Work-trip mode choice in Germany – Affected by individual constraints or by partner interaction?

Abstract

Individuals with young children have additional responsibilities and tend to have different patterns of work-trip mode choice. In this regard, the purpose of the study is to determine if individuals’ commuting mode decisions vary with gender and the presence of young children. In doing so, we develop four separate models for women and men with and without children, respectively. We explore the associations between work-trip mode choice and five key elements: i) personal socio-economic status; ii) household attributes, iii) spatio-temporal fixity, iv) partner interaction and v) working hours preferences. We use the German National Time Use Survey 2012/13 and adopt multinomial logit analysis. In general, our results suggest that the direction of coefficients is more similar than different for both men and women. For respondents without young children, the spatial and temporal fixity attributes strongly predict men’s (also women's) driving, whereas for working in market/non-market sectors, partner attributes significantly decrease men’s driving. For respondents with young children, increase in personal income positively and significantly predicts women's (also men's) driving, whereas high levels of education, increase in household income and partners’ time spent on unpaid work strongly decrease women’s driving. For both the groups, men or women with more egalitarian or reverse working hours preferences are more likely to use sustainable modes.