Is the built-environment at origin,on route,and at destination associated with bicycle commuting? A gender-informed approach

There is limited evidence on the gender differences and location-specific built-environment factors associated with bicycling in Latin American cities. This study aimed to assess commuting in Bogotá by (1) analyzing the gender-specific trend of the standardized number of bicycle commuters during 2005–2017; and (2) assessing the socio-demographic, community, built-environment and natural factors associated with bicycle commuting stratified by gender. This secondary-data analysis included data from the Household Travel Surveys and Multipurpose Surveys to calculate the number of bicycle commuters per habitant from 2005 to 2017 by gender. We assessed the socio-demographic and built-environment factors fitting generalized additive models stratified by gender using the 2015 Household Travel Survey. Although both women and men increased the standardized number of bicycle commuters, male commuters show a steeper trend than women, evidencing the widening gender gap in bicycle commuting over time. Bicycle commuting was negatively associated with household motor vehicle ownership, steeper terrain slope, longer commute distance, and scarce low-stress roads at trip origin and route. Among women, the availability of bike paths at the trip destination was positively associated with bicycling, while age and being a student were negatively associated with bicycling. Among men, living in areas with the lowest socio-economic status was positively associated with bicycling, while having a driver's license and living close to bus rapid transit stations were negatively associated with bicycling. In conclusion, bicycle and transport infrastructure play different roles in commuting by bicycle by gender and trip stages (origin – route – destination).     

Investigating household vehicle ownership,mode choice and trip sharing decisions using a combined revealed preference/stated preference Nested Logit model: case study in Bangkok Metropolitan Region

This study proposes a Nested Logit model to investigate household travel behaviour in respect to vehicle ownership, mode choice and trip sharing decisions. The model is analysed using revealed preference (RP) and stated preference (SP) data since a combined estimation of RP/SP data is an effective method of expressing complex travel behaviour and forecasting travel demand for new transport services. In the proposed model, the nesting structure has two levels. The upper level shows car ownership, motorcycle ownership, and no vehicle-ownership choices, and the lower level shows the mode choice combinations for two-traveller households. Trip sharing is considered as one of the mode-choice options in the model. The proposed model is analysed using data from the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. The analysis conducted informs that Central Business District (CBD) travel, long distance travel, household income, job status, age of travellers and presence of school children in households are key aspects in household travel decisions. Based on these aspects, households make important decisions on vehicle ownership, mode choice and trip sharing. In addition, this study reveals commuters’ hidden preferences for modes that are not in existence, in particular the Mass Rapid Transit System in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region due to be fully implemented in 2010.     

The determinants of mode of transport to work in the Greater Dublin Area

Rapid economic and demographic change in the Greater Dublin Area over the period 1996–2006, with associated increases in car dependence and congestion, has focused policy on encouraging more sustainable forms of travel. In this context, knowledge of current travel patterns and their determinants is crucial. Here we concentrate on travel for a specific journey purpose, namely the journey to work. Using data on the full population of working individuals from the 2006 Census of Population, we analyse the influence of travel and supply-side characteristics, as well as demographic and socio-economic characteristics on the choice of mode of transport to work in the Greater Dublin Area. The results indicate that household composition, public transport availability, journey time and work location are particularly significant in explaining the choice of mode of transport to work.     

E-shoppers and multimodal accessibility to in-store retail: An analysis of spatial and social effects

Amidst the growing interest in enhancing the academic understanding of the relationships between e-shopping and transport, a key element remains underexplored – the impact of e-shopping on spatial accessibility to in-store retail. The paper studies variations in multimodal accessibility to in-store retail between e-shopper groups and the associated spatial effects. The research is based on a face-to-face questionnaire, administered in the city of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid Metropolitan Area, Spain), which provides data on socio-economic characteristics, e-shopping habits, and travel time preferences to reach in-store retail. Clustering techniques serve to identify three e-shopper groups: occasional e-shoppers with a car, infrequent e-shoppers with a car, and frequent e-shoppers without a car. A comparison of e-shopper distance-decay functions to reach in-store retail is made, revealing significant differences between the three e-shopper groups for car and public transport for any time interval. However, for walking such differences are limited to time intervals between 10 and 40 min. Distance-decay functions are processed through a gravity-based model, identifying five categories of multimodal accessibility places that provide information on how in-store retail locations may be affected by e-shopping habits. The paper closes with concluding remarks on policy-making and a few pathways for future research.     

Exploring built environment correlates of walking distance of transit egress in the Twin Cities

Most studies on walking distance to transit stops either emphasize transit access or do not distinguish transit access and egress. Furthermore, environmental correlates of walking distance may differ by stop location. Using the 2010 Transit Onboard Survey in the Minneapolis and St. Paul Metropolitan Area, this study develops four models to compare the effects of the built environment around transit stops on walking distance of transit egress. Job density is negatively correlated with walking distance, consistent in all four models. Other built environment variables exhibit different impacts by stop location. Particularly, land use mix has positive impacts on walking distance for stops outside of downtown and suburban employment centers whereas job density is more important for suburban centers. Job accessibility and the number of intersections have significant effects on stops within downtown areas but have no significant impacts on stops outside of downtown areas. The number of transit stops has opposite impacts on walking distance for stops within and outside of downtown. Moreover, the built environment tends to have a larger impact on walking distance in downtown areas than non-downtown areas. We then discuss the implications for stop area land use planning and transit stop location choice.     

Exploring the non-linear associations between spatial attributes and walking distance to transit

When examining environmental correlates of walking distance to transit stops, few studies report the importance of spatial attributes relative to other factors. Furthermore, previous studies often assume that they have linear relationships with walking distance. Using the 2016 Transit On Board Survey in the Minneapolis and St. Paul Metropolitan Area, this study adopted the gradient boosting decision trees method to examine the relationships between walking distance and spatial attributes. Results showed that spatial attributes collectively have larger predictive power than other factors. Moreover, they tend to have non-linear associations with walking distance. We further identified the most effective ranges of spatial attributes to guide stop area planning and stop location choice in the region.     

Sustainable transport challenges in a suburban university: The case of the Autonomous University of Barcelona

This paper provides detailed accounts of the transport patterns at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), including its motivations, barriers and user preferences, and explores the main transport challenges faced by the UAB campus. This suburban university is an important transport activity generator in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region, which is committed to achieving sustainable transportation. Results have been obtained through a personal survey (n=5525) of members of the university community. These show that the main limitations for changing travel mode from private means to non-motorised or public modes of transport are: the lack of adequate infrastructure, the marginal role of walking and cycling as a means of transport, and the longer time involved using public transport.     

Built for active travel? Investigating the contextual effects of the built environment on transportation mode choice

The study investigates the role of the built environment attributes and their contextual effects on travel behaviour. The study utilized a dataset of 4739 respondents elicited from an online survey distributed in Hamilton City, Canada. A Nested Logit (NL) model and a quadratic polynomial trend surface are employed to spatially investigate the determinants influencing mode choice behaviour. The study contributes to our understanding of how geography moderates the impact of built environment attributes on mode choice behaviour. Socioeconomic demographics are found to play a pivotal role in explaining Hamiltonians' mode choice behaviour. For built environment attributes, sidewalk density is positively associated with walking and public transit use. Moreover, bike lane density is positively associated with biking and negatively associated with public transit use. Regarding land-use entropy (mix), the results show that high land-use entropy is negatively associated with choosing the car as a passenger travel mode. From a contextual perspective, the results affirmed that the influence of built environment attributes is not equally efficacious across the city. Improving the built environment attributes across the city reveals a substantial increase in walking and biking while decreasing the probability of choosing other modes. However, it is noteworthy to mention that the influence of improving the built environment is not homogeneous over geography.     

Benefits of shift from car to active transport

There is a growing awareness that significant benefits for our health and environment could be achieved by reducing our use of cars and shifting instead to active transport, i.e. walking and bicycling. The present article presents an estimate of the health impacts due to a shift from car to bicycling or walking, by evaluating four effects: the change in exposure to ambient air pollution for the individuals who change their transportation mode, their health benefit, the health benefit for the general population due to reduced pollution and the risk of accidents. We consider only mortality in detail, but at the end of the paper we also cite costs for other impacts, especially noise and congestion. For the dispersion of air pollution from cars we use results of the Transport phase of the ExternE project series and derive general results that can be applied in different regions. We calculate the health benefits of bicycling and walking based on the most recent review by the World Health Organization. For a driver who switches to bicycling for a commute of 5 km (one way) 5 days/week 46 weeks/yr the health benefit from the physical activity is worth about 1300 €/yr, and in a large city (>500,000) the value of the associated reduction of air pollution is on the order of 30 €/yr. For the individual who makes the switch, the change in air pollution exposure and dose implies a loss of about 20 €/yr under our standard scenario but that is highly variable with details of the trajectories and could even have the opposite sign. The results for walking are similar. The increased accident risk for bicyclists is extremely dependent on the local context; data for Paris and Amsterdam imply that the loss due to fatal accidents is at least an order of magnitude smaller than the health benefit of the physical activity. An analysis of the uncertainties shows that the general conclusion about the order of magnitude of these effects is robust. The results can be used for cost-benefit analysis of programs or projects to increase active transport, provided one can estimate the number of individuals who make a mode shift.     

A compact city for the wealthy? Employment accessibility inequalities between occupational classes in the London metropolitan region 2011

The prevalence of gentrification and housing marketisation processes in many cities points to increasingly wealthy inner-city areas and potentially greater population segregation by income. It is plausible that these trends are contributing to regional accessibility inequalities, though quantitative research testing this link is limited. This paper examines differences in employment accessibility between Standard Occupational Classification groups in the London Metropolitan Region for 2011 for car, transit, bus only and walking modes. Additionally, changes in occupational class populations 2006–2016 are considered, revealing continuing inner-city gentrification. Employment accessibility is calculated using cumulative measures, based on travel times from multi-modal network modelling. The results show that while car accessibility is relatively equal between occupational classes, public transport, bus and walk accessibility have significant inequalities favouring professional classes. Low income groups have lower accessibility for the most affordable bus and walk modes, and inequalities are greater for residents in the wider metropolitan region. Furthermore, professional groups combine accessibility advantages with the highest rates of owner occupation, maximising housing wealth benefits. Lower income groups are exposed to rent increases, though this is offset by social housing, which remains the most prevalent tenure in Inner London for low income classes.     

An exploratory analysis of relationships between socioeconomic,land use,activity participation variables and travel patterns

This paper aims to find relations between the socioeconomic characteristics, activity participation, land use patterns and travel behavior of the residents in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area (SPMA) by using Exploratory Multivariate Data Analysis (EMDA) techniques. The variables influencing travel pattern choices are investigated using: (a) Cluster Analysis (CA), grouping and characterizing the Traffic Zones (TZ), proposing the independent variable called Origin Cluster and, (b) Decision Tree (DT) to find a priori unknown relations among socioeconomic characteristics, land use attributes of the origin TZ and destination choices. The analysis was based on the origin–destination home-interview survey carried out in SPMA in 1997. The DT application revealed the variables of greatest influence on the travel pattern choice. The most important independent variable considered by DT is car ownership, followed by the Use of Transportation “credits” for Transit tariff, and, finally, activity participation variables and Origin Cluster. With these results, it was possible to analyze the influence of a family income, car ownership, position of the individual in the family, use of transportation “credits” for transit tariff (mainly for travel mode sequence choice), activities participation (activity sequence choice) and Origin Cluster (destination/travel distance choice).     

Keep the children walking: active school travel in Tirana,Albania

This paper examines how characteristics of the physical and socio-economic environment influence children’s school travel mode in Tirana, the capital of Albania. A survey of students aged 11 to 13, revealed that an overwhelming majority walk to school, while bicycling and bus use are minimal. Students who walk to school often do so as part of a larger group of schoolmates, attend schools that are located relatively near their house, are faced with relatively few major road crossings during their journey, and belong to families that are less likely to own a car. Children who are driven to school (only 13.5% of our sample) usually have higher-income families and live farther from the school. Although Tirana’s high residential density has some environmental drawbacks, we deem it positive in that its result is that most students live very close to their schools and in close proximity to classmates walking to school. The fine grain pattern of the urban public school network contributes to the short distances between schools and homes. We provide a number of recommendations for the promotion of walking in home-school trips, as well as for the future physical development of the city and the school network.     

Weather and rail delays: Analysis of metropolitan rail in Dublin

With changes in the global climate, the occurrence of severe weather events appears to be becoming ever more frequent. As a result of this, vital transport networks are becoming increasingly exposed to disruption or disablement due to weather related incidents. In order to adapt to these changing conditions it is important to gain an understanding of how weather currently impacts transport systems. This paper presents the results of a statistical analysis of the impact of weather conditions on the performance of metropolitan commuter rail based upon observations made on the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) rail system. Utilising a dataset comprising daily performance observations for 30 train services operating across the DART network, this research applies a number of multiple regression models to gain an understanding of the role of weather, temporal effects, and resulting interactions, on delays experienced by the network. While research in this area has traditional focused on the impact of single events, this study presents an examination of the role of multiple factors and their interactions. With regard to temporal effects, the largest delays are observed in the last third of the year, with peak delays occurring in November. Delays due to adverse weather conditions are observed, with rain being the primary factor related to poor performance. Interactions between different weather conditions, particularly wind and rain, as well as between weather conditions and the month in which a journey took place were also observed to be significant and resulting in delays to services.     

Dependence between travel distance,individual socioeconomic and health-related characteristics,and the choice of the travel mode: a cross-sectional study for Kaunas,Lithuania

The aim of this study was to analyse the associations between individual socioeconomic and health-related characteristics, travel distance, and the choice of different travel modes in urban population. A cross-sectional study included 932 adults of Kaunas city, Lithuania. The choice of the travel mode and individual characteristics were self-reported by the participants, and their travel routes were calculated using the geographic information system. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the most significant factors determining the choice of a car, cycling, walking, or public transport. In total, 529 participants reported using a car, of whom 65.8% had medium or high education levels. These participants were more likely to be younger, male, married, and employed. Among bicycle users, statistically significant differences between the employment status, body mass index, and travel distance were observed. Walkers were significantly more likely to be older, those with lower incomes, unemployed, and travelling the shortest distances. The analysis of the travel distance on the choice of the travel mode revealed that men travelled longer distances with a car compared to women. The employment status was significantly associated with travel distance by car or public transport. Employed individuals travelled longer distances by public transport or by car, compared to unemployed individuals. Among bicycle users, we found that people with higher levels of education and overweight individuals cycled the longest distances. Our study emphasizes the importance of considering different individual characteristics when analysing the choice of transport modes. It provides evidence that is relevant for all urban populations on the choice of the transport mode, particularly considering active versus passive transport.     

Thinking regional and acting local: Assessing the joint influence of local and regional accessibility on commute mode in Montreal,Canada

Accessibility indicators, measuring the ease of reaching destinations via a specific mode of transport, are increasingly used in planning and research as they support integrated land use and transport planning. Research has shown that increased local accessibility (walkability for example) is associated with an increase in walking mode share, whereas increase in public transport accessibility is associated with a greater use of public transport. Yet, while public transport agencies are promoting the combination of active and public transport options to address one's diverse mobility needs, local and regional accessibility are rarely addressed together in research or practice. This research aims to determine the joint influence of local and regional accessibility on the transport mode used for work trips in the Montreal metropolitan region, while controlling for socio-demographic characteristics. Data come from the 2013 Origin-Destination survey 2016 Canadian census, 2017 public transport data DMTI Enhanced points of interests. A multinomial logistic model is used to understand how local and regional accessibility are associated with walking, cycling or taking public transport to work across individuals. The results demonstrate that increases in both local and regional accessibility are associated with a higher probability of using sustainable modes. The predicted probabilities suggest that local accessibility is more closely associated with a decrease in car use. This study sheds light on the interaction between local and regional land use and transport systems and is of relevance to planners and policymakers wishing to develop neighborhoods that support the use of sustainable modes.     

Land use effects on bicycle ridership: a framework for state planning agencies

State and local agencies increasingly recognize the importance of bicycling activity and as the number of riders has grown over the past several years, the agencies are becoming more aware of the need to provide better bicycle infrastructure. This paper proposes a series of empirical models and applies them to the State of Maryland in the United States, using a spatial lag approach to explore land use, built environment, demographic, socio-economic, and traffic condition connections to bicycle ridership, defined as the number of bicycle trips generated by a given analysis zone per day. A set of models is proposed for three land-use typologies: urban, sub-urban and rural. The data that drives this analysis was obtained from a recently conducted Household Travel Survey (HTS) in the Baltimore–Washington region in Maryland. Results show that some land uses, socio-economic and demographic characteristics, and transit accessibility are positively correlated with bicycle ridership. Other types of land use, transport system characteristics and income level have an inverse relationship with bicycle ridership. The contributing factors to bicycle ridership vary with land-use typology. This proposed approach could be used to evaluate factors relevant to bicycle demand. State and local agencies are advised to build designated bicycle paths according to traffic conditions and increase bicycle-parking capacity in specific establishments.     

Road environments and bicyclist route choice: The cases of Davis and San Francisco,CA

Examining bicyclists' route choices provides valuable insights into the importance of road environments for bicycling. In this study, we examine the role of road factors, individual factors, and preference heterogeneity on route choice using two diverse and extreme cases in the U.S. The first case is bicycling to the University of California, Davis campus by students, faculty, and staff. This case represents the most bike friendly environment in the U.S. which affords a diverse bicycling population. The second case is bicycling to many destinations for many purposes in San Francisco, CA. It is more representative of a large U.S. city, but also has a relatively large bicycling mode share. It serves as an important case for examining the new innovative type of bicycling infrastructure that has been installed in North American cities over the past decade. Results suggest substantial within-city between-person heterogeneity in preference for road attributes and bicycling facilities as well as differences between contexts. Davisites show strong preferences for bike lanes and off-street paths and consistently choose routes of similar length to shortest routes indicating the need for suitable routes with minimal detours to support a large bicycling mode share. San Franciscans show strong preferences for conventional bike lanes on minor arterials, even stronger preferences for separated and protected bicycling facilities, and are willing to detour considerable distances to ride on them. Given large between-person differences within cities, we suggest usual valuations of bicycling facilities from elasticities and marginal rates of substitutions at the mean may need rethinking when applied to bike infrastructure planning.     

Logistics land use patterns in metropolitan Canada

This paper focuses on the spatial patterns of freight and logistics activities in Metropolitan Canada. The literature acknowledges that these activities, while fundamentally important to economic and social wellbeing in cities, also contribute negatively to aspects of urban life through their associated vehicular traffic for example. The at times sprawling nature of their pattern (Dablanc, Ogilvie, & Goodchild, 2014; Dablanc & Ross, 2012), driven by industry desires for larger footprints, can further exacerbate these negatives. However, the existence of sprawl is not common in all major centres, with local variations in influencing factors interacting with systematic developments in the logistics industry (e.g. larger facilities). The objectives of this paper are to analyse the pattern of logistics developments in Canadian cities and to explore the factors influencing the observed patterns. The methodology employs a case study approach (building on the authors previous work on the Greater Toronto Area - (Woudsma, Jakubicek, & Dablanc, 2015), obtaining fine-grained spatial data on logistics businesses and their employment levels across selected Canadian cities including Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Winnipeg and Halifax. The data used to assess these patterns were business listings from DMTI spatial, a Canadian provider of geospatial data. The data set used in this paper contains listings of business names, addresses, SIC codes in 2002, and NAICS and SIC codes in 2012. For analysis of this data, our approach uses basic spatial indicators, like mean centre of establishments and average distance to mean centre, along with statistical analysis of facility types and intra-regional changes. The exploration of influencing factors is conducted through in-depth review of industry publications, regional news sources, and conversations with experts in the commercial development industry in each case study city. Preliminary results indicate that in smaller metropolitan areas (Winnipeg, Halifax), the land supply pressures, and scope of logistics developments result in no evidence of sprawl. In the remaining cities, there is moderate evidence of sprawl, with noted influences including supply and local development controls. These results are discussed in the context of the current literature on urban logistics sprawl with directions for future work provided.     

Children's active travel and independent mobility in four countries: Development,social contributing trends and measures

In many countries a decline in children's active and independent mobility, like walking and cycling is registered. In this paper the development of children's mobility in Denmark, Finland, Great Britain and Norway is compared to examine differences and similarities in these countries. Accessible data are used, which implies that not all of them are directly comparable, but they are employed as indicators of development. The trends are the same in these four countries, an increase in car use and decrease in bicycling and walking. Distance to school has increased, both as a result of bigger units and more children in private schools. Traffic is an important reason for taking children to school by car, but convenience for the parents is also part of it. Organized leisure activities has also contributed to less walking and cycling, in addition to more time pressure in families, increased access to car(s) and easier access to parents as a ‘transport service’ by the help of the mobile phone. The measures that different countries use in trying to meet the challenges of children's mobility tend to focus on the school trip and most often on traffic safety, both at national and local levels.