Citation

He S. Transp. Res. Rec. 2011; 2213: 96-104.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.3141/2213-13

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Trips to school are increasingly taken in automobiles. Smart growth and health advocates suggest that a better-designed built environment in a neighborhood can promote walking and biking to school and that children's walking and biking improve the environment, lower obesity, and increase physical activity. The effects of school variables on travel behavior, however, have rarely been documented. The objective of this research is to examine the impact of school location and characteristics on students' choice of travel mode. The argument is that if the local school is good, then a child is more likely to attend it. The chance increases that the child will commute actively to a school within a short distance, all else equal. School trips from the 2001 Post Census Regional Household Travel Survey of the Los Angeles, California, region were analyzed in relation to school quality in the area of the traveler's origin (residence) and destination. Results revealed that for young travelers who attended kindergarten to sixth grade, school quality and residential environment had no significant effect on nonmotorized modes. In addition, school quality had little impact on mode choice. Nonetheless, the distance from home to the nearest high school significantly increased the probability that students who attended seventh to 12th grades would choose the bus over a private vehicle. A 10% increase in the distance from home to the nearest high school raised the probability of taking the bus by 2.86%, while an identical increase in residential density increased the probability of walking or biking by 1.09%.