preferences for travel-based multi-tasking during public transit use, revealed preferences for travel-based multi-tasking during a reference trip by public transit in the Chicago metropolitan area and general preferences for travel-based multitasking during the use of ride-hailing services. To analyze the preference data, a rank-ordered logit models is estimated. The findings show that preferences for performing different productive and non-productive tasks while traveling can largely be explained by individual-specific attributes such as age and marital status as well as by trip-specific attributes such as the trip duration and travel party composition. In addition, the survey requested information about the usefulness of travel-based multitasking during the reference trip. Individuals traveling by themselves and for at least twenty minutes are found to be comparatively more likely to have been able to free up time later in the day, as they were able to multitask during the reference trip.