Evaluating a Travel App's Influence on College Student Commuting to Campus (CTRAVELAPP)

Using a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate a Travel App's Influence on College Student Commuting to Campus

The Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (cRCT) portion of the study will focus on evaluating the use of information, marketing, and incentives to shape student travel behavior to campus through the three channels identified in Ajzen's (1991) framework.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Health Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: MaaS app; Other: No app

Detailed Description

The investigators will evaluate whether a package of information, marketing, and incentives shifts student travel behavior to campus over one year, and in turn if these shifts in travel behavior result in improved academic performance.

Specific objectives of the cRCT include evaluating whether the intervention results in relatively:

1. Greater utilization of travel modes alternative to single-occupant vehicle travel (transit, biking, walking, bike-sharing, electric scooters, and carpooling)
2. Lower rates of car ownership
3. Superior college performance--higher grade point averages (GPAs)
4. More credit hours completed
5. Higher retention rates

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 450
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Florida
    • Boca Raton, Florida, United States, 33431
      • Florida Atlantic University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Students who live off-campus and attend any of the following three colleges or universities: Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Broward College (BC), or Palm Beach State College (PBSC).
• Students must plan to be at the same institution for the next academic year.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Students live on campus
• Students will leave their current institution within the next academic year

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: MaaS app; The Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) App will be provided to students in the Intervention Group and is intended to facilitate their use of alternative transportation modes such as public transit, ride-hailing, walking, biking, bike share, and e-scooter share to get to campus. The MaaS App will be downloaded to students' smartphones and will provide real-time, multimodal trip planning to students on demand when they open the app. This means, for instance, that a student can plan a trip that includes driving to a train station, taking the train, and then walking from the alighting train station to their final destination. The app will be white label, i.e. it will have a customized look and feel specific to the participating south Florida colleges, and it will have personalization features so that students can tailor the app to their travel patterns. Students in a cluster assigned to the MaaS group will also receive information concerning housing options. Students complete surveys	Other: MaaS app; The MaaS App will be downloaded to students' smartphones and will provide real-time, multimodal trip planning to students on demand when they open the app.
Placebo Comparator: No app; Students receive no app, no housing information, students complete surveys.	Other: No app; students receive no app or housing information

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The rate of students using alternative modes increases.	Percentage of trips taken to campus by alternative modes. Will students in the intervention group, subject to information and marketing incentives as delivered through a MaaS app, be more likely to use alternative modes to reach campus?	one academic year
Number of students who make more frequent use of alternative modes to campus are associated with increased grade point averages.	Number of students who make more frequent use of alternative modes to campus or who do not own vehicles	one academic year
Number of students who make more frequent use of alternative modes to campus are associated with increases in credit hours earned.	Number of students who make more frequent use of alternative modes to campus or students who do not own vehicles	one academic year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The rate of students who own vehicles should decrease.	Student car ownership--Will students in the intervention group, subject to information and marketing incentives as delivered through a MaaS app, reduce their level of car reliance?	one academic year
Number of students who make more frequent use of alternative modes to campus are associated with increases in retention.	Number of students who make more frequent use of alternative modes to campus or who do not own vehicles	one academic year
Number of students who make more frequent use of alternative modes to campus are associated with increases in degree completion.	Number of studentswho make more frequent use of alternative modes to campus or students or do not own vehicles	one academic year

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-Reported BMI	Number of students reporting BMI within CDC Healthy guidelines increases.	one academic year
Self-reported general health	Number of students reporting general health as good, very good, or excellent increases	one academic year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Florida Atlantic University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: John L Renne, PhD, Florida Atlantic University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 31, 2022
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 6, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 15, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): January 22, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 12, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 10, 2023
• Last Verified: July 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Behavior; Students; Transportation; Academic achievement
• Other Study ID Numbers: G-1905-283549; 1588924-3 (Other Identifier: FAU IRB)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No