Understanding how individuals use and value their time helps us contextualize travel behavior. This information serves transport policy, as it indicates whether individuals would prefer improvements in speed or comfort and which modes and routes they prefer using. Generally, time use data can also be used to study patterns of behavior that affect multiple fields like economic welfare, well-being, physical activity, and social and public policy.

This research project is conducted by the Institute for Transport Planning and Systems of the ETH Zurich.

The main study will run in 2022.

The study is financed through research grants from state agencies, namely the Swiss National Science Foundation

Participation in TimeUse+ is primarily by invitation only. These have been sent to randomly selected inhabitants of Swiss urban agglomerations. The invitation is non-transferable and may not be shared with others. Unfortunately, we are not able to accept any people not selected randomly, as it is precisely this random selection that makes the study statistically representative. If you were selected, please fill in the online questionnaire you receive from us by email. We will get in touch with you shortly thereafter.

To participate in the smartphone study, you need to fulfill the following requirements:

• Be 18+ years old (by the end of 2021)
• Live in an urban agglomeration of Switzerland
• Own a smartphone that can install the tracking app
• Be able to walk 200 m without pain or any other discomfort
• Must not work as a professional driver (Bus, taxi, truck)

The app collects your mobility behavior based on GPS data. These mobility data are used to analyse transport. These analyses allow for the identification of key mobility indicators (e.g. mode choice). Further, trip purposes are derived based on multi-day travel patterns, as are spatial analyses. It also gathers the information about the your activities when you validate correctly. For technical details, see our Data Privacy Notice

The data will be exclusively used for research purposes. The data will be archived according to data protection requirements and made available for future research projects. The identification of individual persons will not be possible. The data will not be sold to third parties. Only aggregated results will be published to guarantee anonymity. This means in particular that individual movements (e.g. a walk in your neighborhood) will never be visible!

The following data is collected by the app:

• Smartphone model (e.g. "iPhone 11")
• Operating system version (e.g. "iOS 14.3")
• App version (e.g. "TimeUse+ 1.1")
• Location data (all recorded tracks are visible to you in the app)
• Movement activity as processed by the smartphone (e.g. “motorised” or “by foot”)

See a complete summary on data collection in the Data Privacy Notice

Your private information is of the utmost importance to us, especially with regard to the collection, saving, and using of personal tracking data. The collected data are under no circumstances distributed to third parties and only used for research purposes. You reserve the right to block or delete all of your data at any time without giving reasons. To do so, please send us an email to timeuse@ethz.ch. All your data will be used strictly anonymously for the analyisis of the study. Find more details on data privacy in the Data Privacy Notice.

For the aims of the research project, this information provides a clear picture about how people interact with the city. These kind of surveys are important for the implementation of measures that enhance the well-being of the population.

You will have the opportunity to be aware of your travel and expenditure behavior. The information can show you aspects you may want to improve (for example, the chance to use the bike more), but also compare your routines with others upon the final results of the study. For this, you will receive a weekly and final summary showing interesting individual results. Furthermore, you will contribute to the future development and research of traffic systems in Switzerland and beyond. Your daily movement habits will make our knowledge of how people move and where improvements could be made more complete.

TimeUse+
Please note that it must be written without blanks. Do not forget to add the plus sign "+" right next to "TimeUse".

Use the following links:

• iOS / iPhone
• Android

Or search manually “TimeUse+” on your App Store.

Open the app and click on "Get Sarted" to create an account. Then, enter:

• Your email address
• A password of your choice (minimum 6 characters)
• The registration code you have received by us

For more advice, see the Manual.

Once you register, your account will be activated. Then, open the app and click on "Already have an account" and enter your email address and a password of your choice when creating your account.

Only invited participants have access to a registration code. You will find the registration code on the invitation letter sent by us. If you have not recieved an invitation letter from us, and would like to participate in our study please send us an e-mail to timeuse@ethz.ch.

This happens when you have already created your account, but are trying to register again. Instead of "Get Started", choose "I Already have an account" on the app's starting screen to sign in. Enter your email and the passwort you chose when creating your account. In case this does not resolve the problem, send us an email at timeuse@ethz.ch and we will get in touch shortly.

The registration code serves as a partly anonymized link between the collected data and study participants. The researchers directly involved in the study can link participants to their registration code, but this is not possible for third parties. This partial anonymization makes it possible for the study to link responses from the surveys with the data from the smartphone tracking, which would not be possible with complete anonymization.

It is extremely important that you set up your device properly to ensure optimal results. How you configure the settings is different depending on the operating system you use (iOS or Android). You will need to allow access to use your location, activity recognition and deny battery saving mode for the app. Please read section 2 of the manual carefully or click on here.

The effect of the app on your smartphone performance heavily depends on the exact phone model and operating system. This is out of our control. Recent developments in battery technology have however extended the battery life of smartphones considerably. We suggest you charge your phone when not traveling, for example at home or work, instead of turning it off. Thank you!