Exploring travel wellbeing and quality of life interaction among commuters in a heterogeneous urban region

Abstract

Examining commuting and its connection to wellbeing is a crucial policy concern. Commuting in urban areas is highly stressful and unsafe due to the dearth of transportation supply. Studies examining the cascading phenomenon of commute stress and safety possibly affecting travel wellbeing (TWB) and subsequently impacting quality of life (QOL) are limited. Hence, this study examined the role of trip characteristics, stress and safety perceptions, and residence area characteristics on TWB and how TWB and all these factors further affect the QOL of commuters in a heterogeneous urban region using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). This study further analyzed the equitable distribution of TWB and QOL perceptions across socio-economic groups with the Gini index. A revealed preference survey was conducted in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, India, and data was collected from 1431 commuters from diverse socio-economic groups. The results indicate that travel time, travel cost, travel discomfort, waiting time, and perceived stress negatively influence TWB, while perceived safety and travel mode are positively associated with TWB. Surprisingly, non-motorized commuters have the lowest TWB levels. Considering direct effects, TWB positively influences QOL, while travel discomfort negatively influences QOL. In indirect effects, perceived stress negatively influences QOL through TWB, whereas perceived safety positively influences QOL through its impact on TWB. The calculated Gini indexes imply equitable distribution of TWB and QOL perceptions among socio-economic groups segmented by income, age, and gender. The policy implications for improving TWB and QOL are discussed accordingly.