IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/urbpla/v4y2019i2p183-195.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Walking the First/Last Mile to/from Transit: Placemaking a Key Determinant

Author

Listed:
  • Chidambara

    (Department of Physical Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, India)

Abstract

Sustainable mobility concerns have seen cities introducing mass transit systems, but travel choice factors such as accessibility, convenience, comfort and safety cannot be addressed through a transit system alone. A trip made on a transit system requires commuters to utilise more than one mode of transport. Walking is generally the most common transport mode to access and egress transit stops. While there is evidence on the pedestrian environment influencing transit ridership, only a few studies have explored how it affects the share of people who walk to/from transits, especially in the context of the developing world. This article postulates that the pedestrian environment influences users’ decision to walk the last mile, substantiating it with the findings of a study of transit users across the metro stations of Delhi, India. A pedestrian environment index is developed by including elements of the built form and activities adjacent to the network of streets, in addition to the pedestrian infrastructure quality. Interestingly, the route environment is found to have a significant and much higher correlation with walk share in contrast to pedestrian infrastructure availability. Within the route environment, the sub-indicator that impacts walk share the most is placemaking. It highlights the significance of planning for an enhanced pedestrian environment in a larger context of the catchment area, in contrast to the current myopic approach of station-centric pedestrian infrastructure provisioning.

Suggested Citation

  • Chidambara, 2019. "Walking the First/Last Mile to/from Transit: Placemaking a Key Determinant," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(2), pages 183-195.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v4:y:2019:i:2:p:183-195
    DOI: 10.17645/up.v4i2.2017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/2017
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/up.v4i2.2017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cervero, Robert, 1996. "Mixed land-uses and commuting: Evidence from the American Housing Survey," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 361-377, September.
    2. Cervero, Robert & Round, Alfred & Goldman, Todd & Wu, Kang-Li, 1995. "Rail Access Modes and Catchment Areas for the BART System," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt07k76097, University of California Transportation Center.
    3. Xinyu Cao & Patricia Mokhtarian & Susan Handy, 2007. "Do changes in neighborhood characteristics lead to changes in travel behavior? A structural equations modeling approach," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(5), pages 535-556, September.
    4. Sung, Hyungun & Choi, Keechoo & Lee, Sugie & Cheon, SangHyun, 2014. "Exploring the impacts of land use by service coverage and station-level accessibility on rail transit ridership," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 134-140.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chidambara, 2019. "Walking the First/Last Mile to/from Transit: Placemaking a Key Determinant," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(2), pages 183-195.
    2. Thomas Klinger & Martin Lanzendorf, 2016. "Moving between mobility cultures: what affects the travel behavior of new residents?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 243-271, March.
    3. Metin Senbil & Ryuichi Kitamura & Jamilah Mohamad, 2009. "Residential location, vehicle ownership and travel in Asia: a comparative analysis of Kei-Han-Shin and Kuala Lumpur metropolitan areas," Transportation, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 325-350, May.
    4. Veronique Acker & Frank Witlox, 2011. "Commuting trips within tours: how is commuting related to land use?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 465-486, May.
    5. Cao, Xinyu (Jason) & Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Handy, Susan L., 2009. "The relationship between the built environment and nonwork travel: A case study of Northern California," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 548-559, June.
    6. Chen Cao & Feng Zhen & Xianjin Huang, 2022. "How Does Perceived Neighborhood Environment Affect Commuting Mode Choice and Commuting CO 2 Emissions? An Empirical Study of Nanjing, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-17, June.
    7. Zhu, Pengyu & Zhao, Songnian & Jiang, Yanpeng, 2022. "Residential segregation, built environment and commuting outcomes: Experience from contemporary China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 269-277.
    8. Fabio Grazi & Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh & Jos N. van Ommeren, 2008. "An Empirical Analysis of Urban Form, Transport, and Global Warming," The Energy Journal, , vol. 29(4), pages 97-122, October.
    9. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Baker, Douglas & Washington, Simon & Turrell, Gavin, 2013. "Residential dissonance and mode choice," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 12-28.
    10. Jung Hyun Woo, 2021. "Classification of TOD Typologies Based on Pedestrian Behavior for Sustainable and Active Urban Growth in Seoul," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-23, March.
    11. Li, Jingjing & Kim, Changjoo & Sang, Sunhee, 2018. "Exploring impacts of land use characteristics in residential neighborhood and activity space on non-work travel behaviors," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 141-147.
    12. Russell B. Williams & Natasa Slak-Valek, 2019. "Pokémon GO is serious leisure that increases the touristic engagement, physical activity and sense of happiness of players," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 515-533, December.
    13. Marina Lagune-Reutler & Andrew Guthrie & Yingling Fan & David Levinson, 2015. "Transit Riders' Perception of Waiting Time and Stops' Surrounding Environments," Working Papers 000142, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    14. Clarke, Philippa & Ailshire, Jennifer A. & Lantz, Paula, 2009. "Urban built environments and trajectories of mobility disability: Findings from a national sample of community-dwelling American adults (1986-2001)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 964-970, September.
    15. Scheiner, Joachim & Holz-Rau, Christian, 2013. "A comprehensive study of life course, cohort, and period effects on changes in travel mode use," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 167-181.
    16. Romanika Okraszewska & Aleksandra Romanowska & Marcin Wołek & Jacek Oskarbski & Krystian Birr & Kazimierz Jamroz, 2018. "Integration of a Multilevel Transport System Model into Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, February.
    17. Zhong Zheng & Suhong Zhou & Xingdong Deng, 2022. "The spatially heterogeneous and double-edged effect of the built environment on commuting distance: Home-based and work-based perspectives," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-24, March.
    18. Shi, Yuji & Zeng, Luohuan, 2025. "How do built environment characteristics influence metro-bus transfer patterns across metro station types in Shanghai?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    19. Cynthia Chen & Hongmian Gong & Robert Paaswell, 2008. "Role of the built environment on mode choice decisions: additional evidence on the impact of density," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 285-299, May.
    20. Lin, Tao & Wang, Donggen & Zhou, Meng, 2018. "Residential relocation and changes in travel behavior: what is the role of social context change?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 360-374.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v4:y:2019:i:2:p:183-195. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.