Abstract
BackgroundActive travel to and from a transit station may provide significant amounts of physical activity and improve health. The ease with which people can traverse the distance to the transit station may impede or support active travel. Therefore, transit stations that have features that are supportive of utilitarian physical activity would be desirable. This study aimed to characterize the built environment surrounding new light rail transit (LRT) stations in the City of Houston, Texas.MethodsIn 2014, we used a series of systematic protocols and a standardized environmental audit instrument, the Analytic Audit Tool, to collect data on segments (streets) that surround 22 LRT stations that were being newly built. Using Geographic Information System (GIS), we assembled all the segments that intersect a 0.25-mile circular buffer around each station for the audit exercise. Several 3- to 4-member teams of trained auditors completed the audit exercise on a subset of these identified segments. Our analysis were descriptive in nature. We provided the frequency distributions of audited features across the study area. We also followed an original algorithm to produce several composite index scores for our study area. The composite index score is indicative of the prevalence of physical activity friendly/unfriendly features in the study area.ResultsIn all, we audited a total of 590 segments covering a total of 218 US Census blocks, and eight City of Houston super neighborhoods. Findings suggest the environment around the new LRT stations may not be supportive of physical activity. In general, the audited segments lacked land use integration; had abandoned buildings, had uneven sidewalks; were not bike-friendly, had minimal presence of public-recreational facilities that would support physical activity; and had significant physical disorder. Notably, certain attractive and comfort features were frequently to usually available.ConclusionsCurrent findings, which will be compared to follow-up audit data, can be useful for future researchers and practitioners interested in the built environment around LRT stations.
Highlights
Active travel to and from a transit station may provide significant amounts of physical activity and improve health
Transit use involving active travel to and from stops or stations requires an environment surrounding the stop or station that is supportive of utilitarian physical activity
Despite scientific progress in the field of active travel and the built environment, there is a lack of empirical work that seeks to characterize the micro built environment attributes immediately surrounding newly implemented transit stops or stations using environmental audits
Summary
Active travel to and from a transit station may provide significant amounts of physical activity and improve health. The assumption is that transit use typically requires some additional travel to and from a transit stop or station (first mile/last mile phenomenon) If this additional travel is physically active (walking or biking), potentially significant amounts of physical activity can be accrued by transit riders to improve one’s health [1,2,3,4,5]. Transit use involving active travel to and from stops or stations requires an environment surrounding the stop or station that is supportive of utilitarian physical activity. The lack of detailed data regarding mass transit station environments is a major limitation toward understanding the potential for transit use as a contributor to active travel and physical activity at large [7]. It is important to understand the area adjacent to transit stations and its potential influence on transit use and the travel mode to and from it
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