Urban environment effects on pedestrian route choice for train station access and egress

Abstract

This study has investigated the effect of the urban environment on pedestrian route choice behaviour, for walking routes to and from train stations in the Netherlands. To the best knowledge of the author, this is the first pedestrian route choice study which is performed at country-level scope. This was made possible by applying an innovative quasi-revealed preference approach. Respondents self-reported their route preferences through an online GIS survey. Outputs were subsequently analysed by overlaying route data with a range of open geodata sources and searching for statistical similarities between certain urban features and (in)frequently taken routes. Results from statistical testing are verified by testing these against a qualitative text-coding analysis. The study finds that pedestrians in the Netherlands have a strong preference for the route which they perceive to be fastest, especially when they are en-route to a train station. Pedestrians dislike features which they perceive as ’slowing’ them down such as traffic lights. Detours are found somewhat more often on from-station routes, with such detours leading via environments which are attractive for social reseasons such as shops or busy streets. The method was found to work fairly well and should now be tested on a larger population sample with more variables.