Travel mode and physical activity at Sydney University.

Chris Rissel,Corinne Mulley,Ding Ding

doi:10.3390/ijerph10083563

Chris Rissel, Corinne Mulley + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10083563

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Abstract

How staff and students travel to university can impact their physical activity level. An online survey of physical activity and travel behaviour was conducted in early November 2012 to inform planning of physical activity and active travel promotion programs at the University of Sydney, Australia as part of the “Sit Less, Move More” sub-committee of the Healthy University Initiative, and as baseline data for evaluation. There were 3,737 useable responses, 60% of which were from students. Four out of five respondents travelled to the University on the day of interest (Tuesday, November 30, 2012). The most frequently used travel modes were train (32%), car as driver (22%), bus (17%), walking (17%) and cycling (6%). Staff were twice as likely to drive as students, and also slightly more likely to use active transport, defined as walking and cycling (26% versus 22%). Overall, 41% of respondents were sufficiently active (defined by meeting physical activity recommendations of 150 min per week). Participants were more likely to meet physical activity recommendations if they travelled actively to the University. With a high proportion of respondents using active travel modes or public transport already, increasing the physical activity levels and increasing the use of sustainable travel modes would mean a mode shift from public transport to walking and cycling for students is needed and a mode shift from driving to public transport or active travel for University staff. Strategies to achieve this are discussed.

Highlights

IntroductionWorkplace travel plans are behaviour change interventions designed to increase uptake of sustainable transport modes for commuting and business trips, often at the expense of car driving
Workplace travel plans have the potential to promote physical activity through active travel options and at the same time address organisational concerns such as environmental impact, traffic congestion and parking pressures [1]
* Adjusting for staff/student status, age, sex and education; ** The Hosmer–Lemeshow test of goodness of fit excluding public transport (p = 0.920); The Hosmer-Lemeshow test of goodness of fit including public transport (p = 0.293); *** Adequate physical activity refers to more than 150 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in the past 7 days. These results indicate that including public transport users in the definition of active transport both substantially increases the proportion of respondents considered to be actively travelling and the likelihood of achieving recommended levels of physical activity

Summary

Introduction

Workplace travel plans are behaviour change interventions designed to increase uptake of sustainable transport modes for commuting and business trips, often at the expense of car driving. They have been deployed extensively throughout Australia, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands and the UK [3,4,5], but not necessarily as part of routine workplace health promotion programs, nor at Universities [6]. They typically involve a survey of travel behaviour to understand existing travel behaviours [7]. A recent report on the cost-effectiveness of prevention programs highlighted that an optimal mix of cost-effective interventions for increasing physical activity at the population level could include travel planning [8]

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