The happy Commuter: a life-oriented Approach of commuting SatisfactIOn

Commuting is one of the least enjoyable activities. It is often called ‘the stress that doesn’t pay’. In order to understand commuting satisfaction and
how it changes over time, this project will use a life-oriented approach. This
approach is based on a life course based research design of mobility
behaviour while also paying attention to the interaction with other life
domains such as residential environment, employment and time use. Such
a longitudinal research design adds a dynamic layer to the presentlydominant
static interpretation of commuting satisfaction.
The project will evaluate the interaction between commuting satisfaction
and the decision to move to another residential location or to change
workplaces. In addition to secondary datasets (EU-SILC 2013, PSELL III),
the project will also collect new, innovative data by an online retrospective
survey and a 7 days smartphone tracking experiment in the cities of Ghent
and Luxembourg. We will collect data from a large sample of people
residing in Ghent (Belgium) or Luxembourg city (Luxembourg), and who
recently moved residences or changed workplaces. First, using data from
the online survey we will analyze the interaction between commuting
satisfaction, overall life satisfaction, satisfaction with other life domains and
life events. Then, tracking data will be used to explore the different ways in
which individual commuting trips contribute to an overall (dis)liking of
commuting.