Travel-based multitasking behaviour in Singapore: Determinants and impacts on money-time-seat trade-offs

Investigating travellers’ travel-based multitasking behaviour broadens the horizons of transport policies regarding improving transport services and promoting more sustainable travel behaviour. This study is conducted in Singapore that examines travel-based multitasking preferences and quantifies the impacts on travellers’ monetary trade-offs between travel time savings and seat availability. Considering activity types and duration, five groups of in-vehicle activity are classified from a list of 26 self-reported activity library through performing an exploratory factor analysis. The choice of multitasking is modelled by considering impacts from the perspectives of travel modes, trip characteristics and socio-demographics. Differences across trip purposes namely home to work (HW), work back to home (WH) and leisure/recreation trips (LR) are captured. Public transport riders are found more likely to participate in e-activities for leisure purpose. Car drivers are found to be less likely to perform any multitask during commute, except for social activity on LR trips. Travellers’ monetary trade-offs vary across in-vehicle activities. Herein, people with passive or information- and communication-technology (ICT) related activities are found to be less sensitive to changes in travel time during WH and LR trips. Carrying out ICT-related activities is found to reduce individuals’ economic cost on morning commute, but to increase it on evening commute. People with productive activity are found slightly more likely to pay for a seat during morning commute, and less likely to do so during evening commute. In effect, we contend travel-based multitasking has a significant, but largely unaccounted for, impact on transport planning and appraisal process.