Beyond the bus stop: where transit users walk.

Objectives Extending the health benefits of public transit requires understanding how transit use affects pedestrian activity, including pedestrian activity not directly temporally or spatially related to transit use. In this study, we identified where transit users walked on transit days compared with non-transit days within and beyond 400m and 800m buffers surrounding their home and work addresses. Methods We used data collected from 2008-2013 in King County, Washington, from 221 non-physically-disabled adult transit users, who were equipped with an accelerometer, global positioning system (GPS), and travel diary. We assigned walking activity to the following buffer locations: less than and at least 400m or 800m from home, work, or home/work (the home and work buffers comprised the latter buffer). We used Poisson generalized estimating equations to estimate differences in minutes per day of total walking and minutes per day of non-transit-related walking on transit days compared with non-transit days in each location. Results We found that durations of total walking and non-transit-related walking were greater on transit days than on non-transit days in all locations studied. When considering the home neighborhood in isolation, most of the greater duration of walking occurred beyond the home neighborhood at both 400m and 800m; results were similar when considering the work neighborhood in isolation. When considering the neighborhoods jointly (i.e., by using the home/work buffer), at 400m, most of the greater duration of walking occurred beyond the home/work neighborhood. However, at 800m, most of the greater duration of walking occurred within the home/work neighborhood. Conclusions Transit days were associated with greater durations of total walking and non-transit related walking within and beyond the home and work neighborhoods. Accordingly, research, design, and policy strategies focused on transit use and pedestrian activity should consider locations outside the home and work neighborhoods, in addition to locations within them.

[1]  M. Suhrcke,et al.  Does active commuting improve psychological wellbeing? Longitudinal evidence from eighteen waves of the British Household Panel Survey , 2014, Preventive medicine.

[2]  Richard Williams,et al.  Using the Margins Command to Estimate and Interpret Adjusted Predictions and Marginal Effects , 2012 .

[3]  Bumjoon Kang,et al.  Differences in Behavior, Time, Location, and Built Environment between Objectively Measured Utilitarian and Recreational Walking. , 2017, Transportation research. Part D, Transport and environment.

[4]  Devon McAslan,et al.  Walking and Transit Use Behavior in Walkable Urban Neighborhoods , 2017 .

[5]  A. W. Agrawal,et al.  Exploring bicycle and public transit use by low-income Latino immigrants : a mixed-methods study in the San Francisco Bay Area. , 2016 .

[6]  Richard J Lee,et al.  Potential Health Implications and Health Cost Reductions of Transit-Induced Physical Activity. , 2016, Journal of transport & health.

[7]  Susan L Handy,et al.  Measuring Nonmotorized Accessibility and Connectivity in a Robust Pedestrian Network , 2012 .

[8]  Ipek N Sener,et al.  The Association of Trip Distance With Walking To Reach Public Transit: Data from the California Household Travel Survey. , 2016, Journal of transport & health.

[9]  Alan A. Cohen,et al.  Environmental Factors Associated With Social Participation of Older Adults Living in Metropolitan, Urban, and Rural Areas: The NuAge Study. , 2015, American journal of public health.

[10]  Andrew L Dannenberg,et al.  Walking associated with public transit: moving toward increased physical activity in the United States. , 2013, American journal of public health.

[11]  Zhen Liu,et al.  Performances of Different Global Positioning System Devices for Time-Location Tracking in Air Pollution Epidemiological Studies , 2010, Environmental health insights.

[12]  Basile Chaix,et al.  Mobile Sensing in Environmental Health and Neighborhood Research. , 2018, Annual review of public health.

[13]  Ahmed El-Geneidy,et al.  New evidence on walking distances to transit stops: identifying redundancies and gaps using variable service areas , 2014 .

[14]  Diogo Pinto,et al.  Longer or more frequent walks: Examining the relationship between transit use and active transportation in Canada , 2016 .

[15]  John Pucher,et al.  Urban Travel Behavior as the Outcome of Public Policy: The Example of Modal-Split in Western Europe and North America , 1988 .

[16]  Meghan Winters,et al.  Public transit use and physical activity in community-dwelling older adults: Combining GPS and accelerometry to assess transportation-related physical activity , 2016 .

[17]  J. Neff,et al.  2016 Public Transportation Fact Book , 2008 .

[18]  Scott Duncan,et al.  Combining GPS, GIS, and accelerometry: methodological issues in the assessment of location and intensity of travel behaviors. , 2010, Journal of physical activity & health.

[19]  Ruizhu Huang,et al.  Light Rail Leads to More Walking Around Station Areas. , 2017, Journal of transport & health.

[20]  George Turkiyyah,et al.  A Report on Participant Sampling and Recruitment for Travel and Physical Activity Data Collection , 2009 .

[21]  Chuan Zhou,et al.  Relation between higher physical activity and public transit use. , 2014, American journal of public health.

[22]  Jana A. Hirsch,et al.  Impact of new rapid transit on physical activity: A meta-analysis , 2018, Preventive medicine reports.

[23]  Michael J. Greenwald,et al.  Carbonless footprints: promoting health and climate stabilization through active transportation. , 2010, Preventive medicine.

[24]  Junfeng Jiao,et al.  Grocery Shopping , 2011 .

[25]  Genevieve Fridlund Dunton,et al.  Social and physical environments of sports and exercise reported among adults in the American Time Use Survey. , 2008, Preventive medicine.

[26]  R. Merrill,et al.  Validity of Self-Reported Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index: Findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001-2006 , 2009, Preventing chronic disease.

[27]  E. Owens,et al.  One for the Road: Public Transportation, Alcohol Consumption, and Intoxicated Driving , 2010 .

[28]  B. Taylor,et al.  The Factors Influencing Transit Ridership: A Review and Analysis of the Ridership Literature , 2003 .

[29]  Todd Litman,et al.  Evaluating Public Transit Benefits and Costs , 2015 .

[30]  A. Diez-Roux,et al.  Walking distance by trip purpose and population subgroups. , 2012, American journal of preventive medicine.

[31]  Carol M. Werner,et al.  Transit Use, Physical Activity, and Body Mass Index Changes: Objective Measures Associated With Complete Street Light-Rail Construction. , 2015, American journal of public health.

[32]  Ugo Lachapelle,et al.  Commuting by public transit and physical activity: where you live, where you work, and how you get there. , 2011, Journal of physical activity & health.

[33]  Amy Lubitow,et al.  Exclusion and vulnerability on public transit: experiences of transit dependent riders in Portland, Oregon , 2017 .

[34]  Thomas W. Sanchez,et al.  The Connection Between Public Transit and Employment , 1999 .

[35]  P. Freedson,et al.  Amount of time spent in sedentary behaviors in the United States, 2003-2004. , 2008, American journal of epidemiology.

[36]  Bumjoon Kang,et al.  Walking objectively measured: classifying accelerometer data with GPS and travel diaries. , 2013, Medicine and science in sports and exercise.

[37]  Tan Yigitcanlar,et al.  Measures of transport-related social exclusion: A critical review of the literature , 2016 .

[38]  Y. Kestens,et al.  The “Residential” Effect Fallacy in Neighborhood and Health Studies: Formal Definition, Empirical Identification, and Correction , 2017, Epidemiology.

[39]  Edward A Beimborn,et al.  Accessibility, Connectivity, and Captivity: Impacts on Transit Choice , 2003 .

[40]  J. Stanley,et al.  Investigating Links between Social Capital and Public Transport , 2008 .

[41]  Hugh M. Clark.  Who Rides Public Transportation , 2017 .

[42]  RUBEN BRONDEEL,et al.  Using GPS, GIS, and Accelerometer Data to Predict Transportation Modes. , 2015, Medicine and science in sports and exercise.

[43]  Shannon J. Brines,et al.  Land use, residential density, and walking. The multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. , 2009, American journal of preventive medicine.

[44]  Alan Shiell,et al.  In search of causality: a systematic review of the relationship between the built environment and physical activity among adults , 2011, The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity.

[45]  Y. Goryakin,et al.  Physical Activity Levels and New Public Transit: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. , 2019, American journal of preventive medicine.

[46]  B. Giles-Corti,et al.  Accessibility and connectivity in physical activity studies: the impact of missing pedestrian data. , 2008, Preventive medicine.

[47]  Ann M Dellinger,et al.  Motor vehicle crash injury rates by mode of travel, United States: using exposure-based methods to quantify differences. , 2007, American journal of epidemiology.

[48]  Bumjoon Kang,et al.  How far from home? The locations of physical activity in an urban U.S. setting. , 2014, Preventive medicine.

[49]  A. Perrotta.  Transit Fare Affordability: Findings From a Qualitative Study , 2017 .

[50]  Jean Wolf,et al.  Public transit generates new physical activity: Evidence from individual GPS and accelerometer data before and after light rail construction in a neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. , 2015, Health & place.

[51]  K. Clifton.  Mobility Strategies and Food Shopping for Low-Income Families , 2004 .