Does A Free Ticket For Local Transport Increase Physical Activity?

Abstract

PURPOSE: Active commuting can contribute to reaching recommended levels of physical activity (PA), and might therefore play an important role in PA promotion at the population level. The purpose of the study was to assess the changes in PA behavior after the introduction of a free ticket for local transport in the Federal State of Hessia in Germany. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective online survey among the employees of Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany, and assessed employees’ commuting (good/bad weather) and leisure time PA prior to and after the introduction of the free ticket. Group differences were calculated with the Wilcoxon test and the Mann-Whitney-U test. Associations were tested with Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The level of significance was set at p≤0.05. RESULTS: The link to the online survey was sent to 7935 employees, 989 (12.46%) responded, and 706 datasets (59% female) could be analyzed. No gender differences were found in total commuting time. With the availability of the free ticket public transport use increased significantly (53% vs 62% and 65% vs 76%), and car use decreased (17% vs. 9% and 20% vs. 12% in good and bad weather respectively). Public transport use included significantly more active transport minutes than car use (14±7 and 12±7 vs 3±3 and 3±3 in good and bad weather respectively). No change in leisure time PA was found. Weak associations showed between transport mode and body-mass-index, but not with smoking status. CONCLUSIONS: In this study the introduction of free tickets for public transport led to changes in commuting behavior in favor of public transport, which implies increased active travel. It is reasonable to assume that such changes, if sustained, can bear public health relevance. Since Goethe University is located in a metropolitan area with an extensive public transport network around it, our results may not be generalizable for areas with less developed transit system.