The road to happiness: Measuring Dutch car drivers' satisfaction with travel

Recent research suggests that travellers' anticipated trip utility may differ from the utility they actually experience when making the trip. This implies that it is important to investigate not only the factors underlying trip decision making, but also the actual experience of the trip. To that end, this paper presents an empirical test of the satisfaction with travel scale (STS) that was developed to measure travellers' satisfaction with travel. STS measures travel satisfaction in terms of two affective (positive activation versus negative de-activation and positive de-activation versus negative activation) and one cognitive dimension. The STS was applied in the Netherlands in a survey of car users. The results suggest that the reliability of the measurement scales is satisfactory to good, and that they are indicative of an overarching concept of travel satisfaction. Regression analyses carried out with the three STS dimensions as dependent variables show that STS is influenced by experienced traffic safety, annoyance with other road users, the trip being tiring, being distracted by billboards, and lack of freedom to choose speed and lane. In addition, travel purpose and personal characteristics play a role. Overall, the findings provide support for the validity of the STS as a tool to measure satisfaction with travel. It is concluded that using tools such as STS may provide relevant insights into how qualitative and design-related factors influence the attractiveness of trips made by car or other travel modes. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.