What do pedestrians consider when choosing a route?

What do pedestrians consider when choosing a route?: The role of safety, security, and attractiveness perceptions and the built environment during day and night walking

Basu, Nandita (Queensland University of Technology)
Oviedo-Trespalacios, O. (TU Delft Safety and Security Science)
King, Mark (Queensland University of Technology)
Kamruzzaman, Md (Monash University)
Haque, Md Mazharul (Queensland University of Technology)

2023

Increasing the use of non-motorized modes of transport, such as walking, is a worldwide objective aimed at improving the sustainability of cities. However, pedestrians may not choose to walk if the infrastructure fails to meet their needs or if they hold unfavourable perceptions regarding the built environment (BE). The current study aims to identify the significance of route attributes and perceptions of attractiveness, safety, and security at the route level, which influence pedestrians' preferences for last-mile route choices. A cross-sectional design was employed, utilizing a questionnaire comprising a stated preference (SP) experiment and a perception survey. The study considered theory-informed attributes influencing pedestrian route choice preferences, including: (1) individual-level determinants, (2) physical-level determinants, and (3) time of day. Two separate models were developed, considering the time of day, to examine the differences in trade-offs within pedestrians' route choice preferences between day and night. The results revealed that both the BE and perceptions of the BE play a crucial role in determining pedestrian route choice behaviour. Pedestrians showed a preference for routes fully encompassed by mixed or residential land uses during the daytime. The presence of vacant land along the walking route significantly decreased the likelihood of choosing a route at night. Generally, pedestrians favoured shorter walking times, lower posted speed limits, and comfortable walkway grades in their routes. Female pedestrians tended to avoid routes that were not well-lit and pleasant at night. Lowering roadway speed limits emerged as a strategy to encourage walking in suburban areas. The findings of this study hold the potential to play an essential role in the development of effective policy initiatives targeted at pedestrians in cities.

Human factors
Multinomial logit model
Pedestrian route choice analysis
Risk analysis
Stated preference modelling
Traffic psychology

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:9c6d3378-c949-4591-b199-1f307753cdc7

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104551

0264-2751

Cities: the international journal of urban policy and planning, 143

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2023 Nandita Basu, O. Oviedo-Trespalacios, Mark King, Md Kamruzzaman, Md Mazharul Haque