Motivating change in commuters’ mobility behaviour: Digital nudging for public transportation use

The urgency of climate change is evident worldwide, but current mobility patterns still cause severe environmental damage. The largest share of these mobility-related problems is caused by everyday private car use, such as commuting. One way to change mobility patterns is through digital nudging in the form of trip recommendations to increase commuters’ public transportation use. To examine the effects of the recommendations, we undertake a choice-based conjoint analysis and determine whether participants choose the recommended trip option more frequently and whether the recommendations influence participants’ public transportation preferences. Our results show differences based on commuters’ travel times and mobility app use. Significant positive effects were observed among commuters with a short travel time who do not usually use mobility apps. This study contributes to the digital nudging and transportation literature, and has practical implications in terms of using recommendations to encourage switching from private cars to public transportation.