Human behavior impinges on transportation systems at many points.by Daniel McFadden, 2007
When I was 8 years old, a neighbor was promoted to conductor on the Southern Railroad. I ask him if he would be working on the Southern Crescent, the premier passenger train on the railroad. "Oh, no,"he said, "If I did that, I would have to deal with people. Railroad men would rather work with freight." Today, it is important for transportation workers, and transportation researchers, to recognize that there is no escape from humans and the impact of their behavior on transportation systems. One has to work with peopleby Nobel Laureate, Prof. Daniel McFadden, 2007, The behaviroal science of transportation, Transport Policy
Yes, one has to deal with men, such as drivers, riders, pedestrians, managers, or policy-makers, to name just a few. And one has also need to know clearly the interests, preferences, and behaviors that underlie each group of the stakeholders in a hope for a competent management of transportation system.
Zones don't travel; people travel!"A slogan by Travel Demand Project, 1972
The following paragraphs excerpted from my research proposal, in which I plan to study current theoretical grounds and rethink some of the ideas on which travel mode choice behavior is determined through putting into more behavioral economic/behavioral science principles. Generally speaking, the focus of the economics discipline is on the aggregation of market, be it financial market, labor market, or transportation market, and by understanding the casual relationships between dependent variables and independent variables, policy-makers are supposedly able to manage the market of interest.
Nevertheless, in terms of choice making, there are much more than utility and budget constraint. A lot of brilliant researches and studies have contributed to this argument (as will be seen later). Whether this argument holds depends on what sort of belief and function we adhere to the study of economics. But I would like to supplement the necessity of studying behavioral economics/behavioral science with another important reason: simply speaking, from the view point of a policy-maker, gaining other factors that are potential for changing people's behavior toward a more ideal one (in my field, environmentally-friendly transportation mode) is by all means worthy of a perusal. After all, not until we have a more penetrating insight into the ever more complex mechanism of people's decision making process can we ever start creating green shifts in a world facing critical climate crisis and the side effects of urbanization all along.
BACKGROUND & MOTIVATION
Traveling around Taipei City during rush hours by all kinds of means is increasingly exasperating because of the totally congested roads and desperately bad air quality, both of which are resulted from a high percentage of private vehicle using in commuting trips and the operational inefficiency of public transit systems.
On the other hand, from a citizen’s point of view, if the government has already been carrying out a variety of transportation demand management (TDM) measures, some reviews and evaluations about what those measures are and how they are performing might also provide opportunities for further advancement.
PROBLEM DEFINITION AND OBJECTIVES
Motivated by Taipei City’s transportation issues, I desire to study travel mode choice behavior and learn how to bring about psychological and behavioral green changes in people facing mode choice decision, specifically, through social interdependence or social interaction, without which TDM measures could often process too slowly or are simply impractical.
Therefore, the objective of this research is to provide a sound basis on which transportation decision makers would be better positioned when considering counteractions to urban congestion and pollution through making the green shift in people’s mode choice.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Social Dilemma
In one way or another, the climate crisis has begun affecting people’s behavior and life patterns and linking not only each individual’s welfare, but also misery. In terms of mode choice decision, out-of-pocket cost or immediate convenience still counts but is increasingly facing more complex variables (Ben-Akiva et al., 1999). In urban transportation field, mode choice is one of the decisions people need to make in the traveling process. The choice itself and utility that follows are interconnected (through externalities, such as congestion and pollution) with other people’s decision. The social interdependence with conflicting individual and collective interests is known as a social dilemma.
There are a number of studies discussing about the effect of social dilemma and how to trigger it for more effective TDM measures. Some researches address this issue from the demand-side, usually via segmenting travelers by some latent characteristics, such as pro-social or pro-self commuters, with the former group showing greater preference for public transportation (also called cooperative option) (Sutomo, Sugiyanto, Istiyanto, & Matsumoto, 2003; VanVugt, VanLange, & Meertens, 1996). The other studies deal with it from a supply-side perspective, usually by manipulating operational variables such as price and route availability. For example, an experiment in which ecological norm and free bus ticket were adopted argued that the “economy-plus-moral” formula best explains the fact that integrative mechanism is the determinant of travel mode choice (Fujii, Garling, & Kitamura, 2001; Hunecke, Blobaum, Matthies, & Hoger, 2001). And there are even more researches suggesting a high possibility that contextual changes could trigger behavioral change which favors cooperative options (Fujii et al., 2001; Fujii & Kitamura, 2003; Klöckner, 2004). Thus, regarding making behavioral change, a lot of attention has been given to the individual and operational sides.
Social Interdependence or Social Interaction
The effect of social interdependence in discrete choice model is allowed by allowing a given individual’s choice for a particular alternative to be dependent on the others’ choice, forming a feedback between decision makers. So far, the study focus of social interactions among individual decision makers has been mostly directed toward intra-household activities (Wilton, Páez, & Scott, 2007). In other fields, some researchers start using discrete choice analyses with social interaction, centering on how social interaction will change individual choice (Soetevent & Kooreman, 2007; Zanella, 2007). Up to the present, the use of social interdependence or social interaction in influencing individual’s mode choice toward a greener one has received much less attention, while at the same time analytical models have become relatively more able to include latent variables and interdependences (social and spatial) (Dugundji & Walker, 2005; McFadden et al., 2002). Therefore, I plan to study on the development of mechanical linkages and relationship among individual choice, the other people’s choices, individual utility, and collective utility. I believe if the linkages and relationship can be more explicitly identified in mode choice behavior, transportation planners and decision makers are likely to have a clearer view with which more effective TDM measures will be possible.
METHODOLOGY
First of all, the research plans to review literature in the historical development of behavioral studies in mode choice, related statistical and economic methods, and Taipei City’s current mode choice behavior; see Figure 2. Second, it intends to conduct an experimental investigation into mode choice behavior of people living in Taipei City taking into account the effect of social interdependence. Third, it will examine the applicability and practicability of existing mode choice models and theories and apply one of them. Fourth, based on previous steps, the research hopes to provide some new findings about mode choice behavior considering the effect of social interdependence.
Small Talk
Just about the same time, I am lucky enough to come across Prof. McFadden's paper (2007) in which he has highlighted the importance of understanding the phenomenon of pellatons (and a great deal of other things), which suggests people's tendency to get affiliated with social networks and to become willing to limit their choice voluntarily by accountability to network norms. It happens to be closely related to my subject. Thinking about the reasons that drive the desires of policy to make people's behavioral change in travel mode might suggest a somewhat cynical view toward the world. Although believing in the implication of Malthusian Catastrophe may seem pessimistic, however, it is those pessimistic views that complement and strengthen our civilization.
PROBLEM DEFINITION AND OBJECTIVES
Motivated by Taipei City’s transportation issues, I desire to study travel mode choice behavior and learn how to bring about psychological and behavioral green changes in people facing mode choice decision, specifically, through social interdependence or social interaction, without which TDM measures could often process too slowly or are simply impractical.
Therefore, the objective of this research is to provide a sound basis on which transportation decision makers would be better positioned when considering counteractions to urban congestion and pollution through making the green shift in people’s mode choice.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Social Dilemma
In one way or another, the climate crisis has begun affecting people’s behavior and life patterns and linking not only each individual’s welfare, but also misery. In terms of mode choice decision, out-of-pocket cost or immediate convenience still counts but is increasingly facing more complex variables (Ben-Akiva et al., 1999). In urban transportation field, mode choice is one of the decisions people need to make in the traveling process. The choice itself and utility that follows are interconnected (through externalities, such as congestion and pollution) with other people’s decision. The social interdependence with conflicting individual and collective interests is known as a social dilemma.
There are a number of studies discussing about the effect of social dilemma and how to trigger it for more effective TDM measures. Some researches address this issue from the demand-side, usually via segmenting travelers by some latent characteristics, such as pro-social or pro-self commuters, with the former group showing greater preference for public transportation (also called cooperative option) (Sutomo, Sugiyanto, Istiyanto, & Matsumoto, 2003; VanVugt, VanLange, & Meertens, 1996). The other studies deal with it from a supply-side perspective, usually by manipulating operational variables such as price and route availability. For example, an experiment in which ecological norm and free bus ticket were adopted argued that the “economy-plus-moral” formula best explains the fact that integrative mechanism is the determinant of travel mode choice (Fujii, Garling, & Kitamura, 2001; Hunecke, Blobaum, Matthies, & Hoger, 2001). And there are even more researches suggesting a high possibility that contextual changes could trigger behavioral change which favors cooperative options (Fujii et al., 2001; Fujii & Kitamura, 2003; Klöckner, 2004). Thus, regarding making behavioral change, a lot of attention has been given to the individual and operational sides.
Social Interdependence or Social Interaction
The effect of social interdependence in discrete choice model is allowed by allowing a given individual’s choice for a particular alternative to be dependent on the others’ choice, forming a feedback between decision makers. So far, the study focus of social interactions among individual decision makers has been mostly directed toward intra-household activities (Wilton, Páez, & Scott, 2007). In other fields, some researchers start using discrete choice analyses with social interaction, centering on how social interaction will change individual choice (Soetevent & Kooreman, 2007; Zanella, 2007). Up to the present, the use of social interdependence or social interaction in influencing individual’s mode choice toward a greener one has received much less attention, while at the same time analytical models have become relatively more able to include latent variables and interdependences (social and spatial) (Dugundji & Walker, 2005; McFadden et al., 2002). Therefore, I plan to study on the development of mechanical linkages and relationship among individual choice, the other people’s choices, individual utility, and collective utility. I believe if the linkages and relationship can be more explicitly identified in mode choice behavior, transportation planners and decision makers are likely to have a clearer view with which more effective TDM measures will be possible.
METHODOLOGY
First of all, the research plans to review literature in the historical development of behavioral studies in mode choice, related statistical and economic methods, and Taipei City’s current mode choice behavior; see Figure 2. Second, it intends to conduct an experimental investigation into mode choice behavior of people living in Taipei City taking into account the effect of social interdependence. Third, it will examine the applicability and practicability of existing mode choice models and theories and apply one of them. Fourth, based on previous steps, the research hopes to provide some new findings about mode choice behavior considering the effect of social interdependence.
Small Talk
Just about the same time, I am lucky enough to come across Prof. McFadden's paper (2007) in which he has highlighted the importance of understanding the phenomenon of pellatons (and a great deal of other things), which suggests people's tendency to get affiliated with social networks and to become willing to limit their choice voluntarily by accountability to network norms. It happens to be closely related to my subject. Thinking about the reasons that drive the desires of policy to make people's behavioral change in travel mode might suggest a somewhat cynical view toward the world. Although believing in the implication of Malthusian Catastrophe may seem pessimistic, however, it is those pessimistic views that complement and strengthen our civilization.
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