Peer pressure enables actuation of mobility lifestyles

This paper explores the utility of peer pressure as an actionable mechanism to induce socially responsible and environmentally-conscious mobility habits. We adopt a two-stage game theoretic model of peer pressure to investigate feedback between social, geographic, and temporal dimensions of agent choices in a hyper-realistic micro-simulation of travel. The results show that peer pressure helps in achieving desirable equilibrium properties while reducing congestion and emissions due to sustained mode shift. With a way to initiate the required social norming and a proper concern for privacy and ethics, these cost-effective mechanisms may soon begin to find use in improving community welfare.