Phone-based presentation of other commuters’ subjective experiences: impact on car-driver intentions

Previous research demonstrates that people using active modes of transport (e.g. walking or cycling) generally report more positive subjective wellbeing than car drivers. This study demonstrates an experiment investigating the impact of this information on car drivers. We designed a smartphone application (CommuterExperience), which captures drivers’ subjective experiences (via comments and ratings) after the commute and displays similar data from other people using different modes of transport. After a two week trial, participants (n=18) were interviewed and qualitative data were analysed. We evaluate how the application managed to encourage comparison, foster reflection and ultimately influence opinions, intentions to change and, potentially, behaviour.