Professor Patricia Mokhtarian - Do Millennials Value Travel Time Differently? A Segmented Mode Choice Model Accounting for Travel-Based Multitasking

Guest speaker   presented a seminar at rCITI on Friday 3 June 2016.

Patricia Mokhtarian is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She joined Georgia Tech in August 2013, after 23 years at the University of California, Davis. Prior to that, she spent nine years in regional planning and consulting in Southern California. Dr. Mokhtarian has authored or co-authored more than 200 refereed journal articles, technical reports, and other publications. She is the current Chair of the International Association for Travel Behaviour Research, is an editor of the journal Transportation, and serves on the editorial boards of six other transportation journals. Her MS and PhD are in Industrial Engineering/Management Sciences from Northwestern University, and her BA is in Mathematics from Florida State University.

Prof Mokhtarian presentation was on "Do Millennials Value Travel Time Differently?   A Segmented Mode Choice Model Accounting  for Travel-Based Multitasking".   Millennials are reported to adopt information and communication technologies (ICTs) at higher rates, and incorporate them more extensively into their everyday lives, including travel, than older persons. However, to our knowledge no previous studies have specifically focused on the impacts of travel multitasking on travel behavior and the valuation of travel time savings (VOTTS) of Millennials. To address this gap, Prof Mokhtarian uses an original dataset collected among Northern California commuters (N=2216) to estimate a revealed preference commute mode choice model that is segmented by Millennials and Non-Millennials. When compared to Non-Millennials the mode choice of Millennials was found to be less dependent on socio-economic characteristics, and it is strongly influenced by the propensity to use a laptop while traveling. Prof Mokhtarian  showed although the even controlling for income, Millennials have lower VOTTS for both in-vehicle and out-of-vehicle travel time.