Measuring the Invisible Journey
"Why the parts of a commute that go unmeasured shape how accessible it feels."
Context
A study within the Urban Mobility area of Dr. Okafor's wider research on daily mobility and access to opportunity, conducted in Lagos over Jan–Jun 2022.
The Question
"What does a travel-time figure leave out of a commuter's actual experience of a journey?"
Hypothesis
The parts of a journey that standard transport data doesn't measure — waiting, transferring, uncertainty — carry as much weight in how accessible a trip feels as the measured travel time itself.
Method
Data
Findings
Travel time alone does not explain perceived accessibility.
STRONG CONFIDENCEUnmeasured time made up nearly a third of the average commute.
MODERATE CONFIDENCEWhat We Know / What We Still Don't Know
Standard travel-time measurements systematically understate what a journey costs a commuter, because they leave out waiting, transfers and uncertainty.
Whether the same gap holds in cities with more formalised transit, where waiting is more predictable.