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Special Population Groups
Children’s Mode Choice for the School Trip: The Role of Distance and School Location in Walking
to School
Authors:
McDonald, Noreen C
Transportation: Planning, Policy, Research, Practice Issue: 1
1/1/2008
Abstract:
Using data from the 2001 National Household Travel Survey, this study analyzes the factors affecting
mode choice for elementary and middle school children. The findings show that walk travel time is the
most policy-relevant factor affecting the decision to walk to school. Dense places encourage walking to
school, while factors such as gender and race do not have large effects on mode choice. These findings
suggest that current policies, such as Safe Routes to School, which do not affect the spatial distribution of
schools and residences will not be enough to change travel behavior. The mode choice model is used to
investigate how the land use strategy of building community schools might affect walking to school. The
results show that including children's distance from school as a planning criterion could be an effective
way to change community design and encourage walking.
Subject areas and Index Terms
Education and Training; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Policy;
Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning
Choice models; Gender; Land use planning; Location; Mode choice; Population density; Race; School
children; School trips; Schools; Transportation policy; Travel behavior; Travel surveys; Travel time; Trip
length; Walking; Walking distance
Availability: Find a library where document is available Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00494488
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