News

17 Dec 18 | News

Commuter satisfaction project awarded for LISER & Ghent University

The project will explore the different ways in which individual commuting trips contribute to an overall (dis)liking of commuting

17 December 2018 –  The Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) awarded LISER an INTER research proposal. Submitted earlier this year, the research proposal aims to give Luxembourg’s public research a higher profile in the international context by providing funding for international collaboration.

Project title: “The happy Commuter: a life-oriented Approach of commuting SatisfactIOn (CASInO)”

Project Summary: Commuting is one of the least enjoyable activities. It is often called ‘the stress that doesn’t pay’. In order to understand commuting satisfaction and how it changes over time, this project will use a life-oriented approach. This approach is based on a life course based research design of mobility behaviour while also paying attention to the interaction with other life domains such as residential environment, employment and time use. A long and stressful commute might, for example, be compensated by living in a pleasant and affordable residential environment. Such a longitudinal research design adds a dynamic layer to the presently-dominant static interpretation of commuting satisfaction.

The project will evaluate the interaction between commuting satisfaction and the decision to move to another residential location or to change workplaces. In addition to the analysis of secondary datasets (EU-SILC 2013, PSELL III), the project will also collect new, innovative data by an online retrospective survey and a 7 days smartphone tracking experiment in the cities of Ghent and Luxembourg. We will collect data from a large sample of people residing in Ghent (Belgium) or Luxembourg city (Luxembourg), and who recently moved residences or changed workplaces. First, using data from the online survey we will analyze the interaction between commuting satisfaction, overall life satisfaction, satisfaction with other life domains and life events. Then, tracking data will be used to explore the different ways in which individual commuting trips contribute to an overall (dis)liking of commuting.

Duration:  48 months

Main LISER Researchers:

Dr. Veronique Van Acker (principal investigator) as well as a PhD student (to be recruited)

External researchers:

Ghent University, Department of Geography: Prof. Dr. Frank Witlox, Dr. Jonas De Vos as well as a PhD student (to be recruited)