Travel behaviours and built environments on school-runs

Abstract

Excessive car-use by individuals and households poses significant challenges for regions attempting to develop and grow sustainably. School-runs are a staple trip for households and this consistency presents unique opportunities for policymakers to facilitate shifts toward more sustainable travel behaviours as these trips are highly sensitive to the implicit costs of travel – costs directly linked to land-use and transport policies. This research employs Generalised Structural Equation Modelling to analyse the determinants of travel mode choices of secondary school students (Middle and High School students) across the Republic of Ireland. Specifically, we focus on the relationships between individual socio-demographics, the built and social characteristics of residential locations, trip-specific considerations, and travel mode choices. We find that landscapes which reduce local time-space geographies (i.e., by reducing required travel distances) are associated with increased odds of students using active and public transport instead of cars. We also show that mode-specific infrastructure (i.e., roads) provision is associated with increased mode-specific (i.e., cars) use.