Walking environments for transit access: Travelers’ perspectives

Academic abstract

Efforts to address urban transport and sustainability challenges have increased interest in walking as a form of transport. Organisations such as the World Health Organisation and the International Association of Public Transport emphasise the integration of walking and transit in urban policy. To support this, the paper presents findings from 596 face-to-face interviews on walking trips to tram stops. Three regression analyses examine the effects of walking environments on (1) the pleasantness of the walk, (2) walking time, and (3) safety from traffic. Time pressure, crowding, traffic, and unattractive environments reduce pleasantness. Green environments double acceptable walking times, while elderly, younger, and first-time travellers tend to walk shorter distances. Safety decreases with street crossings but improves in green areas. Female travellers are more sensitive to compromised safety.

A structural equation model further analyses relationships between pleasantness, walking time, safety, and other factors. Longer walks are associated with reduced safety and pleasantness, whereas pleasantness increases with safety. Results from the structural equation model reveal a sensitivity to unpredictable delays in reaching stops. Streets with traffic and crowded areas increase delays and reduce pleasantness and safety, while green walking environments reduce delay risks. The findings identify specific environmental conditions that support walking to transit and highlight the potential for integrating walking and transit policies to create synergies that benefit both modes.

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Supporting evidence

• Walking purpose
  • A study in Oslo shows that 84% walk to transit at the home end of the journey and 97% at the destination end. 
  • Surveys in four German cities show that 95% walk to access public transport and spend 47% of total travel time as pedestrians.  

• Speed, predictability and safety
  • Based on a study of 444 observations of transit walking trips:
    • Variations in walking speeds to access public transport indicate sensed time pressure for 82% of all observed pedestrians;
    • Having to cross the transit corridor can result in unpredictable delays, and travellers prefer to cross over as early as possible;
    • Running and risky manoeuvres when accessing stops increase along walking paths from which transit vehicles driving toward the stop are visible.

• Pleasantness
  • Analyses from 2015 observe that walking behaviour when departing from stops in central urban areas appears more sociable, with travellers entering shops, looking at shop windows, and using street furniture.
  • Another investigation from 2009 found that one more shop along 100m of footpath increases acceptable walking distances by 5%. 
  • Observations conducted in 2016 assessed that 24% of observed transit users access shops or services close to the stop. 
  • A survey from 2012 showed that 70% of walkers in specific bus rapid transit corridors of Jinan, China, agree that trees make walking pleasant. The survey reveals that travellers accept longer walking distances to public transport on boulevards with trees and shops, compared to arterial sidewalks or paths below elevated expressways. 
  • Analyses show that the danger of noisy, fast-moving car traffic is less pleasant.

Key findings

1. Pleasantness increases in correlation with increased safety.
2. Both pleasantness and safety decrease with longer walking distances above five minutes.
3. Crowded environments hinder travellers from walking at their desired speed or even force them to stop. This inability to walk freely at a desired pace diminishes the pleasantness of the walk, as does travelling through environments perceived as unattractive or boring.
4. Longer walks appear more likely when travelling on a route for the first time and when additional destinations were accessed while walking to the stop.
5. While walking to stops, pedestrians can quickly access a shop or another additional destination without the need to park a car or lock a bike. Such practical opportunities may save an extra trip and might either increase acceptance for longer walks to stops or lengthen the reported walking times, as the findings indicate.
6. Awareness of traffic dangers is well-developed in Western countries from early childhood.
7. Female travellers evaluate safety as lower than men do.