Factors influencing university graduates choice of commute as they transition into their first graduate job: Potential for mobility as a service

Panel: 6. Transport and mobility

Author:
Emma Cassar, United Kingdom

Abstract

Young adults in Great Britain and other countries are driving less now than young adults did in the early 1990s. Compared to older adults, young adults are more likely to delay obtaining a driver’s license, make fewer trips, and open to use any mode that is most suitable for their needs. The adoption and use of information and communication technologies among young adults is considered strong enough to cause a shift in preference toward public transport. An evolutionary concept to help with this transition is Mobility as a Service (MaaS) which is an app-based scheduling, booking and payment platform for multiple transport modes on a per trip or subscription basis. This intervention is considered to affect future travel behaviour and to be a sustainable way of travelling due to its sharing nature of available transport modes.

University students are known to use sustainable modes of transport and during this time they would have established a routine on how they travel to university creating a stable context. Once they graduate and start their first graduate job, this causes their context to become unstable and during this stage travel mode decisions are taken. Studies have found mobility decisions to be intertwined with a persons other life decisions. The habit discontinuity hypothesis posits that habitual behaviour may become weakened when interrupted by a contextual change and therefore researchers have studied how such disruptions act as windows of opportunity to establish new travel habits. Researchers expect current young peoples travel behaviour to change towards car ownership once they secure stable full-time employment.

To understand how we can sustain university graduates sustainable commute patterns into the workplace, this study aims to explore factors that motivate and influence university graduates choice of commute as they transition into the world of work. Using a metropolitan city in the UK with plans to restrict private car access into the city centre by implementing a traffic cells initiative, the study explores the potential role of MaaS in this context.

Using semi-structured interviews, 27 participants were recruited and asked questions on their capability, opportunity and motivation to engage in public transport and shared mobility behaviour. The capability, opportunity and motivation questions stem from the COM-B model, found within the Behaviour Change Wheel, and recognises that an individual’s behaviour is a function of their capability, opportunity and motivation to engage in a particular behaviour. The behavioural analysis suggested, using public transport and shared mobility services such as carsharing, bikesharing and the use of electric scooters is influenced by their social circle, the environmental context and resources available to them and their capabilities. On the other hand, using MaaS as a tool to help participants navigate transport services depends on the environmental context and resources available, their social or professional role and identity, and the flexibility of the subscription plans.

Education, training, persuasion, enablement, environmental restructuring and modelling were selected as potential intervention functions. Implications of this research can improve the effectiveness of travel behaviour interventions as decision makers can tailor strategies in accordance with the characteristics of commuters in a particular setting. In light of the impact of COVID-19, the pandemic has had a negative impact on the use of public transport and shared mobility services and the challenge for mitigating climate change through transport has increased but from our study we find that with the right social support and quality assurance university graduates, where possible, are willing to continue or start travelling sustainably as they transition into the workplace.

The author gratefully acknowledges the support from the European Research Council, grant reference number #678799.

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