Travel-based multitasking: review of the role of digital activities and connectivity

ABSTRACT

Travel-based multitasking, also referred to as travel time use, is now a well-established concept, whose existence is supported by the technological trajectories, with mobile information and communication technologies (ICT) and vehicle automation working together to allow travel time to be more productive and enjoyable. Despite existence of reviews of travel-time multitasking studies, the systematic overview of the role digital activities, i.e. those that necessarily require modern ICT equipment to participate, has been limited, often wrapped under the umbrella term “use of ICT”, potentially obscuring their complexity and sophistication. Similarly, the role of connectivity and its attributes, e.g. speed (bandwidth), reliability, price, ease of use, data allowance or security, deserves a more systematic overview given its key role in enabling digital online activities and hence the travel-based multitasking options. This paper provides a review of 77 empirical travel-based multitasking-studies that explored the role of digital activities or connectivity. In particular, the review discusses the existing typologies of digital activities, dividing them into hardware-centric, function-centric or a combination of both (mixed). Subsequently, key contributions are discussed with respect to the treatment of digital activities and connectivity and its attributes. Based on the review, it is possible to observe that the existing studies have looked only at a handful of rather restricted online activities that do not sufficiently capture the sophistication with which individuals interact with the virtual world nowadays. Furthermore, the role of connectivity, although deeply embedded in the “C” of the “ICT” concept, has not been looked at or modelled in any detail in studies related to travel time use or its quality. This existing shortcoming might have resulted in an insufficient understanding of the mechanisms driving travel time use, the associated experience indicators of customer satisfaction, productivity or the consequences for relative attractiveness of transport modes. All of these considerations remain, however, crucial for designing, appraising and operating transport infrastructure and services that are able to take the advantage of lifestyle digitisation to meet the increasing customer needs while also delivering broader economic, social benefits and possibly also environmental benefits.

KEYWORDS:

• Connectivity
• ICT
• digital activities
• online activities
• multitasking
• travel time use

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ORCID

Jacek Pawlak http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3254-6257

Notes

1 For the purpose of the current paper, digital activities are interpreted as those activities which necessarily require modern ICT equipment to participate.

2 We follow the respective authors’ use of the concepts of VTTS and VOT. For a more detailed discussion of those, we refer the reader to Jara-Díaz (2007) and Mackie, Jara-Díaz, and Fowkes (2001).

3 Portable Digital Assistant, a predecessor of today’s highly capable (in terms of functionalities and computation/communication capabilities) smart mobile devices, including smartphones and tablet computers.

4 Set of (or a range of) radio frequencies allocated to particular telecommunication applications.

5 The network link between an on-board network or the device itself and the wider Internet.

6 The new generation of technologies is expected to achieve capacities beyond an order of magnitude higher than this, including beyond a gigabit per second (Gbps). Nevertheless, those solutions are not yet (2019) in widespread use or offered as a free service to the majority of potential users (passengers).