Urban travel mode choices and wellbeing: Insights through a psychological lens

The urban transport user differs from his/her rural counterpart such that the former has much more transportation options made accessible. Despite this, car use remains the most popular travel mode choice by both urban and... [ view full abstract ]

The urban transport user differs from his/her rural counterpart such that the former has much more transportation options made accessible. Despite this, car use remains the most popular travel mode choice by both urban and rural users in the UK. Non-car-mode travel is potentially efficacious in improving the health and wellbeing of urban dwellers in part through the introduction of more daily physical activity and reduction of travel-related stress. However, it remains unclear how best to promote these transportation alternatives. Applying past findings from psychological studies in transportation, we explored how psychological theories on cognition, goals and attitudes can help explain the travel mode choices in urban settings. Psychological theories, such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour, Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour and the Norm Activation Model, are used to explain the possible interactions between the urban environment and travel mode choices by commuters. Qualitative investigations of these psychological antecedents also highlight the variability of attitudes towards different transport modes in response to different goals and environmental and social contexts. These insights are potentially useful is informing future communication and social marketing strategies that look at improving the effectiveness of policies and behaviour change interventions that encourage the adoption of non-car transport modes that are posited to be associated with better health and wellbeing outcomes.