SYNERGISTIC EFFECTS OF TRANSIT AND NONMOTORIZED TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE ON COMMUTING BEHAVIOR IN SEVEN CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

Although investment in nonmotorized transportation (walking and bicycling) infrastructure has been increasingly common in recent years, very little is known about the synergistic impact of jointly developed transit and nonmotorized infrastructure systems. This study fills this gap by investigating how transit commuting is affected by the coincidence of transit, pedestrian, and bicycle facilities. Seven representative cities were chosen for this study. Zero-inflated negative binomial and negative binomial regression models were adopted to quantify the synergistic effects between transit stops and three nonmotorized facilities (sidewalks, bike lanes, and bike racks) on commuters. One notable finding is that the presence of transit stops in close proximity to commuters’ origins has a significant impact on choosing public transit as their commuting mode. However, sidewalks and bike lanes are not contributing factors for commuters’ travel mode choice. Bike racks do not directly influence a transit system’s commuting mode share, but when combined with transit networks, they hold the potential to increase transit ridership. The findings of this study can accordingly support transportation authorities and planners in devising forward-thinking, sustainable transportation infrastructure environments, and should be of value to those who plot proactive multimodal transportation plans.