Light rail leads to more walking around station areas

Abstract

Areas around Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations offer ideal conditions for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). Relatively dense, mixed-use neighborhoods can have positive impacts on mobility, health, and perceptions of neighborhood safety among nearby residents, primarily through walking activity for both transit and other purposes. To examine how station areas may attract new activity, this study analyzed changes in walking around station areas among people living close to an LRT station before and after the opening of a new transit system. This study examined walking behavior among the subset of 214 participants living within one mile of one of 13 LRT stations from among a sample of residents living close or further away from a new LRT line in Seattle. They completed a survey and a travel log and wore an accelerometer and a GPS for 7 days both before (2008) and after the opening of the Seattle area LRT (2010). Walking bouts were derived using a previously developed algorithm. The main outcome was the individual-level change in the proportion of daily walking within one quarter Euclidean mile of an LRT station. Overall walking decreased from before to after the LRT opening while station area walking did not change significantly, indicating a shift in walking activity to the station areas after the introduction of LRT. Increases in the proportion of station area walking were negatively related to participants’ distance between home and the nearest LRT station, peaking at <0.25 mile and decaying beyond >0.75 mile. Male gender, college education, normal weight status, less access to cars, and frequent LRT use were also significantly associated with greater positive changes in the proportion of station area walking. The shift in walking to station areas after the completion of light rail provides evidence that the local proximate population is attracted to station areas, which may potentially benefit both transit use and TOD area economic activity. The residential catchment area for the shift in LRT area walking was < 0.75 mile of the LRT stations.

Impact of new rapid transit on physical activity: A meta-analysis

“…Of 18 peer-reviewed articles examining health behaviors, 15 were on physical activity with only five of these incorporating natural experiment designs with sufficient pre- and post-intervention measurements ( Chang et al, 2017 ; Hong et al, 2016 ; Huang et al, 2017 ; Miller et al, 2015 ; Panter et al, 2016 ) ( Supplemental File 3 ). The meta-analysis and subsequent results focus only on the five papers with sufficient physical activity measurements reported.…”

Moving Toward Active Lifestyles: The Change of Transit-Related Walking to Work From 2009 to 2017

“…18 These less educated populations may need more educational programs such as campaigns or incentives to reduce the barriers for walking to/from transit. 19 Although the low-income and minority populations were more likely to walk to/from transit to work in both 2009 and 2017, the weighted percentages of walking to/from transit to work have decreased from 2009 to 2017. These results have shown the potential equity issue around the transit areas.…”

“…10 High-density areas may feature mixed land use and sufficient pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, 24,25 providing a walker-friendly environment with multiple daily destinations to support walking behaviors. 19 Therefore, stations in high-density areas are more likely to produce more walk trips to stations than those in lowdensity areas. 19 Several limitations have to be mentioned in this study.…”

“…19 Therefore, stations in high-density areas are more likely to produce more walk trips to stations than those in lowdensity areas. 19 Several limitations have to be mentioned in this study. First, the national survey did not specify the type of transit station such as bus stops or light rail stations.…”

Numerical analysis of the embedded track structure under mixed traffic load

“…This continuous longitudinal support mode greatly reduces the vibration of the track structure, which caused by the irregularity of the conventional discrete support. In addition, the rail is embedded in the road surface does not affect the passage of urban motor vehicles [3,4]. It can be said this type of tracks is suitable for urban trams, and it is quite adaptive for urban rail transit.…”