Women’s Time Use and Travel Behavior in Greek Urban and Rural Areas

Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) can contribute to the development of new patterns of behaviour by individuals in their everyday lives, as well as to the adaptation of the old ones to the new standards they introduce. Implementation of e-activities such as teleworking, tele-education or tele-shopping cut down the need for physical mobility thus enabling individuals to reprogram and scheduled their activities to optimum advantage. This paper seeks to obtain more insight into how women in Greece allocate their time during a typical weekday to various types of activities, while it explores the role of information and telecommunication technologies on the way that these activities are being conducted. The analysis of the data collected shows that women in less favoured areas, such as rural areas and islands prefer to use traditional means of transport for their usual activities (work, children care, shopping, etc.), mainly due to the little familiarity with the use of computers and to the smoother traffic conditions. Moreover, women with children tend to use for a longer duration e-means, for the implementation of specific activities during a typical weekday (mainly work and recreation). In some cases the activity may bring more utility if carried out via information and communication technologies (ICT) than by physical travel. For some women, “virtual mobility” offers attractive advantages in the context of much of their administrative personal business (administrative chores, financial transactions, comparison shopping, etc.), some of their retail trips and perhaps their daily commute.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE70 Women's Issues in Transportation
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Polydoropoulou, Amalia
  • Tsirimpa, Athena
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2012-1-22 to 2012-1-26
• Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 26p
• Monograph Title: TRB 91st Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Communication systems; Commuting; Electronic commerce; Females; Incentives; Mobility; Personal computers; Real time information; Retail trade; Teleshopping; Time management; Traffic characteristics; Travel behavior; Travel demand; Virtual reality
• Uncontrolled Terms: Activities of daily living
• Geographic Terms: Greece
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01372776
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 12-4022
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jun 15 2012 4:04PM