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Understanding how built environment attributes are associated with transit commuting mode choice is essential for planners to promoting transit through land use and transportation policies. Scholars usually assume that their relationships follow a (generalized) linear pattern and are homogeneous over space. These assumptions may lead to inconsistent estimates. This study develops a semi-parametric multilevel mixed logit model to identify non-linear and spatially heterogeneous relationships between built environment attributes and transit commuting in Nanjing, China. The results show that built environment variables in residential areas have saliently non-linear associations with transit commuting, and the associations vary across traffic analysis zones. Densification facilitates transit use but it has a diminishing return. A medium level of mixed-use is conducive to transit commuting. Transit supply has to exceed a certain threshold to be effective. These findings offer nuanced guidance for transit-oriented neighborhood planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have investigated the impact of rail transit on transit use. However, few have focused on auto use. This study explores the effect of the Hiawatha LRT in Minneapolis on vehicle miles driven (VMD). Negative binomial models show that Hiawatha residents drive shorter distance than those in urban and suburban control corridors, after demographics and neighborhood characteristics are controlled for. The LRT can reduce an urban resident's VMD by about 20%, all else equal. Once attitudes are included in the model, however, the differences become insignificant. Demographics and attitudes altogether are more important in influencing auto use than the built environment. Overall, the LRT reduces driving because it enables new housing development and allows those valuing transit to better match their attitudes. • Case-control design is adopted to assess the impact of LRT on auto use. • LRT can use driving distance of urban residents by 20%. • LRT allows pro-transit people to better match their travel preference. • New housing in the LRT corridor further reduces auto use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many studies investigate the connection between the residential built environment and car ownership, the literature offers limited evidence on the effect of work locations. Using data from the Washington metropolitan area, this study develops a cross-classified multilevel model to examine the influences of the built environment at both residential and workplace locations on car ownership, while controlling for spatial dependency arising from spatial aggregation. We found that built environment characteristics at work locations, particularly bus stop density and employment density, influence household car ownership. They explain one third of the total variation of car ownership across work locations. The residential environment appears to impose a stronger influence than the workplace environment. Density, diversity, design, transit access around residences and distance from home to the city center affect car ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Although many studies explore built environment (BE) effects on commuting behavior, most overlook BE characteristics at workplace locations and their non-linear impacts. More importantly, limited effort is placed on the integrative effects of the BE and transportation policies. Using the data in Washington, D.C., this study applies a gradient boosting logit model to examine the influences of BE characteristics at both residential and workplace locations and commuting programs (transit/vanpooling subsidies and parking provision) on commute mode choice. We found that BE variables collectively contribute to 65% of the predicting power for mode choice. Although workplace BE variables are more important than residential BE elements, the difference is mainly due to distance to CBD (central business district). Furthermore, most variables show non-linear effects on car mode choice. There are also synergistic effects between BE variables and parking policy and between BE variables and transit/vanpooling subsidies. Therefore, land use policies will be more effective where supportive transportation policies exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many studies have explored the relationship between the built environment and travel behavior, the literature offers limited evidence about the collective influence of built environment attributes, and their non-linear effects on travel. This study innovatively adopts gradient boosting decision trees to fill the gaps. Using data from Oslo, we apply this method to the data on both weekdays and weekends to illustrate the differential effects of built environment characteristics on driving distance. We found that they have a stronger effect on weekdays than on weekends. On weekdays, their collective influence is larger than that of demographics. Furthermore, they show salient non-linear effects on driving distance in both models, challenging the linearity assumption commonly adopted in the literature. This study also identifies effective ranges of distance to different centers and population density, and highlights the important role of sub-centers in driving reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The built environment impacts individuals’ participation in daily activities and associated travel (or activity-travel behavior). However, it is not well understood how these impacts differ between different socioeconomic groups (e.g. economically advantaged and disadvantaged people) and how neighborhood planning affects the difference. Using data of public housing and private housing residents in Hong Kong in 2010, this study applies the propensity score matching approach to identify differences in activity-travel behavior under different built environment settings for private and public housing residents respectively. We find that density, accessibility and self-containment collectively affect private housing residents’ auto ownership, travel time, trip frequency, and entertainment time spent at home, but have few influences on public housing dwellers. The different built environment effects are partly because the planning standards and guidelines in Hong Kong stipulate the provision of daily facilities and services such as grocery shops/supermarket, primary school and transit in proximity to public housing development. Thus, although economically disadvantaged people have limited transportation resources, neighborhood planning can adequately meet their daily needs even if they are placed in suburban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high failure rate of demand-responsive transit (DRT) systems suggests that DRT services are viable only in selected areas. However, few studies have quantitatively examined how built environment characteristics affect DRT use. Applying gradient boosting decision trees to the data of customized bus service (CBS, a type of DRT) in Dalian, we investigate the nonlinear association between the built environment and CBS use, controlling for demographics and service features. Local accessibility at the residence and workplace are the most important correlates of CBS use, followed by the proximity of workplace to bus stop. Some built environment variables (including distance from workplace to transit stops, distance from residence to business centers, and population density) influence CBS use differently from traditional transit use observed in the literature. Furthermore, built environment variables show salient threshold associations with CBS use, guiding planners to design the CBS system efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cities have made massive investments on rail systems to substitute transit for driving. Some studies have considered the confounding effect of attitudes in the connections between rail transit and travel behavior. However, they often focused on the average effect of rail transit and assumed that individuals' responses to transit improvements do not vary by their tastes. Using the 2014 data from Xi'an in China, this study explores the interaction effect between metro transit (heavy rail) and the propensity (i.e., predicted probability) of living in neighborhoods with metro transit on transit use. The propensity is positively associated with commute by metro transit and bus. Further, individuals with a strong propensity use transit equivalently no matter whether they live near metro transit, but metro transit tends to promote transit commute for those with a weak propensity of living near metro transit. Overall, building a rail line helps enhance transit ridership. Planners should also consider the variation in responses by individuals with different tastes when using policies to shape urban travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have measured residential and travel preferences to address residential self-selection and they often focused on the average or independent effect of the built environment on travel behavior. However, individuals' behavioral responses to built environment interventions may vary by their different tastes. Using the 2011 data from the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area, this study examines the influences of neighborhood type, travel attitudes, and their interaction terms on commute mode choice. The interactions between neighborhood type and travel attitudes have no significant impact on driving commute frequency whereas the effects of neighborhood type on the propensity for transit commute differ by transit preference. Specifically, urban consonants (including those in LRT neighborhoods) have the highest propensity for transit commute, followed by suburban dissonants, urban dissonants, and then suburban consonants. Therefore, individuals' heterogeneous responses to built environment elements should be taken into account in future research and in the design of land use and transportation policies aiming to shape urban travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We compare transit use of residents in LRT corridor and control corridors well served by bus transit. [•] People moving into LRT corridor before its opening use transit more than those in control corridors. [•] Transit use of people moving into LRT corridor after its opening is similar to that of urban controls. [•] LRT-related land use and transportation policies are necessary for ridership growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A large number of studies have investigated the association between the built environment and travel behavior. However, most studies did not explicitly quantify the contribution of residential self-selection to the connection. Using the 2006 data collected from a regional travel diary in Raleigh, NC, this study applies propensity score matching to explore the effects of the regional location of individuals’ residences on their vehicle miles driven. We found that residential location plays a more important role in affecting driving behavior than residential self-selection; and that the self-selection effect is non-trivial when we compare driving behavior between urban residents and people living in other areas. Therefore, for such comparisons, the observed influence of residential locations on driving should be appropriately discounted when we evaluate the causal impacts of the built environment on travel behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low mobility of seniors may be due in part to a history of auto-oriented transportation and land use policy decisions. More recently, land use policies that make it possible to drive less show promise of effectiveness for the population as a whole. However, little attention has been paid to the implications of such policies for older people. Using data collected from Northern California in 2003, this study explores the ability of neighborhood design to preserve accessibility for the elderly by enabling a shift from driving to transit and walking, controlling for confounding factors. The results show that overall, older people drive less and use alternative modes more often than younger people. After controlling for attitudes and socio-demographics, neighborhood design has limited effects on driving and transit use, but enhancing accessibility tends to be a promising strategy for promoting walking trips. This enhanced accessibility has a much larger effect on the elderly than on the younger. Therefore, neighborhood design seems to be an important aspect of sustaining the accessibility of older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Many studies have found that residents living in suburban neighborhoods drive more and walk less than their counterparts in traditional neighborhoods. This evidence supports the advocacy of smart growth strategies to alter individuals’ travel behavior. However, the observed differences in travel behavior may be more of a residential choice than a travel choice. Applying the seemingly unrelated regression approach to a sample from Northern California, we explored the relationship between the residential environment and nonwork travel frequencies by auto, transit, and walk/bicycle modes, controlling for residential self-selection. We found that residential preferences and travel attitudes (self-selection) significantly influenced tripmaking by all three modes, and also that neighborhood characteristics (the built environment and its perception) retained a separate influence on behavior after controlling for self-selection. Both preferences/attitudes and the built environment itself played a more prominent role in explaining the variation in non-motorized travel than for auto and transit travel. Taken together, our results suggest that if cities use land use policies to offer options to drive less and use transit and non-motorized modes more, many residents will tend to do so. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The sprawling patterns of land development common to metropolitan areas of the US have been blamed for high levels of automobile travel, and thus for air quality problems. In response, smart growth programs—designed to counter sprawl—have gained popularity in the US. Studies show that, all else equal, residents of neighborhoods with higher levels of density, land-use mix, transit accessibility, and pedestrian friendliness drive less than residents of neighborhoods with lower levels of these characteristics. These studies have shed little light, however, on the underlying direction of causality—in particular, whether neighborhood design influences travel behavior or whether travel preferences influence the choice of neighborhood. The evidence thus leaves a key question largely unanswered: if cities use land use policies to bring residents closer to destinations and provide viable alternatives to driving, will people drive less and thereby reduce emissions? Here a quasi-longitudinal design is used to investigate the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and travel behavior while taking into account the role of travel preferences and neighborhood preferences in explaining this relationship. A multivariate analysis of cross-sectional data shows that differences in travel behavior between suburban and traditional neighborhoods are largely explained by attitudes. However, a quasi-longitudinal analysis of changes in travel behavior and changes in the built environment shows significant associations, even when attitudes have been accounted for, providing support for a causal relationship. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study operationalizes the conceptual analysis presented in a companion paper, to examine the effects of objective and subjective variables on the consideration of 16 travel-related strategies reflecting a range of individuals'' potential reactions to congestion. Using 1283 commuting respondents to a 1998 survey conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area, binary logit models were developed for the consideration of each individual strategy. The proportion of information explained by these models ranges from 0.18 to 0.63. It was found that the consideration of travel-related strategies is affected not only by the amounts of travel that individuals actually do, but also by their subjective assessments, desires and affinities with respect to travel, as well as their travel attitudes, personality and lifestyle. The previous adoption of these strategies greatly affects their current consideration, demonstrating an effect of past experience. Mobility constraints and socio-economic and demographic characteristics exhibit distributional effects with respect to the options individuals consider. These findings imply that policies designed to alleviate congestion may be less effective than expected, because individuals'' responses to the travel-related strategies analyzed here—many of them directly tied to public policies intended to reduce vehicle travel—are influenced by a large variety of qualitative and experiential variables that are seldom measured and incorporated into demand models. Therefore, understanding the role of such variables will improve our ability to design effective policies and to accurately forecast the response to policy interventions as well as natural trends. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Preparatory to an empirical analysis, this study conceptually discusses the influences of objective and subjective variables on the consideration of 16 travel-related strategies, reflecting a range of options individuals have to adapt to congestion. The variables considered here were measured by a 1998 survey conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area. The conceptual exploration shows that the consideration of travel-related strategies may be affected by the amounts of travel that individuals actually do, their subjective assessments, desires, affinities, and constraints with respect to travel. Individuals'' travel attitudes, personality, lifestyle and prior experience are also likely to affect their current consideration. Socio-economic and demographic characteristics may exhibit distributional effects with respect to the options individuals consider. These potential influences indicate that the individual adaptation process may be influenced by a wide range of qualitative and experiential variables, which are often ignored or omitted by policy makers and planners. A companion paper develops binary logit models of the consideration of each strategy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract By integrating both quantitative and qualitative materials, this paper sheds new light on the role of travel-based residential preferences in residential location choice and the implications for land-use and travel behavior research. In the two Norwegian metropolitan areas of Oslo and Stavanger, movers who select their residence based on travel attitudes relocate to inner-city districts but not to suburban areas. For those who move to suburban areas, criteria other than travel are more important. Residential self-selection toward transit-rich neighborhoods is more prominent in the large, monocentric Oslo region than in the smaller, polycentric Stavanger metropolitan area where transit provision is generally poorer. Travel-based residential self-selection may affect the effect estimates of built environment characteristics somewhat for travel mode choice, less so for travel distance in general, and hardly at all for commuting distance. Overall, there is no strong empirical basis in support of controlling for travel-based residential self-selection in land-use and travel behavior research in a Norwegian urban context. Built environment characteristics exert substantial impacts on intra-metropolitan travel distances and modes, regardless of residential self-selection. Highlights • Individuals preferring transit and active travel tend to self-select residential locations based on the preference. • Those like driving often do not self-select. • Residential self-selection is more prominent in larger cities than in smaller cities. • Residential self-selection somewhat affects mode choice, but less so for travel distance. • Residential self-selection is not a serious concern in Norway [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]