Urban Form and Travel Behaviour: Micro-level Household Attributes and Residential Context

Abstract

Many countries now have policies to reduce distances travelled by private car and to favour the use of public transport, cycling and walking. The development of compact urban forms and the design of urban communities which favour walking are seen as particularly effective strategies for reducing car dependency. The factors which determine travel behaviour are not fully understood, so that effective policies influencing travel patterns are difficult to formulate. Apart from urban form and design, personal attributes and circumstances have an impact on modal choice and distances travelled. People with higher incomes are more likely to own and use a private car than low-income households. Families with children use cars more often than one-person households. The purpose of a trip-work, shopping and leisure—also influences travel mode and distance. We used the Netherlands National Travel Survey (OVG) to explore some of these relationships in more depth. The relative importance of personal attributes and the characteristics of residential environments as determinants of modal choice and travel distance were explored. Both sets of factors maintain a clear, strong relationship with travel behaviour in multivariate models of travel behaviour.

Car ownership as a mediating variable in car travel behaviour research using a structural equation modelling approach to identify its dual relationship

“…According to their analyses the built environment has a significant influence on non-work travel, whereas work travel is almost entirely determined by personal characteristics. Dieleman et al (2002) found an equal influence of the built environment and personal characteristics. On the other hand, several studies point out that the built environment has only a moderate effect on travel behaviour (e.g., Cervero and Kockelman, 1997;Schwanen et al, 2004;Simma and Axhausen, 2003;Stead, 2001).…”

“…Hence, highly educated persons often obtain more specialized jobs which are generally concentrated in high-density or central business district office parks. As a result, higher educated are more involved in long-distance commuting and their car use is higher (Boarnet and Sarmiento, 1998;Dargay and Hanly, 2004;Dieleman et al, 2002;Kockelman, 1997;Krizek, 2003;McNally and Kulkarni, 1997;Schwanen et al, 2002Schwanen et al, , 2004Stead, 2001). …”

“…Since they do not have to spend time on child care responsibilities, singles and childless couples tend to obtain longer total daily travel times (Boarnet and Sarmiento, 1998;Dargay and Hanly, 2004;Dieleman et al, 2002;Schwanen et al, 2002;Stead, 2001). …”

“…Car ownership is mainly used as an exogenous variable, in addition to spatial and socio-economic variables, to explain travel behaviour (e.g., Bagley and Mokhtarian, 2002;Dieleman et al, 2002;Krizek, 2003;Schwanen et al, 2002). On the other hand, some studies consider car ownership as an endogenous variable and try to explain it based on various spatial and socio-economic variables (e.g., Bhat and Guo, 2007;Cao et al, 2007a;Dargay, 2002;Giuliano and Dargay, 2006).…”

Application of Rasch Model in Constructing Walkability Indices for Urban Neighborhood Area

“…There are five dimensions contributed to the walkable environment (Mariela, 2008); feasibility, accessibility, safety, comfort and pleasurability. (Dieleman, 2002;Ball, 2000;Booth, 1997). In this research, subgroups feasibility dimension deliberate as independent variables, whilst, physical attributes categorized in accessibility, safety, comfort and pleasurability dimension deliberate as dependent variables.…”