An investigation into the role of technology in influencing the perception and value of travel time by rail

Abstract

The widespread ownership of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices and available access to power on trains has increased the potential of using travel time productively and thus, it is believed to influence the perceived travel time. In the 1980’s train travellers on commuter trains were found to perceive travel time 8% higher than the actual travel time (Wilson, 1983), however, by 2007, travel time was considered to pass more quickly (Lyons et al., 2007). The perception of travel time was believed to influence a passenger’s attitude and behaviour, which in turn leads to a change in the value of time. Therefore, the aims of this research, firstly are to investigate how technology influences the perception of journey time and secondly to explore further the relationship between the perception and the value of travel time. In this way, whether or not technology influences the value of time will be established - an understanding of which potentially can influence decision-making regarding investment, operation and other policy interventions. The data for this research was collected by interviewing passengers on-board of trains during their journey between Newcastle and London. The questions examined what passengers did and whether the use of ICT and entertainment media (represented by electronic devices) during their journey influenced their perception of travel time depending on the demographics of the different groups of passengers. Discrete choice analysis was conducted to model the trade-off between travel time and cost, and to estimate the value of time (VOT) of the travellers. Based on the activity during the trip (electronic based (EB), non-electronic based (NEB), or personal engagement (PE)) it was found that those who engaged in the electronic based (EB) activities tend to perceive travel time as 10% higher than it actually is. The perceived travel time of the EB was the highest among the traveller groups. It was argued that rather than considering travel time as lost time, those engaged in the EB activities and who use travel time productively, assess the elapsed travel time based on what they have achieved or produced during their journey. The perceived travel time was high when the productivity was high. However, the study also found that the reliability of train services was the most important factor for travellers in choosing a train, and therefore, EB passengers did not accept any delay or increment of travel time and cost, even though they had the opportunity to use travel time more productively. Furthermore, the study found that those who engaged in EB activities have the highest VOT compared with other groups of travellers. However, some inconsistencies in the results emerged from the two-step cluster analysis, which revealed four passenger groups. The perception and VOT were shown to be driven by age, gender and the purpose of the trip. It was mainly students and elderly people clusters who perceived travel time as being equal to the actual time and who had the lowest VOT. It was mainly the females on business group emerged as having the lowest perception of time and second highest VOT, whilst the mainly males cluster had the highest VOT and the second highest perception. The contribution of this study to knowledge has been to create statistically sound evidence of how the use of travel time influences perception based on face-to-face interviews whilst travelling. As far as the author aware, this methodological approach in this study has not been applied in previous research. The findings of this research have challenged the previous hypothesis that the use of technology decreases the perceived travel time and in turn leads to reduction in the VOT.