Do travel options influence how commute time satisfaction relates to the residential built environment?

Abstract

Although previous studies have explored how satisfied people are with their travel, the link with the built environment and available travel options is unclear. This research investigates whether travel options influence how commute time satisfaction relates to the built environment. First, profiles among commuters in terms of commute time satisfaction (CTS) and residential built environment (RBE) were identified by performing a cluster analysis using a large European sample with the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2013 survey. Following, whether travel options (mode availability) could inform differences among CTS-RBE profiles was investigated, while accounting for neighborhood characteristics and satisfaction with life and life domains, by performing logistic regression analyses. Travel options were found to indicate CTS-RBE profiles. This research supports the idea that travel options can affect the CTS-RBE relationship, and can therefore be useful to measuring and correcting travel option unavailability or travel captivity. The contributions of this study to the travel behavior field, in addition to being the first study to examine CTS, is important to urban planning and policy to not only identify the places in which travel options can be improved, but for whom.