After skimming through different research papers conducted by the department for traffic and infrastructure of the Arbeiterkammer there was one paper left that I chose to do a deep dive on: Unterwegs zwischen Erwerbs- und Familienarbeit (Commuting between waged work and family work). This particularly stood out to me, as I can already imagine that people who tackle duties of care on top of work are facing exceptional challenges when commuting.

Gender gap in commuting

Amongst an in-depth analysis of commuting habits, also focusing on a case study in lower Austria, the report also explores the different situation for commuters in a city in contrast to rural areas. Considering employees who have care related responsibilities outside of their workplace a significant difference between men and women can be noticed. With men only participating in care and family work for 17,6 hours a week, women spend 32,1 hours a week of their time for these duties. Furthermore, the difference between rural areas and cities can once again be observed.

For whom to serve

For the sake of defining the user group of my research project women with care responsibilities living in a rural area, and working outside of their home municipality could potentially outline a possible primary persona. However, for now I haven’t had the chance to dive deeper into the topic of inclusion. I will take this with me to the next semester to explore commuting possibilities and obstacles for people with accessibility needs. I could imagine that this part might even make more sense as a seperate research project, nonetheless it’s important to have a look into the topic.

Overall Conclusion

As I have already mentionend in the introduction part of this entry I put a lot of focus on understanding transit and mobility with a focus on commuting as a whole. I purposefully chose not to narrow it down to the field of interaction design yet. Considering we are supposed to think outside of silos this only adds up in my opinion. During my professional working career for example, I have already made several experiences that showed me how harmful it is to always think inside the box and never outside.

This is why I decided to approach the topic of commuting to work holistically, before going to specific into “how could a prototype look like”. I am happy that I made this choice, because diving through mobility as an overarching topic allowed me to broaden my horizon and get an educated understanding of the real challenge behind my topic.

Some more learnings from this semester

Besides expanding my understanding of mobility and transit related facts I also found some ways of nudging myself into working on this project. I thought I could share this here since it might be inspirational to my peers.

1.   Create a moodboard

Create a funky moodboard that deals with all things related to your research. Make it look cute, make it aesthetic and even consider creating it with a child-like approach. It’s a place of no judgement that allows you to get a better grasp of what exactly it is that you are doing within your research.

2.   Write down some inspirational quotes

I have a personal sketchbook that I am using exclusively for my research topic. I have one full page that only consists of some motivational quotes and manifestations.

While doing research for my last blog post I identified the “Österreich unterwegs” study as viable for my project. Therefore I decided to skimm through it for this entry.

Mobility evaluation “Österreich unterwegs”

The study “Österreich Unterwegs” is a comprehensive research project that evaluates the mobility habits of Austrian inhabitants, currently happening in the third wave. The first time such a research was conducted in the year of 1995. Since the results from the second evaluation from 2013/14 are already outdated a third data assessment phase is currently happening. Roughly 65.000 households are invited to participate in the evaluation on a voluntary basis. The results will be collected and published in 2027. Although the data set from 2013/14 is not representative anymore I still decided to take a look at it. The numbers on motorized individual traffic are especially striking. Almost half of the mobility routes of Austrian inhabitants were cited as done via car. Additionally to the car centered habits the difference between the first and the second report are worth mentioning. While individual transport was already predominant in 1995, it increased from 39,7% to 46,2% in 2014. (1)

It is a bit unfortunate, that the results for the current evaluation will most likely not be published before I finish my thesis. However, I will keep an eye out on new developments and will try signing up for participating in the evaluation, if possible.

Expanding the Horizon

I already did a deep dive into Austrian Mobility habits in the last few blog posts. While this remains the focal challenge of my research, I decided to take a glimpse into other countries. And in terms of green and sustainable mobility the Netherlands seemed like an obvious example. After shortly researching with a focus on the Netherlands I quickly found a tool from a dutch software company called “Mobility Analyst”.

Image: Mobility Analyst Product Demo

Mobility Analyst seems to solve the exact wicked problem that I am working on. With this tool the different commuting approaches and solutions of employees can be gathered and evaluated to implement a corporate mobility strategy for companies (2).

Going back to the roots

After finding about Mobility Analyst I decided to move on and see if there’s any other countries where similar approaches have been iterated. Funnily enough, just after a quick desktop search I once again found myself within the Austrian border. A mobility consulting company from Linz called triply also seeks to find answers to the mystery of conglomerating corporate mobility (3).

Corporate with a focus on employees

In my opinion the term “corporate mobility strategy” aligns well with the german expression of “Betriebliches Mobilitätsmanagement”. However, my prototype will focus purely on the needs of employees and workers. Especially with the two previous examples in mind, I would like to empathize that I do not want to extract KPIs amongst other fancy numbers from this prototype. Instead the outcome of this project must serve employees. Of course, certain benefits can still be concluded for employers as well: for example supporting your employees when commuting can be used as a benefit in the job market.

References

(1) https://oesterreich-unterwegs.gv.at/

(2) https://mobilityanalyst.com/en/

(3) https://www.triply.net/solutions/companies/mobility-consultants

This time I have taken a deep dive into a source from Arbeiterkammer once again. The report “PendlerInnenverflechtungen in der Ostregion” displays the different commuting streams happening in Lower Austria, Vienna as well as Burgenland. These three regions have a total of 1,3 Million employees of which only 18% live and work in the same commune (p. 1, Weninger, A. et al., 2021). I find this source especially enlightening since it covers a wide spectrum of mobility behaviors and needs from urban to rural.

Mapping commuting streams

Image: Arbeiterkammer

This extraction for example showcases the commuting streams from as well as to the region of Burgenland. What’s especially notable is the behavior that can be observed in northern Burgenland. Due to it being close to two country borders the10.000 employees working in Burgenland but not living in Austria are off no surprise. However, it is notable that it’s even more – 24.000 employees living in Burgenland – that commute outside of their region to either Vienna or Lower Austria. (p. 18, Weninger, A. et al., 2021)

Commuting to school

While various challenges and needs of working commuters are pointed out the report additionally highlights that students commuting at the same time as workers can add lots of friction. Alongside considering alternatives for school starting times in the morning the concept of “Schulische Mobilitätsmanagement” (Mobility Strategy for Schools) is being proposed (p. 54, Weninger, A. et al., 2021).

This perfectly aligns with my vision for my prototype, as I am planning on testing it with high school students and not just workers.

Nudging as motivation

Alongside many other obstacles a lot of commuters seek to avoid overcrowded coaches. While trying to identify possible drivers to push commuters to adapt to public transit the report highlights the “Travel Smart Programme” introduced in Singapore, which is a reward system for which you can receive bonus points if you use less crowded coaches at an earlier or later time instead. The more points you have collected the cheaper your future tickets get (p. 67ff, Weninger, A. et al., 2021).

While I appreciate the effort of communicating the demand of different trains, I personally view the point based system as critical from an ethical standpoint. In my opinion the simple act of showcasing this demand without a reward system should be enough to “nudge” commuters. The bonus point system seems like a capitalistic extension that puts more pressure on users than relieving them from.

Picture credits: Bayrischer Rundfunk

This is an example I’m familiar with from the S-Bahn in Munich. The display tells you how crowded the different coaches of the train are and allows you to strategically position yourself on the platform before entering the train.

I have found a viable source dealing with the feasibility analysis of the active2work (a2w) concept. It is also cited in my initial research kick-off document. Which is the report I have received as a starting point for the project I participated in 2 years ago. The source covers extensive research of different areas from a general mobility exploration to an economic evaluation of the concept. Especially chapter no. 3 “Involvierte AkteurInnen und Mindsets” (involved parties and mindsets) strikes my interest. For the sake of exploring the desirable impact of the concept a qualitative research in focus groups was conducted.

About active2work

The concept of active2work deals with the possibilities of commuting to work by one’s own force as a green alternative to the popular choice of driving a car within Austria. It tries to seek an answer to the status of time when commuting as well as the target audience for such a concept including it’s possible benefits to health and economic considerations for the Austrian population. (p. 8 Doiber, 2020)

Opinions of the target audience

21 representatives (9 representative from AK/WKO; 6 employers from Austrian companies; 6 employees of Austrian companies) from various fields were invited for a formal discussion on the topic. The goal of the conducted research was to explore acceptance and obstacles on various levels, such as economical or business related drivers in addition to social, financial, psychological and even feasible drivers from an individual’s point of view. (p. 54 Doiber, 2020)

Reasons for choosing a commuting option.

It is no secret that cars are predominant in rural areas. Motonormativity is a term used to describe car centered infrastructure as given. Therefore it is no surprise that the willingness to use public transport is directly correlated to it’s availability. (p. 55 Doiber, 2020)

Motivation to drive a bike

For the motivation to drive a bike the opinions vary widely. While health considerations are paramount some still empathize the possible risks of using bikes (e.g. longer distances, weather circumstances or general traffic dangers). (p. 55ff Doiber, 2020)

Companies takes on the legal concept of “Business Mobility Strategy”

Businesses would view the introduction of such a concept viable as soon as they could derive economical benefits from it. One possible enabler for this could be the state. (p. 58 Doiber, 2020)

Feasibility and obstacles of active2work

Once the overall infrastructure for bikes expands the acceptance towards using a bike will grow. Some major obstacles can be iterated right away, for example showers or expanding the amount of bicycle racks on the company grounds. Besides some obvious low hanging fruits however, the concept of active2work has been identified as biased towards jobs outside of the office, especially people working in shifts. Furthermore, the proposed concept doesn’t fully consider the different challenges between city and countryside life. Additionally the active2work approach has been named unfair towards workers with surpassing commuting distances. Last but not least, the risk of discriminating people with accessibility needs was pointed out as a major obstacle. (p. 63 Doiber, 2020)

Conclusion

Before skimming through this source I was already aware of the existing car-bias in Austria. However, I am happy to have found more sturdy facts on this topic. The way the focus group was conducted as well as the actual findings from this research are engaging and offered new revelations for me. I am especially satisfied that the danger of excluding workers with accessibility needs was mentioned, as this has been a major concern of mine from the very beginning when hearing about the active2work approach. With this I am not saying that I do not support the said concept, as it still seems tangible for a certain amount of workers. It simply shouldn’t be viewed as a one-size-fits-all solution.

References

(1) Doiber, M. (2020). active2work – Arbeits- und Mobilitätszeit neu gedacht: Machbarkeitsuntersuchung.

Two thirds of Austrian employees commute to work by car.

To guarantee a sustainable future this must change.

• It is difficult to leg to of habits. How do we convince car drivers to consider alternatives?
• one could argue that there’s plenty of possible alternatives – but are these said alternatives always tangible?

• Once you live and work in a city you might have a simple one: Just use public transport! But not everyone has a bus stop right in front of their door-step. Therefore, we must also think about the obstacles are people on the countryside are facing.

• And last but not least, one important question remains:  How much responsibility should be carried upon employers?

Together with legal experts I have develop a concept surrounding the topic of “Business Mobility Strategy” which seeks to make employers responsible for the possibilities of commute that are being offered to their employees. To do this a dialog between both sides – employers and employees – needs to happen.

A service will be implemented in the “USP – Unternehmensserviceportal” where employers must enter data such as the distance to the nearest bus station or the amount of parking space available for employees. Business owners are constantly exposed to endless and redundant paperwork. Efficient UX practices will assure a seamless and viable end-to-end experience.

Employer

Employee

HMW

I chose the paper “Appropriating Technology for Interactive Media in Theatre:
Design Strategies and Aesthetic Insights” because I have some personal experience with this topic.

Personal Experience

I have identified the potential of including animations in theatre plays a few years ago for a project in my local theatre club.

Due to the budget as well as technical restrictions we only ever played a static animations which the actors had to make movements along with it. This was challanging for them, because they always had to know the animated videos by heart. I realised that they were missing visual cues on when to, for example, raise their arm to “trigger” a certain movement.

If we had an x-box availble this would have been easier.

Source: Theaterzentrum Deutschlandsberg