Transit Use and the Work Commute: An empirical analysis of the role of urban densities, last mile problems, and personal constraints on mode choice

摘要

This study analyses the role neighbourhood factors, personal constraints, trip and modal variablesplay in the mode choice decision using data from Chicago Metropolitan area. We use detailedcharacteristics of the physical and social conditions at the trip origin and destination, includingfactors such as prevalence of violent crimes around station areas, which may contribute to lastmile barriers associated with transit modes. The role of variables such as population densities andlevel of existing transit service at origins and job densities are also explored. The results showthat violent crimes around transit stations can discourage walking to transit stops and usingtransit. It also suggests that job densities in urban and suburban environments have differentimpacts on the likelihood that transit is chosen as the traveller’s mode. While in urbanenvironments job density is found to encourage transit use over automobile use, no suchrelationship is found with suburban job densities.