Making time count: Traveler activity engagement on urban transit Charlotte Frei, Hani S. Mahmassani ⇑ , Andreas Frei Northwestern University, Transportation Center, Evanston, IL, USA article info Article history: Received 28 July 2013 Received in revised form 18 May 2014 Accepted 16 December 2014 Available online 7 February 2015 Keywords: Activity engagement Public transportation Information and communication technology Time use Travel behavior abstract In practice, travel time is assigned a cost and treated as a disutility to be minimized. There is a growing body of research supporting the hypothesis that travel time has some value of its own, and the proliferation of information and communication technology (ICT) may be contributing to that value. Travelers’ attitudes are confounded with their mode choice, and as telecommunications mediate travel behavior, analysts must recognize the interaction between time use and customer satisfaction for appropriate travel demand management. To that end, this paper presents results from jointly estimated models of travelers’ latent satisfaction and on-board activity engagement using Chicago transit rider data gathered in April 2010. The simple questionnaire and small sample corroborate the findings of past research indicating travel attitudes and activity engagement have potential to influence travelers’ value of time, and many transit riders consider transit a better use of time and/or money than driving. The findings affirm the need for a more holistic understanding of value of time for travel demand management and infrastructure valuation. As time use has an influence on users’ valuation of the transit mode, offering opportunities to conduct certain leisure activities could improve the perceived value of travel time. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Public transportation provides a lower cost alternative to vehicle ownership and enhances urban quality of life, but it has well-documented disadvantages. Transit may not provide direct, timely access between origin and destination, and transfers are essentially additional, unintended destinations. The utilitarian design of transit vehicles is not always comfortable or appealing, and one may be unable to find a seat. Despite these shortcomings, the existence of choice riders is evidence that transit can have additional economic and emotional benefits compared to the automobile. The proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICT) has expanded these benefits (see, e.g., Ettema et al., 2012; Gripsrud and Hjorthol, 2012). Unlike drivers, who ostensibly devote considerable cognitive resources to the driving task, transit users are free to spend their travel time engaged in any number of activities such as relaxing, reading or working. It is essential for transit operators to understand these benefits in order to accurately gauge customer needs and provide appropriate services. More accurate accounting of the value of transit to existing and potential riders should inform project valuation. As traffic congestion and vehicle miles traveled continue to grow in many large cities around the world, transit attributes that entice potential users to get out of automobiles will play an important role in travel demand management. Travel time is one of the largest components of overall transport cost, and time savings are often considered to be the most important user benefit of transport improvement projects. Indeed, other factors such as traveler comfort and travel reliability are often quantified by http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2014.12.007 0965-8564/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author at: 600 Foster St., Evanston, IL 60208, USA. Tel.: +1 847 491 7287; fax: +1 847 491 3090. Transportation Research Part A 76 (2015) 58–70 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Transportation Research Part A journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tra