knowing/doing
value alignment in transportation mode choice
How can we use the narrative of the impacts of parking as a service to influence parking as an individual action?
By connecting the impacts of parking with the individual action and decision-making process, can we change current travel behavior?
The impacts of driving, and all transportation mode choices, affect our urban society in both obvious and hidden ways. The environmental consequences of driving may be a more readily understood result of driving, but the relationship between driving and social equity is often less apparent. Personal car reliance negatively impacts social equity by increasing the cost of housing and development. Furthermore, the infrastructure built for cars limits the comfort, safety, and efficiency of alternate, and more affordable, transportation modes. In this project, I focused on one element of driving, parking, as an illustration of the influential role transportation plays in the land use and function of the city.
Research
Parking provokes intense emotional responses, revealing core beliefs and expectations that may be in direct conflict with a driver’s purported values, directly affecting the livelihood of others. My research included a prompted travel diary asking Portland residents, with access to a car and alternate modes of travel, to provide qualitative data on individual decision making processes and the weight of values versus convenience in different demographic groups. With this inquiry, I attained and synthesized insights on value alignment in travel mode choice.
Goals
1. Provides personalized multi-modal travel directions.
2. Encourages behavior change through social pressure and gamification.
3. Elevates value-alignment in decision making heirarchy.
4. Informs users about the impact of travel choices.
LetsGo
LetsGo is a multimodal transportation mobile app that encourages personal value alignment in travel decision making process through social pressure, gamification, and informative rewards-based behavior change. Customizable, multimodal travel directions allow users to choose travel mode preferences. Options will include bike, bikeshare, walk, transit, carshare, private car, and taxi services, including local taxi companies as well as share services like Uber and Lyft.