Effects of Neighborhood Characteristics on Sustainable Transportation Alternatives

Abstract

Traffic demand is increasing worldwide with booming economic growth. As a result, severe carbon emissions from transportation sector are highly contributing to the climate change. With the rapid increase of urban vehicles, the limited road traffic resources are becoming more and more strained. Traffic congestion and traffic safety have also become vital restrictive factors for overall development. Therefore, it is mandatory to reduce traffic congestion. To reduce emissions and continue economic growth, a sustainable and efficient transport system is indispensable. Sustainable urban transportation involves firming many features like efficiency, safety, security, convenience, low carbon, comfort, environment-friendliness etc. The characteristics of sustainable transportation are seen in several modes and alternatives such as public transit, walking, bicycling, ridesharing/carpool, teleworking/home-based office, reduction of personalized vehicles/auto ownership etc. The objective of this study is to identify the effects of different neighborhood characteristics like socioeconomic, road infrastructure, demographic and street patterns on sustainable transportation alternatives in community areas using 2011 census data and road infrastructure data of Calgary city. To develop relationships between neighborhood characteristics and sustainable transportation alternatives, linear regression model has been used. Public transit ridership, bicycling and walking have already been considered as sustainable transportation modes. However, carpool, working at home/teleworking, reduction of private vehicle usage are other alternatives which could be considered to promote sustainability. For each case, a linear regression model has been developed. In the models, sustainable alternatives were considered as the dependent variables. In the models different neighborhood characteristics has been considered as independent variables. Three different analyses have been done afterwards. The result of this study suggests that the effects of different street patterns are not identical on different alternative choices. More specifically, in reference to the irregular street pattern, other street patterns decreases the tendency of teleworking; on the contrary, the curvilinear street pattern is useful for private vehicles usage reduction. Except irregular street pattern, carpool remains indifferent for other street patterns. These findings would be helpful for the policymakers to develop new communities to promote sustainability. Moreover, different socioeconomic, demographic, land use factors such as type of roads, type and area of communities, gender, age, race, income, educational qualifications, dwelling conditions etc. play an important role in selecting different sustainable alternatives.