Finding determinants of transit users' walking and biking access trips to the station: A pilot case study

Abstract

The major goal of this study is to help create more walking- and biking-friendly Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) policies by finding determinants that influence walking and biking to transit stations. Based on the station user survey conducted in Mountain View, California, two mode choice models are estimated for commuter rail users' trips to the station. To find statistically significant factors that influence the probabilities of choosing walking over driving and also choosing biking over driving, two binominal logit analyses are performed with 40 travel, socio-economic, and built environment variables. The model I (walk vs. auto) analyzes 277 walkers and auto users living within 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of the station, while the model II (bike vs. auto) analyzes 280 bikers and auto users living within 2 miles (3.2 km) of the station. Both models share three predictors: trip distance, car availability, proximity to auto-friendly streets. This research also finds that trip purpose, race (Asian), intersection density influence transit users' decision to walk over driving, while race (white) and gender affect their decision to bike over driving to the station.