Toward more sustainable behavior : an investigation into the mobility responses to an involuntary workplace relocation of 10,000 employees in Montreal, Canada

Despite traffic congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the connection to road crashes and physical inactivity, the car remains the prevalent mode of transport in North America. This over-reliance on cars relative to public and active transport modes is even more evident during peak hours. However, evidence suggests that the habit of car use is likely to be disrupted in important life-changing situations such as the birth of a child, or the relocation of a workplace. In such circumstances, attentiveness to alternative solutions and transport modes will increase, hence, a higher probability of a conscious (re)consideration of current travel behavior and a change is expected. From a policy planning perspective, these moments are highly valuable as they open up a “window of opportunity” for introducing and encouraging the use of sustainable transportation alternatives and for promoting health and environmental concerns.  Whether it is voluntary or involuntary, uprooting and moving an activity to another location is a complex event from a socio-psychological perspective. It exposes people to a novel situation regarding geographical accessibility to home, work, amenities, transport services, parking, bike lanes, as well as other contextual characteristics including diversity of population and security, all of which can trigger the need for mobility rearrangement. Furthermore, relocation can stimulate travel behaviour change by influencing individual’s attitudes, values, and habits. In fact, modal choice is a very complex decision process determined by a wide range of spatial, economic, social, and psychological factors. In this context, a deeper understanding of individual’s daily travel behaviour and modal choices is necessary in order to take adequate policy measures to guide mobility towards more sustainable behaviors.  In this context, this dissertation targets the travel behaviour of more than 10,000 employees of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC), Montreal, who experienced a significant life-changing event when five different work locations within the downtown core were merged into one peri-central location, the Glen Site, in 2015. One of the largest employment relocations in North American history, the super-hospital situated near the Vendome intermodal station is a strategic opportunity to advance basic knowledge on sustainable travel demand management. The underlying principle is to derive benefit from the disruption of habits and identifying the barriers of using low-carbon transport modes and to offer green transport opportunities in situations where there is increased attentiveness to alternative modes. Accordingly, this dissertation will answer the following research question: In an attempt to guide mobility towards a more sustainable future, how do the travel-related impacts of involuntary workplace relocation help improve our understanding of the choice of household’s daily mobility in metropolitan territory?  To answer this question, the following objectives will be pursued through the production of three journal papers built on one another: 1. To develop a comprehensive presentation of modal choice determinants, and in particular factors affecting commuting behaviour during the process of workplace relocation as well as effective measures that incentivize sustainable commuting. 2. To examine the extent to which commute mode choice and satisfaction are interdependent by looking at socio-demographic characteristics, residential location and car ownership in the context of a major involuntary workplace relocation. 3. To expand our understanding of the complex causalities and rationales underlying travel-related choices and changes as well as their links to travel attitudes, dissonance and satisfaction. 4. To understand how individuals rank and prioritize their travel-related attitudes and values within the various domains of life in order to maximize their life satisfaction when experiencing a context change. Using both quantitative (n=1977, ~26% response rate) and qualitative (n=19) methods, we collected and analyzed data on before- and after-the-move decisions made by the employees regarding: 1) their travel patterns, 2) barriers of using low-carbon transport modes, and 3) the underlying rationales for change (or not). Whereas research in this field is dominated by quantitative analyses, few studies have applied mixed method approaches where a qualitative approach provides a deeper insight into the complex causal relationships between subjective psychological concepts that quantitative methods are often unable to address thoroughly.  The overarching finding indicated that, while the existence of a regional train (in addition to metro and bus) at a major workplace has a positive impact on reducing private automobile use (15 percent increase in public transit use and 10 percent increase in travel satisfaction), the simple existence of alternatives is insufficient and further efforts are needed to encourage the use of low-carbon transport modes for daily commute. These efforts are most effective and functional if they are made at different stages during the process of the relocation, i.e., before, during, and after the relocation. The quantitative part also provided valuable insights into the importance of considering commuter’s travel-related characteristics (including home location, car ownership, and other socio-economic status) when planning for major workplace relocations. Furthermore, results from our in-depth interviews shed light on the concept of weighted decision-making by discussing how individuals maximize their (travel and life) satisfaction by attributing different value and attitudinal weights to their choice alternatives. The perspective of weighted decision-making helped improve understanding of that satisfaction in various travel-related domains are interdependent and each can affect or be affected by overall life satisfaction. Among the respondents, the majority of the relatively low-income households (e.g., service jobs) lived in areas with low accessibility to adequate public transit, whereas many high-income employees (e.g., doctors and specialists) lived in affluent transit-oriented residential neighbourhoods allowing them to commute by low-carbon transport modes compared to the former group who felt forced to commute by car or endure frustrating commutes with multiple transfers between lines. Moreover, the construction of motorway interchanges and the corresponding heavy congestion around the Glen site has resulted in commute dissatisfaction for drivers, bus users, bicyclists and even pedestrian commuters. This dissertation calls for the contribution of key urban-transportation planners to tackle commute challenges in an attempt to increase subjective well-being, work satisfaction, and quality of life and guide mobility towards a more sustainable future.

Keyphrases: Travel behavior, Modal choice, Commute satisfaction, Workplace relocation, Quantitative and qualitative methods, Weighted decision-making, Sustainability