Five minutes more or less: Understanding the travel time experience in public transport

• Slight decline since 2009 in share of passengers perceiving travel time valuable. • Work and study during travel have dropped. • Use of mobile phones dominates onboard time. • Concern for shorter travel time peaks at 30–45 min. • Perceived speed may matter more than actual time savings. This study examines how public transport passengers experience and use travel time and under what conditions they are particularly concerned about shorter travel time. Using a survey of Swedish public transport users and a follow-up focus group, we compare current patterns with a similar 2009 study. Findings indicate a slight decline in perceived value of travel time, coinciding with a marked reduction in working and studying during travel and a rise in passive and entertainment-oriented activities, likely linked to the substantially expanded availability of digital content. While our results confirm the findings of previous studies regarding the role of meaningful activities in shaping perceptions of travel time, they also suggest that the digital revolution has not amplified this effect as much as anticipated. Furthermore, regression analyses show that concern for shorter travel time peaks at moderate durations (30–45 min) and varies by age, public transport experience, and travel conditions. However, despite incorporating numerous explanatory variables, the explanatory power of the model remained modest, suggesting that these preferences are influenced by factors that are challenging to operationalise quantitatively. Our qualitative findings support this interpretation, indicating that attitudes toward travel time savings were often tied to perceived speed and journey smoothness rather than the actual time saved.