Keeping track of time: A Smartphone-based analysis of travel time perception in a suburban environment

• Published in: Travel, behaviour & society Vol. 9; pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Delclòs-Alió, Xavier, Marquet, Oriol, Miralles-Guasch, Carme
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2017
• Subjects: Barcelona; Perception; Smartphone tracking; Travel survey; Travel time; Perception; Travel time; Smartphone tracking; Travel survey; Barcelona
• ISSN: 2214-367X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tbs.2017.07.001

•Reported travel times in a mobility survey are compared to travel times extracted from a smartphone tracking app, which is presented as an innovative tool for travel behavior research.•Travel time perception is explored in the specific context of the suburban commute, which is generally considered as a time-intensive and recurrent trip.•Results show how in this specific context travel time is under-perceived on average.•Nevertheless, differences in time misperception are identified considering personal profile and, especially, trip characteristics.
In line with a growing interest in complementing surveys with tracking technologies, this paper aims to explore what differences between perceived and real travel time can be found by using a smartphone-based tracking application. This is justified based on the fact that self-reported trip durations in traditional mobility data sources are based on travelers’ memories and perceptions, which implies that these do not necessarily coincide with real or clock time. For this purpose, the daily commute to a suburban university campus in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (Spain) is used as a case study. The app experiment points to a light under-perception of travel time, but further analyses show how misperceptions are especially related to the characteristics of this commute. Total trip duration has emerged as the main variable affecting the differences in reported and objective times, while different explanatory factors are suggested as accounting for the misperceptions of public transit riders and of those who drive.