AUSTIN | Transportation Updates

[JAM]

Originally Posted by SecretAgentMan

From New Urban News:

People are willing to walk farther than is commonly believed, at least to reach rail transit, researchers at San Joseph University say in a new report.

“Conventional wisdom among planners has been that pedestrians in the United States will only walk a quarter to a third of a mile for any reason, including to access transit. The results of our study suggest quite differently, at least for walk trips to access rail transit. The median trip distance was 0.47 miles, showing that fully half the people surveyed walked at least a half-mile to access the train station. The study results therefore show that the conventional wisdom underestimates actual pedestrian behavior, at least for the conditions we studied.”

How Far, By Which Route, and Why? A Spatial Analysis of Pedestrian Preference by Weinstein, Asha ; Bekkouche, Vanessa Louise; Irvin, Katja ; Schlossberg, Marc A Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2007 Paper #07-2050

http://pubsindex.trb.org/document/view/default.asp?lbid=802012

Of course if you have ever hear me bitch before, I completely agree with this. I've lived in NYC, London, ORD, IHA, and a few other places. And have always lost a few pounds walking to the station.