Beyond the quarter mile: re-examining travel distances by active transportation.
Larsen, Jacob ; El-Geneidy, Ahmed ; Yasmin, Farhana 等
Abstract
Interest in active transportation--especially walking and
cycling--is growing within urban planning and transportation circles as
a solution to the environmental and congestion issues plaguing many
cities. This paper focuses on how far people are willing to walk or
cycle for different trip purposes in Montreal, Canada, and how travel
distances vary spatially and by individuals' travel purpose and
socio-economic characteristics. The research uses the 2003 Montreal
OriginDestination Survey (O-D Survey) to calculate the network distance
traveled by pedestrians and cyclists and to obtain travel and
socio-economic characteristics for each individual. Whereas walking
distance literature often focuses on distance to transit, this paper
examines walking and cycling trips where a second transit mode is not
the intended destination. Primarily, the paper reveals that median
walking distances recorded in the O-D survey (650 metres) are greater
than the commonly-accepted distance or catchment area of 400 metres;
various personal built environment factors influence these distances.
While no widely-held standard exists for cycling, the analysis reveals a
median distance of around two kilometres with a high degree of variation
in distances. The findings will guide planners, designers, developers,
and policy makers and suggest future research directions within the
field.
Key words: cycling distance, walking distance, distance decay
Resume
Le transport actif--en particulier la marche et le velo--suscite un
interet grandissant chez les professionnels des milieux de
l'urbanisme et du transport, qui y voient une solution aux
problemes environnementaux et a la congestion aflligeant plusieurs
villes. Cette recherche vise a determiner la distance que les gens sont
prets a parcourir a pied ou a velo pour atteindre differents types de
destinations a Montreal (Canada) et vise a comprendre de quelle facon
ces distances varient selon les secteurs, les buts des deplacements et
les caracteristiques socio- economiques des individus. Des donnees
provenant de l'Enquete Origine-Destination (O-D) de 2003 sont
utilisees pour calculer la distance reseau parcourue par les pietons et
les cyclistes et pour caracteriser les deplacements et le niveau socio-
economique de chaque individu. Alors que la majorite des travaux sur les
distances parcourues en transport actif concerne l'acces a un
reseau de transport en commun, cette recherche se penche plutot sur les
deplacements a pied et a velo pour lesquels le but n'est pas
d'effectuer un transfert modal. L'analyse des donnees de
l'Enquete O-D revele que la distance mediane de marche (650 m) est
plus grande que le standard de 400 m generalement utilise, et
qu'une variete de facteurs concernant les personnes et
l'environnement bati ont une influence sur cette distance. Bien
qu'il n'y ait pas de standard similaire pour le velo,
l'analyse revele un parcours median d'environ 2 kilometres et
une variance importante entre les cas. Ces resultats pourront guider les
urbanistes, les designers et les decideurs dans la promotion de la
marche et du cyclisme, tout en suggerant des pistes de recherche a venir
dans ce domaine.
Mots cles: distance parcourue a velo, distance de marche,
diminution en fonction de la distance
Introduction
As cities face the challenges of traffic congestion and greenhouse
gas emissions that have emerged from a half century of auto-oriented
planning, cycling and walking are increasingly seen as alternatives that
may come to bear a greater proportion of the transport burden. Indeed,
the benefits of active transportation are manifold: while potentially
reducing traffic congestion, human-powered transportation improves
personal health, enhances quality of life, and has been linked to
economic vitality in urban settings. Interest in promoting active
transportation and better planning for this sustainable transportation
mode is a shared preoccupation of urban planners, public health
officials, and community activists. The conventional wisdom related to
active transportation--which generally refers to walking and cycling--is
that trip origins and destinations should be brought closer together,
facilitating easier access by these modes. Consequently, for integrated
land use and transportation planning as well as promoting active
transportation, revealing the distance travelled by pedestrians and
cyclists for different purposes has become an important field of
research.
A great deal of academic attention has focussed on relationships
between urban form and travel behaviour in recent years (Cervero 1994;
Greenwald and Boarnet 2007; Handy et al. 2002; Saelens, Sallis, and
Frank 2003). This understanding has filtered into practice in many
jurisdictions and has become policy in the planning of many
transit-oriented developments. This has partly come about due to
research from the public health field, which has become increasingly
concerned with the health consequences of obesity due to inactivity.
Recent studies have shown that increasing walkability is directly
associated with reducing the health risks of obesity; notably, in areas
where a doubling of walking trips to work occur, rates of obesity
decline by almost 10 percent (Smith et al. 2008). Increasingly urban
planning and transportation fields have aligned with public health to
examine the role that non-motorized transportation can play in improving
the health and well-being of urban populations.
In recent years, the volume and level of detail of active
transportation research has increased dramatically. However, few studies
have investigated the relationship between walking and cycling distances
for a variety of trip purposes. Most walking distance studies have
focused on determining an ideal access distance to a particular transit
service, such as bus or light rail (Lam, Morrall, and Ho 1995; Neilson
and Fowler 1972; Upchurch et al. 2004; Zhao et al. 2003). The acceptable
walking distance to transit is often assumed to be 400 metres, despite a
relative dearth of recent empirical evidence to support this
(Alshalalfah and Shalaby 2007; Iacono, Krizek, and El-Geneidy 2008).
Planners often use 400 metres to define service areas around transit
stops; however, recent research has shown that commuters will walk
farther to reach certain types of transit than the general guidelines
used in many North American cities (Alshalalfah and Shalaby 2007;
O'Sullivan and Morrall 1996). A dated but particularly relevant
study by Senevirame (1985) considered walking distance to various
destinations in Calgary, Canada, with special emphasis on defining
"critical" walking distances to LRT and bus stops and other
destinations in the Central Business District. Another study explored
access/egress distances to transit as a function of total trip length
(Krygsman, Dijst, and Arentze 2004). Reviewing the existing literature
on walking distances reveals many opportunities for further research,
particularly with regards to trips where public transit is not part of
the equation.
Within the field of cycling research, a major focus has been on
safety issues associated with bicycle commuters (Aultman-Hall and Adams
Jr 1998; Epperson 1995; Hunter, Pein, and Stutts 1995; Kim et al. 2007;
Doherty, Aultman-Hall, and Swaynos 2000). Some researchers have
emphasized travel behaviour of cyclists more generally (Howard and Burns
2001; Shafizadeh and Niemeier 1997; Williams and Larson 1996). Antonakos
(1994) indicated that bicycle travel distance has a strong relationship
with trip likelihood and frequency. Others examined the effect of
dedicated cycling facilities on distance and found that separated
bicycle paths may influence significantly longer trips by bicycle
(Krizek, El-Geneidy, and Thompson 2007). However, as with walking trips,
relatively little research has directly examined travel distance of
bicycle trips in the context of various trip purposes, with the notable
exception of a study in the Twin Cities region looking at various modes
(Iacono, Krizek, and El-Geneidy 2008). The aforementioned study makes
use of distance decay functions, which visualize individuals'
willingness to travel a certain distance to reach a common destination.
Distance decay curves provide a relatively simple way of understanding
this subset of travel behaviour, and can be useful when generating
gravity-based measures of accessibility at the neighbourhood level
(Hansen 1959; Iacono, Krizek, and E1-Geneidy 2010).
Researchers, planners and engineers regularly use walking distances
derived from the transit literature for multiple destinations
(O'Sullivan and Morrall 1996). This paper argues that walking
distances for other purposes must be considered independently in order
to derive walking distances for different trip purposes. As travel
behaviour studies deal with the complex interactions between individuals
(or populations) and their environment, a multi-faceted approach to
examining trip distances is advocated. For example, the analysis may be
viewed from an economic perspective, highlighting both demand and supply
factors that influence non-motorized trips. On the demand side, a
comparison of the relative attractiveness of certain destinations is
highlighted. Conversely, on the supply side, one might consider how
walking and cycling distances reported reflect the local availability of
particular types of destinations (supermarkets, for example). This paper
focuses primarily on exploring the demand side in Montreal. How far are
people willing to travel to different destinations by walking and
cycling? How do travel distances vary by individuals' travel and
socio-economic characteristics? The paper also touches on supply factors
by exploring non-motorized trips originating in various geographic areas
in the Montreal region.
The next section introduces the data sources and methodology
employed in the research. The subsequent section continues with an
analysis of travel distance based on different purposes, which is
followed by an examination of walking and cycling distances by
geographic location and an analysis of travel distance according to socio-economic characteristics of pedestrians and cyclists. The paper
concludes by summarizing the findings from the research and identifying
policy recommendations.
Data and Research Methodology
The Montreal Metropolitan Region serves as the case study. The
Montreal Metropolitan Region comprises an area of 4,259 square km (1,644
square miles) with a population of 3,635,571 (Statistics Canada 2006).
The data required came from different secondary sources. The base data
source for the analysis comes from the Montreal O-D survey, conducted by
the Metropolitan Transportation Agency (AMT) every five years (surveying
5% of the region's population). Respondents to the survey are asked
about all travel they made over the course of the previous 24 hours,
including short walking trips (Metropolitan Transportation Agency 2003).
The O-D survey is conducted between September and December: travel
distances were investigated in light of temperature, but no relationship
was found. Montreal's 2003 O-D data contains 329,353 observations:
the modal share of walking is 9.3 percent and for cycling is 1.0
percent.
The data presented cover origin-to-destination trips for
pedestrians and cyclists, excluding walking trips to transit and return
to home trips. The total number of walking and cycling trips considered
are 12,831 and 1,421, respectively. Census boundaries and street
networks of the Montreal region are obtained from Desktop Mapping Technologies Inc. The street network is modified to exclude freeways and
to include special bicycling and walking paths. Network distance linking
every origin to every destination is then calculated using a Geographic
Information System by plotting individuals' origins and
destinations and calculating distances based on shortest path along the
modified street network. This may result in artificially long travel
distances in peripheral areas, where low connectivity may prompt travel
on non-geo-coded paths. A set of distance decay functions for different
purposes (namely work, school, shopping, and leisure) based on the
network distances are estimated for walking and cycling trips. Spatial
auto- correlation for walking and cycling trips is performed to examine
the spatial patterns of clustering of long and short travel distances in
different regions of Montreal. Travel and socio-economic characteristics
of pedestrians and cyclists obtained from the O-D survey are used in
analyzing travel distances according to these attributes, with the
results tested for statistical significance using ANOVA and T-tests. The
outcome for frequency distributions for both walking and cycling travel
distances shows single-sided, long-tailed frequency curves; thus the
median distance is considered rather than the mean to examine the
relationships between travel distance and individuals'
socio-economic characteristics.
Trip Purpose
A more nuanced understanding of trip distances for cyclists and
pedestrians emerges when this analysis is placed in the context of trip
purpose. Distinguishing between different types of trips provides an
understanding of the demand for various types of destinations, and
places emphasis on local accessibility to services. A summary of walking
and cycling distances based on the purpose of trips is shown in Table 1.
Median cycling distance for all purposes (2,242 metres) is approximately
three or more times higher than the median walking distance (653
meters), due to the higher speeds associated with bicycle travel. It is
important to note that an individual has a limited amount of time during
the day that constraints the amount of time dedicated towards travel
(Marchetti 1994). As Marchatti (1994) states, people will travel further
distances as speed of travel increases but the amount of time spent
travelling will remain relatively constant. This notion is reflected in
the higher distances associated with cycling and lower ones associated
with walking. Four trip purposes--work, school, shopping, and
leisure--are considered to examine the distances travelled by walking
and cycling for different proposes. Leisure trips are defined as trips
with leisure activities as the destination, rather than leisure as the
inherent purpose of the trip.
Table 1 shows that median distance to work is highest for both
walking and cycling followed by median distances to leisure activities.
Of the total walking trips, the percentage of school trips by walking is
the highest (48.4%), although the median walking distance is 636 metres,
which is lower than all but shopping trips. The highest percentage of
cycling trips is 43.6% for work; the median access distance is also high
for work trips by cycling (3,067 metres). Overall, the 85th percentile
of pedestrian travel is 1,403 metres and the 85th percentile of cyclist
travel is 5,517 metres in the Montreal Metropolitan Region. The 85th
percentile values can be used in defining catchment areas around
existing and new destinations. Catchment areas are generally used in
land use and transportation planning to define location issues. They are
used to understand existing demand as well as ensuring access to the
population by a certain travel mode.
Distance Decay Function
Previous studies have suggested 400 metres as a general guideline for comfortable walking distance for most destinations, yet empirical
evidence to support this distance remains scarce. Applying a catchment
area around a given land use based on the median or 85th percentile rule
assumes that people walking or cycling to these destinations are equally
distributed in the area; this assumption is not logically sound. The
distribution of demand around land use generally follows a decay curve.
The decay curves offers variation for trying to understand the level of
demand in a catchment area. Accordingly people choosing to reside near a
location value it differently from the ones residing far away. This
logic follows gravity theory and has been used in understanding demand
for transit (Kimpel, Dueker, and E1-Geneidy 2007). A ser of distance
decay functions for four different purposes are estimated for walking
and cycling trips using a negative exponential curve. The statistical
summaries including goodness-of-fit statistics ([R.sup.2] values) for
each distance decay function appear in Table 2. Distance decay curves
for work and leisure for both walking and cycling are plotted in Figures
1 and 2, respectively. These figures are useful in understanding the
distribution of demand for certain destinations and indicate how close
these activities should be located to ensure accessibility by walking or
cycling for all the population.
Walking
Table 2 shows that distance decay functions are more similar in
case of school, shopping, and leisure trips, while work trips show a
more gradually decreasing curve, meaning that more people are willing to
walk greater distances to work. Distance decay functions for work and
leisure-walking trips are plotted in Figure 1. Figure 1 demonstrates
that walking trips extend up to approximately 3.5 kilometres for both
work and leisure activities. For short distances, leisure activities
comprise a larger share of walking trips; however, for distances greater
than 1 kilometre; work trips comprise a greater share. That more people
are willing to walk longer distances for work than for leisure
activities reveals the more specialized nature of work activities,
whereas leisure destinations can be accessed closer to home. This
contrasts with past findings from Minnesota, where leisure and
entertainment constitute the longest trips (Iacono, Krizek, and
E1-Geneidy 2008); however, the difference may be due to the definition
of leisure in the Montreal O-D survey.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
Cycling
Distance decay curves for bicycle trips including work and leisure
trips are presented in Figure 2. There is a greater variation in the
distribution of distances among cyclists than among pedestrians. Median
cycling distances are nearly four rimes greater than walking trips. This
supports Marchetti's (1994) constant travel time theory mentioned
earlier. The fitted curve indicates that the vast majority of bicycle
trips for work purposes are less than 5 kilometres, while most leisure
trips recorded are less than 3.5 kilometres. Notably, the curve for work
trip distances decreases much more gradually than that for leisure
trips, indicating that like pedestrians, cyclists are generally willing
to travel greater distances for work than other purposes. This, too,
contrasts with the Twin Cities study (Iacono, Krizek, and El-Geneidy
2008) which may be explained by the inclusion of cycling trips for
fitness purposes (which tend to be longer than bicycle trips to leisure
destinations) in the Twin Cities region. Unfortunately, with the data
available it is not possible to compare the questions asked in the two
surveys.
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
Trip Origin
For purposes of this research, the Montreal Metropolitan Region is
divided into five areas using the city's borough and neighbouring
municipality boundaries as shown in Figure 3 and 4. Beginning in the
city core, the regions are: 1) Central business district (CBD); 2) Inner
ring; 3) Middle ring; 4) Outer ring and 5) the Regional ring. Among five
regions, the CBD has the highest median walking distance (813 metres).
The percentage of walking trips originating in this region is the lowest
(6.6 percent), likely due to its relatively small area and population.
The analysis shows that with increasing distance from the CBD, the
median walking distance decreases up to the middle rings and then
increases in the outer and regional rings. The scenario is different in
case of cycling trips; the highest median distance of 2,910 metres is
found in the inner ring. Trips originating in the inner ring involve
greater distances by cycling than trips from other regions, though
median cycling distances within the middle ring and CBD are near to
those observed in the inner ring. Although the median walking distances
of the outer ring and regional ring are marginally higher than those in
the middle ring, median cycling distances in the outer and regional ring
are much lower than those in the other three regions.
[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]
Spatial auto-correlation for walking and cycling trips is performed
to examine the spatial patterns of clustering of long and short
distances originating in different regions. The results for walking
trips shown in Figure 4 reveal a clear pattern between clusters of long
and short distance trips within the regions. Trips originating in the
CBD and inner ring have longer walking distances than those from other
areas, whereas an especially dense cluster of low distance walking trips
is observed in the middle ring. Interestingly, this clustering of short
distance walking trips occurs immediately adjacent to a cluster of long
distance walking trips in the inner ring. Spatial auto-correlation was
also performed for cycling trips to understand the spatial pattern
within different regions: the results did not reveal any general
clustering patterns, possibly due to the small sample size for cycling
trips.
[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]
In order to better understand the travel distances observed in the
various geographic sub-regions, an examination of the built environment
in these areas is performed. Figure 5 compares the share of walking and
cycling trips in each region to the residential density (persons per
square kilometre). This finding is consistent with other studies which
have found close links between active modes of transportation and the
built environment (Handy et al. 2002; Saelens, Sallis, and Frank 2003).
In this case a simple density approach helps provide generalizations for
future studies. A close relationship obtains between the density of
inhabitants and walking and cycling, with a few notable exceptions.
There is as great a share of walking trips originating in the CBD as in
the inner ring, yet a lower residential density than the inner ring;
this is likely due to the density of destinations, which contribute to a
high walk share. As observed from Figure 3 the CBD and the inner ring
had the highest distances traveled by walking and cycling in term of
median distances. Likewise, at the periphery, while residential density
decreases between outer ring suburbs and the regional ring, walking and
cycling rates increase. The study does not explain whether this is due
to aesthetic considerations, route conditions or a combination of
aspatial factors beyond the scope of the research. However, this finding
lends weight to research that suggests that other factors such as land
use mix, urban form, and residential self- selection may partly explain
walking and cycling patterns (Forsyth et al. 2007).
[FIGURE 5 OMITTED]
Socio-economic Characteristics
This part of the analysis focuses on how travel distances vary with
the individuals' socio-economic characteristics. It includes four
demographic and socio-economic attributes (age, gender, occupation, and
motorized vehicle availability) in order to understand any relationships
with median distance travelled.
Age Groups
Figure 6(a) shows the relationship of age to walking and cycling
distance. For the median walking and cycling distances, the observations
are different with a statistical significance at the 99 percent
confidence level. The age groups showing the greatest number of walking
trips are below 18 and over 65 years of age; they represent 54.7 percent
of the total walking trips, likely due to lower rates of car ownership
in these age groups. Figure 6(a) indicates that median walking distances
for children and seniors are slightly shorter than other age groups. Not
surprisingly, walking trips comprise a greater proportion of all trips
by seniors (8.1 percent) than cycling trips within the same population
(2.1 percent).
[FIGURE 6 OMITTED]
Trip distances travelled by children (1,300 metres) and seniors
(1,604 metres) are shorter than the distances travelled by cyclists
observed within the age group of 18 to 65 years old. The highest median
distance (3,142 metres) travelled by the cyclists is observed in the age
group of 25 to 44 years. However, in terms of walking distances
observed, there is a far lower level of variability. In general, an
especially strong relationship exists between the age of the individuals
and the distance they are likely to bicycle. This finding points to the
need for measures to improve the sense of security for vulnerable users
of the road.
Gender
Figure 6(b) shows the relationship between median travel distance
and gender of survey respondents, which is significant at the 95 percent
confidence level. Previous studies indicated that men represent a larger
percentage than women of all cycling trips (Cynecki, Perry, and Frangos
1993; Moritz 1998; Williams and Larson 1996). This analysis finds a
similar result where 67 percent cyclists are male and 33 percent are
female. The relationship is not present for walking trips. Although the
difference in median walking distance between men (657 metres) and women
(648 metres) is low, it is significant at the 95 percent confidence
level. The analysis shows a clear and strong difference of median
cycling distances based on gender; male cyclists are willing to travel
greater distances (2,493 metres) than the female cyclists (1,942
metres), an observation that supports previous findings (Howard and
Burns 2001) and is significant at the 99 percent confidence level. The
differences observed in cycling rates and distances between women and
men suggest that specific strategies targeting women may have beneficial
results.
Occupation
Figure 6(c) shows the relationship between the occupation of
pedestrians and cyclists and median travel distance by walking and
cycling. The median walking and cycling distances for people of
different occupational status are significant at the 99 percent
confidence level. Workers have the highest median walking distances,
with students, retired persons and others all slightly lower. This may
be due the specialized nature of work locations, requiring workers to
travel greater distances. In terms of the overall proportion of walking
trips, students make more trips (54.9 percent) than other occupations,
such as workers (28.6 percent) and retired persons (11.2 percent). This
is likely due the lower rates of vehicle ownership among students and
minors. On the other hand, workers make more cycling trips (53.1
percent) than other groups such as students (37.9 percent) and retired
persons (4.5 percent) and travel greater distances both for walking and
cycling trips than other groups. Only 2.1 percent of cycling trips are
made by seniors. The unexpected result is that retired persons travel
greater distances than students; however, the percentage of retired
persons is very low.
Availability of Motorized Vehicle
In Figure 6(d), the availability of a motorized vehicle in the
household is examined for its influence on median walking and cycling
distances. In Montreal, those who reported walking and cycling trips in
the O-D survey had similar rates of motorized vehicle ownership in their
households. About 70.5 percent of pedestrians and 68.3 percent of
cyclists have at least one motorized vehicle in their household. In the
case of walking trips, the difference between these two modes in terms
of median distances is negligible. Cyclists travel greater distances to
reach different destinations when the household does not possess any
motorized vehicle (significance level 90 percent), be result may
indicate that motorized vehicle availability has an influence on median
travel distance, though less so in the case of walking.
Conclusions
With a view to promoting sustainable modes of transport, this paper
focused on how far people are willing to travel for different purposes
and destinations by walking and cycling in the Montreal Metropolitan
Region. The research examined how travel distances vary by geographic
location and individuals' travel and socio-economic characteristics
with an aim to filling some of the gaps in active transportation and
travel behaviour research. Primarily, the study revealed that median
walking distances recorded in the Montreal Origin-Destination survey are
greater than the commonly-accepted distance of 400 metres used as a
planning guideline. The results suggest that people in Montreal
typically walk longer than 400 metres: factors such as geographic
location (origin) and trip purpose influence trip distance. Land use and
transportation planners and engineers can use such information to
determine catchment areas and understand the level of access to services
through walking and cycling in Montreal. In the Montreal region, the
median walking distance is approximately 650 metres and is higher (800
metres) for work purposes.
Rather than suggesting a new standard for walking distances, the
research points to the application of the distance decay function as a
tool for accurately predicting walking distances. While no widely-held
standard exists for cycling, the analysis reveals a median distance of
around two kilometres with a high degree of variation in travel
distance, particular by age, gender, and geographic area. The findings
point to the need to target specific populations and areas to increase
both rates of cycling and distances cycled.
Distance decay functions for both walking and cycling reveals that
work trips have the most gradually declining curve, meaning that people
will cycle and walk farther for work than they will for other purposes
in Montreal. This finding is coherent with the specialized nature of
work, requiring individuals to travel greater distances to access
particular locations; however, the findings contrast with past research
(Iacono, Krizek, and El-Geneidy 2008) which found walking and bicycle
trips longest for leisure and recreation purposes. (1) School trips and
trips for children are relatively short distances yet comprise the
largest percentage of walking trips. Seniors as a group represent the
second highest proportion of walking trips. Gender analysis of travel
distance reveals that the median cycling distances are higher in case of
men than for women, although walking distance appears not to be affected
by gender. Planners need to give greater attention to understanding
these groups' needs in terms of walkable and cyclable communities.
The findings here apply only to the Montreal Metropolitan Region;
caution should be made in making generalizations. Since the goal was to
understand how far people are willing to walk or cycle to certain
destinations, the analysis focussed on generalized trip purposes. More
detailed analysis to explain some of the findings would need to
incorporate the effects of built environment, social attitudes,
residential self-selection, the timing of the trip, or the availability
and condition of walking and cycling facilities. Better information
about precise routes would improve the analysis, since pedestrians and
cyclists generally use short cuts which could not be modeled on the
existing road network. Future research should aim towards this higher
level of detail.
Drawing on the findings of detailed case studies of particular
urban practices and experiences will allow planners, designers,
developers, and policy makers to create appropriate pedestrian and
cycling facilities and urban environments that will help people reach
their varying destinations by active modes of transport.
Acknowledgments
This research funded by the National Science and Engineering
Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant and the Canada
Foundation for Innovation (CFI). We would like thank Mr. Daniel Bergeron
of the AMT for providing the Montreal OD survey used in the analysis. We
thank Julie Bachand-Marleau and Julien Surprenant-Legault for their help
in translating the abstract to French, and the three anonymous reviewers
for their comments which helped strengthen the paper.
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Note
(1) If comparative analyses are to be performed between regions,
variation between travel surveys will have to be addressed to deal with
differences in concepts such as "leisure travel."
Table 1. Attributes of walking and cycling for different purposes
All Purpose
Work School
Walk Cycle Walk Cycle Walk Cycle
Mean (m) 813 3,140 993 3,886 757 2,273
Median (m) 653 2,242 801 3,067 636 1,550
85th 1,403 5,517 1,789 6,442 1,243 4,355
percentile (m)
Standard 604 2,792 718 3,001 526 2,012
Deviation
Number of 12,831 1,421 2,381 620 6,259 369
cases
Percent of 100 100 18.6 43.6 48.4 26.0
total sample
(%)
Purpose
Shopping Leisure
Walk Cycle Walk Cycle
Mean (m) 754 2,204 860 3,360
Median (m) 581 1,529 683 2,318
85th 1,327 3,926 1,572 6,376
percentile (m)
Standard 605 2,145 642 3,158
Deviation
Number of 2,591 205 1,600 227
cases
Percent of 20.2 14.4 12.5 16.0
total sample
(%)
Table 2. Distance decay functions for different purposes for
walk and bike trips
Walking
Purpose Distance Constant Model fit
([??]) ([??]) ([R.sup.2])
Work -0.0009 8.4956 0.71
School -0.001 11.392 0.74
Shopping -0.001 11.167 0.82
Leisure -0.001 11.835 0.76
Cycling
Purpose Distance Constant Model fit
([??]) ([??]) ([R.sup.2])
Work -0.0004 18.641 0.41
School -0.001 87.983 0.49
Shopping -0.001 184.13 0.50
Leisure -0.0006 19.877 0.26