An Investigation Of The Influence Of Travel-to-work Time And Modes On Personal Subjective Well-being

Subjective well-being is not only the pursuit of individuals,but also an essential indicator which can analyse the progress of society and guide national policies.The intensified trend of urbanization and soaring car ownerships of urban laborers triggers the problem of urban traffic congestion and atmospheric pollution,which can easily lead to changes in the individual's psychological states,even influence the subjective well-being of individuals.At present,there are many studies put an eye on people's well-being in China,but there is only a few on commuting and subjective well-being.However,commute as an essential component of working employees,it's necessary to discover the its effects on individual subjective wellbeing.Based on the 2010 China Family Tracking Survey(CFPS),this thesis used geographic information system software(Arc GIS)to analyze current status of the commuting and subjective well-being of urban residents in China.Then the effects of personal commuting time,methods,and socio-economic factors on their subjective wellbeing were summarized through descriptive analysis.Next,the t-test and ANOVA analysis were used to test the significance of explanatory factors on individual subjective well-being.Finally,by using Stata 14.0,four ordered Probit models were established to explore further positive and negative effects of these factors on urban labour's subjective well-being.The results show that as the commuting time increases,the subjective well-being of the individuals decreases,mainly in terms of life satisfaction.Moreover,this trend may also show a U-shaped distribution,which means their relationship follows a decrease at the first and then an increase,and it especially significant for public transport commuters.The concrete manifestation is that when their commuting time exceeds 60 minutes,their life satisfaction gradually increases.However,this trend is not significant for other commuters.Through the analysis of the subjective well-being of all commuters,the results show that the car commuter had the highest level of subjective well-being,while the lowest subjective well-being came from urban workers who took public transport to work.On the other hand,the bicycle commuters' life satisfaction was higher than those who walk.This proves that urban residents' current commuting preference in China was car,and the public transport system cannot satisfy people's expectation to a certain extent.This thesis further reveals the influence of the socio-economic characteristics of workers on their subjective well-being.It was found that urban workers' SWB followed U-shaped with the increase of their age.SWB of men is significantly lower than that of women.The SWB of single commuters is lower than those who were married.Physical health status,education level,and personal income are positively related to the SWB of individuals.The SWB of ethnic minorities is higher than that of the Han nationality,and the SWB of people who had non-agricultural hukou was higher than agricultural hukou holders.The SWB of the local residents were higher than the migrant residents.According to the conclusions above,corresponding suggestions were given in this article.In the field of transport,the Government should improve the efficiency of transport infrastructure and reduce the average commuting time in cities.Meanwhile,the Government should also improve the quality of public transport service and promote active modes of travel in order to improve residents' personal well-being.The above conclusions also provide a means for transport planners to deal with transport problems from personal micro perspective.