Moving Toward Active Lifestyles: The Change of Transit-Related Walking to Work From 2009 to 2017

Abstract

Background: This study explored the percentage change of walking to/from public transit to work from 2009 to 2017 in general and for specific sociodemographic characteristics. Furthermore, this study also examined the sociodemographic characteristics of those who walked to/from transit to work and those who walked 30 minutes or more per day to/from transit to work and compared the difference between 2009 and 2017. Methods: 2009 and 2017 National Household Travel Survey were used. This study used weighted logistic regressions to explore the sociodemographic characteristics of those who walked to/from transit to work and those who walked 30 minutes or more per day to/from transit to work in both 2009 and 2017. Results: The percentage of trips achieving the recommended level of physical activity (30 min or more per day) by walking to/from transit work solely has a slightly increase from 9 in 2009 to 9.5 in 2017. However, the weighted percentages of walking to/from transit to work decreased for low-education, low-income, and minority populations. High population density areas were related to more transit-related walking trips to work in both 2009 and 2017. Conclusions: Policymakers in terms of transit location and service should consider low-education, low-income, and minority populations to address potential equity issues.

Correlates and determinants of transport-related physical activity among adults: An interdisciplinary systematic review

“…A third (36) found the presence of dependents within households of men of lower socioeconomic status was associated with higher TRPA. Four studies found no association between dependents and TRPA (35,43,52,60). The presence of pets in the household was assessed in three studies (65)(66)(67), with only two nding signi cant association.…”

“…Those who were non-white were more likely to undertake higher levels of TRPA (13,36) than those who were white. Similarly, immigrant and minority populations were more likely to undertake TRPA (60,65) than the remaining native residents. In a study from the US, white participants were more likely to undertake an active commute via bicycle compared to their Hispanic and African-American counterparts (54).…”

“…Nine articles reported ten signi cant relationships between education level and TRPA, with con icting results; a further 15 studies observed non-signi cant relationships (23,24,29,33,38,40,43,45,46,48,51,52,54,55,60). Five studies (two longitudinal (50, 58)) found that higher levels of educational attainment were positively associated with higher levels of TRPA (35,50,58,70,71).…”

“…Four studies observed no association between health behaviours (nutrition, smoking, and alcohol consumption) and TRPA engagement (29,32,36,46). While race or ethnicity was modelled as a covariate among many studies, fourteen articles examined its direct relationship with TRPA outcomes and only ve (13,36,54,60,65) showed statistically signi cant associations, nine found no signi cant association (24,30,35,39,41,47,49,54,58). Those who were non-white were more likely to undertake higher levels of TRPA (13,36) than those who were white.…”

“…There were 19 studies that assessed the association between TRPA and individual and/or familial income (seven displayed non-signi cant relationships (43, 46-48, 58, 59, 69)). Eight studies observed a signi cant inverse association between income level and the amount TRPA performed (13,24,29,37,49,54,60,70). Two studies showed that increased household income was associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in TRPA compared with those with lower incomes (33,55).…”