Rush hour. Why despite flexible working workers resist change ?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the commuting behavior of daily commuters during rush hour. A significant proportion of daily trips are concentrated in a short period of time known as “rush hour”. Rush hour is responsible for traffic congestion to and from the workplace and this can cause significant time loss. To improve understanding of commuters’ habits, this paper analyses how individual rationales are formed from a multitude of constraining factors such as family, professional considerations and transport supply. The work that inspired this paper was produced as part of a project co-financed by the Haut-de-France Region and the Lille European Metropolis (France). This research focused on the experience of employees at rush hour to and from two major business parks in the Lille metropolitan area. Combining the use of 75 weekly travel logs completed by employees and a series of eleven commented journeys, we can conclude from this data that many obstacles need to be overcome before the conditions for a change in travel behaviour are met. Certainly, a perpetual increase in transportation times leads to changes in mobility behaviour and/or relocation (of the home or of the place of employment). But we also find that employees are attempting to move the bar that marks the boundary between acceptable and unacceptable constraints.