Non-motorized Travel Research Articles

Joint impacts of Bus Rapid Transit and urban form on vehicle ownership: New evidence from a quasi-longitudinal analysis in Bogotá, Colombia

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has become popular as a means to provide non-automobile-based mobility and alleviate the impacts of rising traffic congestion in cities around the world. However, there is little empirical evidence supporting BRT’s potential to meet these objectives. This research improves our knowledge of BRT’s potential as an alternative to vehicle ownership at the household level and provides new evidence of the role of urban form in supporting transit investment. We use a difference-in-differences research design to examine the change in vehicle ownership from before to after implementation of Bogotá, Colombia’s TransMilenio BRT system. Our results indicate access to TransMilenio’s main trunk system is significantly and negatively associated with vehicle ownership for higher wealth households. Among lower wealth households, access to the trunk system and the complementary feeder system (designed to bring passengers from peripheral neighborhoods into the main trunk system) are both associated with an unexpected increase in the odds of vehicle ownership; however, that increase appears to be reversed in neighborhoods where the built environment supports transit and non-motorized travel. This research contributes a methodology for joint analysis of urban form and transit availability on vehicle ownership, and demonstrates that urban form and transit access can have a synergistic effect. Neglecting this synergy would be a missed opportunity to further leverage the benefits of BRT investments. Our findings also suggest that, in the case of Bogotá, the vehicle ownership impacts of BRT investment may not accrue to lower income households unless that investment is coordinated with policies to promote supportive urban form.

Do suburban residents prefer the fastest or low-carbon travel modes? Combining public participation GIS and multimodal travel time analysis for daily mobility research

Sustainability of urban transportation and residents' daily mobility is increasingly important for the future of urban regions. In this paper, we present a novel methodology combining mapped survey responses (gathered using public participation GIS) and sophisticated multimodal routing analysis to understand patterns of suburban residents' daily mobility. Our particular focus is on residents' mode choices and their optimality in terms of travel time. We also examine the carbon-intensity of potential mode choice mismatches where a comparatively slower travel mode is chosen for a particular trip. This paper shows how the combination of the two data sources create new possibilities for analysing daily mobility by enabling the comparison of self-reported, geographically referenced mobility patterns and modelled, objectively “optimal” patterns. Our case study results from a rapidly growing metropolitan area, Greater Helsinki in Finland, indicate that people have rather sustainable daily mobility practices. Their daily trips are typically short (median 1.8 km), and non-motorised travel modes are the most popular. Also the share of car travel is significant. While public transport clearly has the lowest modal share, it is frequently used on longer trips to destinations where public transport connections are good (particularly the city centre). In 44% of trips, the respondents choose the fastest travel mode. When a comparatively slower travel mode is chosen, it most often produces less CO2 emissions than the fastest mode. However, particularly on shopping trips – the most commonly reported type of trip – car driving dominates as the fastest means of transportation. When a slower mode is chosen on a shopping trip, it is typically more carbon-intensive than the fastest mode would have been in that case. The methodology presented here can be used to support local decision making, particularly when daily services and transport infrastructure are planned or reorganised.

The missing link: bicycle infrastructure networks and ridership in 74 US cities

Cities promote strong bicycle networks to support and encourage bicycle commuting. However, the application of network science to bicycle facilities is not very well studied. Previous work has found relationships between the amount of bicycle infrastructure in a city and aggregate bicycle ridership, and between microscopic network structure and individual tripmaking patterns. This study fills the missing link between these two bodies of literature by developing a standard methodology for measuring bicycle facility network quality at the macroscopic level and testing its association with bicycle commuting. Bicycle infrastructure maps were collected for 74 Unites States cities and systematically analyzed to evaluate their network structure. Linear regression models revealed that connectivity and directness are important factors in predicting bicycle commuting after controlling for demographic variables and the size of the city. These findings provide a framework for transportation planners and policymakers to evaluate their local bicycle facility networks and set regional priorities that support nonmotorized travel behavior, and for continued research on the structure and quality of bicycle infrastructure and behavior.

Non-motorized transport and university populations: an analysis of connectivity and network perceptions

This research examines local bicycle and pedestrian networks in the vicinity of the University of Alabama campus to assess the utility of these networks for travel to the university by students and employees. Network connectivity is examined using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the results compared to a survey of 3731 university students and employees. Results indicate that areas within one mile of the University of Alabama’s campus have the highest levels of bicycle and pedestrian network connectivity and accessibility. The survey results show that an individual’s positive perception of the bicycle and pedestrian networks is related to their travel behavior, and that this knowledge decreases within an increase in commute distance to campus. Increases in connectivity can be expected to lead to an increase in non-motorized travel, but it is also clear that lack of knowledge of driving and cycling laws is a deterrent to many.

The Colorado River Experience: Assessing The Value Of Motorized Rafting

Although free markets provide superior solutions to resource allocation, the National Park Service controls access, use, and mode of travel on the Colorado River through the canyon. There is an aggregate number of “user days” allowed for the river. There is a split between motorized and non-motorized travel, and daily limits on the types of trips that can be launched from Lees Ferry, the starting point for Grand Canyon river trips. This paper explores a rather straightforward economic question – How much would it take to entice existing motorized providers to switch to oar powered rafts? Available data allows the development of different scenarios to determine the cost of enticing motorized providers to switch to nonmotorized guided trips. However, there is also intrinsic some providers possess which may make change a purely economic decision to one with other values.

Measuring the potential for bicycling and walking at a metropolitan commuter university

An attitudinal survey was disseminated to faculty, staff, and students at a metropolitan commuter university with the objective to ascertain what travel demand management (TDM) strategies will increase bicycling and walking activity. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the groups were divided spatially into typical walking and bicycling zones from campus. Descriptive analysis was first used to determine attitudinal differences and similarities among the divided groups regarding hypothetical walking and bicycling conditions. It was found that all groups generally favored most bicycling interventions within a bicycling zone versus those who lived outside the zone. Accordingly, most walking facilitators were viewed positively among all groups. A binary logit model was then utilized to understand how distance from campus affected the likelihood that a bicycle or pedestrian mode shift would occur among faculty, students, and staff. Model results indicated that bicycle safety and education may cause faculty to bicycle, whereas higher automobile costs may cause staff to bicycle, and a visible bicycle culture would cause students to bicycle more in a bicycling zone. The probability that staff and students would walk more was linked to increased perceived personal safety. Increased automobile costs and traffic enforcement appeared to be the largest incentive to increase faculty walking activity in a walking zone. The results indicate that a commuter university contains a diverse population, with equally diverse utilitarian non-motorized travel needs. Therefore, effective TDM strategies should reflect this variety by incorporating appropriate bicycling and walking incentives and automobile disincentives that encourage active commuting.

Models for anticipating non-motorized travel choices, and the role of the built environment

This paper uses detailed travel data from the Seattle metropolitan area to evaluate the effects of built-environment variables on the use of non-motorized (bike+walk) travel modes. Several model specifications are used to understand and explain non-motorized travel behavior in terms of household, person and built-environment (BE) variables. Marginal effects of covariates for models of vehicle ownership levels, intrazonal trip-making, destination and mode choices, non-motorized trip counts per household, and miles traveled (both motorized and non-motorized) are presented. Mode and destination choice models were estimated separately for interzonal and intrazonal trips and for each of three different trip purposes, to recognize the distinct behaviors at play when making shorter versus longer trips and serving different activities.The results underscore the importance of street connectivity (quantified as the number of 3-way and 4-way intersections in a half-mile radius), higher bus-stop density, and greater non-motorized access in promoting lower vehicle ownership levels (after controlling for household size, income, neighborhood density and so forth), higher rates of non-motorized trip generation (per day), and higher likelihoods of non-motorized mode choices. Intrazonal trip likelihoods rose with street connectivity, transit availability, and land use mixing.Across all BE variables tested, street structure offered the greatest potential behavioral impacts, alongside accessibility indices (for both motorized and non-motorized access). For example, non-motorized trip counts are estimated to rise 26% following a one standard deviation increase in this variable, and walk probabilities by 27% following a one standard deviation increase in this index at the destination zone. Regional and local accessibility and density (of population plus jobs) variables were also important predictors, depending on the response being modeled. Simulated model applications illuminate when and to what extent significant travel behavior changes may be witnessed, as land use settings and other variables are changed, to reflect existing neighborhoods.

Urban Built Environments, Accessibility, and Travel Behavior in a Declining Urban Core: The Extreme Conditions of Disinvestment and Suburbanization in the Detroit Region

ABSTRACT:The research explores the impact of socioeconomic and racial variables on accessibility to urban amenities and travel in compact urban built environments that have traditionally been viewed as improving access to daily destinations and promoting nonmotorized travel: urban environments characterized by high densities, mixed land uses, and high connectivity. The study focuses on six neighborhoods in the Detroit region. Two neighborhoods are within the city itself, and predominantly poor and Black, and four of the neighborhoods are in the region surrounding the city, and they are predominantly wealthy and White. This study at the neighborhood scale enables an analysis into how class and race affect accessibility and travel in neighborhoods experiencing urban disinvestment and decline. The research shows that the traditional relationship between high densities, mixed land uses, high connectivity, greater accessibility, and pedestrian activity is significantly weaker in declining inner cities.

Predicting new forms of activity/mobility patterns enabled by shared-mobility services through a needs-based stated-response method: Case study of grocery shopping

One-way carsharing systems are increasingly-prevalent in urban areas, though little is known about their impacts on activity-travel behavior, particularly their effects on usage of motorized and non-motorized travel. Such systems require privileged access to publicly-controlled street space, and in order to prepare suitably for negotiations regarding the price and terms of such access, transport planners require techniques to analyze their usage and impacts.In contrast to previous methods, this study employs activity/mobility behavior as the quantity under study rather than aggregate travel distance. A stated-response method is presented to predict the impacts of one-way carsharing. The survey instrument is based on needs-based theory, in which multiple activity episodes undertaken in service of a broader personal objective are analyzed as a pattern of linked behavior. Food shopping was the activity type employed in the empirical analysis.Substantive findings relating to the impacts of one-way carsharing are discussed, as well as limitations imposed by the survey protocol and limited sample size (n=72). It was found that non-car-owning respondents within our sample would use one-way carsharing to allow them to shop for food less frequently, would visit fewer distinct food shops, and would spend less time traveling for food shopping purposes. Instrument effects specific to this method are also discussed.

PEDESTRIAN PRIORITY IN URBAN AREA AND USEFULNESS TOWARDS COMMUNITY

Transportation network has become nerve of any city , the paradox here is that though meant for human t ravel, these roads hardly provide any quality space for those who are without vehicles (well known as pedestrian). Due to the am biguous position of nonmotorized travel in an urban transportation system, the transportation conditions for non-motorized tr avel are getting worse in cities, which illustrate the urgent need for the im provement for same. There is a requirement of combining traffic issues with pedestrian in a comprehensive manner and will make it an important part of road design. Preservation of nature, opportunities for cultural interface, a resource conserving envir onment with workable public transit and more occasi ons for walking should be prime objectives of urban planners. For urban development, pedestrian system should be well designed, safe and convenient. The Pedestrian Zone is the primary component of every sin a city. It is not only a zone to ensure smooth, comfortable, conflict free movement of pedestrians and public transport u sers, but also an area which shapes social interact ions, safety and quality of life of people in a city. Pedestrian priority thus becomes a major and a very important phenomenon for urban development which in a way helps quality of life in an urban area. Wi th the increase in population and keeping in view t he world pedestrian scenario, this paper will bring some notices to facilities re quired, mode of travels to be looked upon and other such major issues are discussed.

Rural Communities and Transportation Equity in California's San Joaquin Valley

Smart growth policy and planning have tended to emphasize urban centers and regions, yet rural communities can also be important sites of innovation. Recent work demonstrated that these communities had surprisingly high levels of current and potential nonmotorized travel. Legislation in California mandates reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across all of the state's metropolitan planning organization (MPO) regions, including the heavily rural San Joaquin Valley. Advocates for rural communities are finding common cause with more traditional environmental organizations around the vision of investing in and enhancing extant rural places as an alternative to leapfrog patterns of urban and suburban sprawl. Because of existing patterns of extreme disparity and legion underserved unincorporated communities, analyses that can help integrate social equity within regional planning are needed to serve and empower rural residents. This paper presents the results of several new analyses of the social equity dimensions of regional transportation plans in the San Joaquin Valley. Activity-based travel model data were used to analyze equity, with a particular focus placed on eight disadvantaged unincorporated communities identified by community advocates to be important demonstration sites. The investigators showed how improvements to traditional equity analysis could enhance the consideration of equity in the planning process and compared the results developed by innovative techniques with those obtained by use of their traditional counterparts. The methods outlined here can make substantial contributions to reduce disparities in rural communities, which would likely be overlooked in typical regional equity analyses because of their small size, and offer lessons for MPOs serving rural areas across the country.

Modeling Nonmotorized Travel Demand at Intersections in Calgary, Canada

In September 2009, the City Council of Calgary, Canada, approved Plan It Calgary, which proposed policies that focused on the development of resilient neighborhoods through the intensification and diver-sification of urban activities around transit stations and routes. More intensive development and mixed land use encourage nonmotorized trips and reinforce comfortable, safe, and walkable streets. The development of high-density, mixed-use, and transit- and pedestrian-oriented communities has the potential to generate shorter trips to destinations; these trips are expected to result in a higher share of active travel modes, such as biking and walking. Thus, there is a growing need to estimate the impact of land use development scenarios and transportation policies on bicycle and pedestrian demand to predict nonmotorized trip volumes and design the related infrastructure adequately. In this study, on the basis of multiple linear and Poisson regression models were calibrated to estimate nonmotorized travel demand on the basis of geographic information system data, transportation services, and road characteristics. The empirical models developed in this research can be used to assess the impacts of urban design and built environments, such as development of high-density and mixed land use areas, of complete street construction in the middle ring communities of Calgary, and of influenced demand for active travel modes. The developed models also show the benefits of improved pedestrian infrastructure, such as improved network connectivity and increases in the length of pedestrian pathways, as well as the benefits of the integration of transit and walking modes and transit and bicycle modes in encouraging more nonmotorized travel demand. This method is a straightforward statistical analysis for practitioners, and the needed data are relatively easy to access.

Route-Recording Technology for the Swiss Microcensus on Mobility and Transport 2010

Route recording is a key new feature of the Swiss Microcensus on Mobility and Transport 2010 (MCMT 2010). Whereas in previous micro-censuses information on distances was based on respondents’ estimates, the MCMT 2010 for the first time supplemented these estimates with effective distances determined by means of routing. Given the far greater accuracy of routed distance data compared with subjective estimates, the routed distances were applied for all motorized distance-related analyses. It was found that route recording provided reliable and valid distance measures and was one way to overcome the difficulty with participants’ distance estimates. But development work is needed on the routing of non-motorized travel regarding both digital networks and the survey method. The paper concludes by drawing on the findings of this examination and formulating opportunities for improvement and enhancement.

Study of Work-Travel Related Behavior Using Principal Component Analysis

The main objective of this study is to analyze work travel-related behavior through a set of variables relative to socio-economic class, urban environment and travel characteristics. The Principal Component Analysis was applied in a sample consisting of workers of the S?o Paulo Metropolitan Area, based on the origin-destination home interview survey, carried out in 1997, in order to: 1) examine the interdependence between travel patterns and a set of socioeconomic and urban environment variables; 2) determine if the original database can be synthetized on components. The results enabled to observe relations between the individual’s socio-economic class and car usage, characteristics of urban environment and destination choices, as well as age and non-motorized travel mode choice. It is then concluded that the database can be adequately summarized in three components for subsequent analysis: 1) urban environment; 2) socio-economic class; and 3) family structure.

Safety and Security in Discretionary Travel Decision Making

Considerations of whether a travel alternative (e.g., mode, destination) affords a traveler an acceptable level of safety from traffic collisions and personal security from crime may be especially important for active modes of walking and bicycling. Although theory suggests that safety and security influence nonmotorized travel decision making, empirical evidence to support these hypotheses is inconclusive. In addition to measurement limitations and data constraints, safety and security concerns are often inadequately distinguished. This study advances knowledge in this area by analyzing objective safety and security measures within a mode–destination choice context. Discretionary trips from a Portland, Oregon, household travel survey were analyzed with a joint mode–destination choice multinomial logit model. Some measures of traffic safety—more comfortable facilities, sidewalks, traffic signals, and traffic calming installations—were positively associated with walking and bicycling. Measures of a lack of personal security (higher levels of crime) were negatively associated with walking, but this effect was countered by a positive interaction of origin–destination crime on walking. Age and gender rarely moderated these safety and security relationships. Although results provide tentative support of hypotheses on the relationship between safety and security and travel mode choice, more work is needed in this area. Measuring safety and security perceptions and applying more flexible structures for discrete choice modeling might be the most promising avenues for future research on the effects of safety and security in discretionary decision making of active travel. This analysis informs interventions to promote active travel and provides one way to include safety and security concerns in travel demand models.

Route-recording on high resolution transportation network databases for National Transport Surveys: An option for valid and reliable distance measures?

The aim of this study is to investigate the results of route-recording within the Swiss National Travel Survey in the year 2010. The research questions include the following: (1) What level of accuracy and quality of georouting between addresses can be obtained within Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI)-based national travel surveys? (2) What are the differences between estimated and routed distances for stages? (3) Is it worth it to switch from self-estimated distances to technological solutions in national travel surveys with a comparison between GPS and route-recording? It was found that within the method of route-recording, a high share of address-precise geocodes is a necessity for a successful routing fulfilled by the Swiss National Travel Survey 2010. Secondly, route-recording provides reliable and valid distance measures and is one way to overcome the difficulty in participants distance estimates. Thirdly, in its current form, it is not yet an alternative to GPS in national travel surveys, if one is interested in the actual routes travelled by survey participants. Especially there is development work necessary in the routing of non-motorised travel regarding both digital networks and the survey method. The paper concludes by drawing on the findings of this examination and formulating opportunities for improvement and enhancement.

What Explains Active Travel Behaviour? Evidence from Case Studies in the UK

Walking and cycling are considered to be healthy and environmentally friendly modes of travel that can mitigate the harmful effects of motorised journeys. This study aims to reveal the individual and built environmental characteristics that are associated with these behaviours by examining the current level of walking and cycling for transport in three UK case-study areas. Obligatory and discretionary journeys were separately modelled under the assumption that different factors would affect mode choice. Over 70% of respondents incorporated walking and/or cycling into their weekly travel and about 15% had ridden bicycles at least once for nonrecreational purposes during the last seven days. We also found that more walking journeys were made for discretionary purposes compared with obligatory journeys whilst cycling was more common for obligatory journeys. Using the concept of the active travel share, we developed models analysing active travel behaviour. The results confirmed that both personal and household characteristics had clear associations with the tendency for nonmotorised travel. In particular, age, physical fitness, and vehicle ownership were significantly associated with active travel in all models. The built environment, on the other hand, had significant associations with active travel only for obligatory journeys with the exception of distance to the main activity site, which was found to be significant for both journey types.

Traffic Planning and Practices of Eco New Area Based on Green Transportation Concept

Based on dissecting green transportation concept and its essence, this paper puts forward a new understanding about the concept. Then it expounds some technical approaches to build a green transportation system from the following three aspects, spacial structure of land use, road network planning and transport development mode. At last, taking Eco New Area of a certain city as an example, this paper applies the concept and technical approaches to the green transportation planning of New Area. Further analyzing the planning strategies and implementation schemes of road network, public transit and non-motorized travel in Eco New Area, the green transportation concept is put into practice on the planning level.

Too far to walk or bike?

Only 25-35% of Canadian children and youth regularly engage in active transportation (AT; e.g., non-motorized travel modes such as walking and cycling) to/from school. Previous research shows that distance between home and school is the strongest barrier to AT. Based on social ecological theory, we describe several strategies to overcome this barrier. At the individual level, children and youth could engage in AT to/from destinations such as parks, shops, friends' and family members' residence, and sport fields which may be located closer than their school. Parents who drive their kids to/from school could drop them within a "walkable" distance so that they can walk for the remainder of the trip. Partnerships could be developed between schools and other nearby institutions that would allow cars and buses to use their parking lot temporarily so that children could do a portion of the school trip on foot. Developing a well-connected network of sidewalks along low traffic streets can also facilitate AT. At the policy level, decisions regarding school location have a direct influence on distance. Finally, social marketing campaigns could raise awareness about strategies to incorporate AT into one's lifestyle, and encourage parents to reconsider what constitutes a "walkable" distance.

The Construction of Non-Motorized Transportation Network Based on Residents' Preference in Urban Central Area

To deal with the serious impact on urban traffic, society, ecological environment and energy system by the aggregated motorization in cities, both China and foreign countries have gradually come up with a series of policies and initiatives targeting at the non-motorized traffic by cyclists and pedestrians. Under such a background, the research studies four sub-districts of Tuanjie hu, Hujialou, Liulitun and Balizhuang at the central area of Chaoyang District, Beijing, and tries to find the interrelation between the preferences of non-motorized agents in densely populated urban central area and the construction of non-motorized transportation network. By discussing the non-motorized travel routes, road patterns and facility layout according to various needs of the target group, the research aims to deal with the construction of non-motorized transportation system in the densely populated central area in Beijing. Through questionnaire and interview, the research conducts an in-depth survey on residents travel purposes, behavioral regularities and users assessment for the current non-motorized routes, and acquires an understanding about their preferences on choice of roads due to different travel purposes, problems from using current non-motorized routes and thereby their preferred road patterns, and the preferred facility layout that meet local residents behavioral regularities. By simulating the optimization of two types of non-motorized routes for commute and recreation with the Cost Distance Module, the research constructs three types of non-motorized routes: comprehensive, commute and recreation, with a total length of 65.8km. The research also reconstructs the road patterns for urban expressway, major arterial, minor arterial and connector on the road section for commute and recreation, adding green belts and low road fence to segment non-motorized routes. Meanwhile, the research establishes a three-tier NMT facility service center system which incorporates bicycle service (ranging from bike renting, parking and maintenance to vehicle shift), NMT signs, informational signs, vendor booths, public bathrooms, benches, and trash bins. Thus an integral non-motorized traffic network at the urban central area of Beijing is built up.