School travel behaviour in the Netherlands and Flanders

Children's school commuting in the Netherlands: Does it matter how urban form is incorporated in mode choice models?

“…Concerning children's individual characteristics, a persistent finding across the models was that age is positively related to walking and cycling, with a distinct effect for the former. This confirms the findings of Aarts et al (2013) as well as Goeverden and De Boer (2013) that older children are more likely to walk or cycle. This behavior can be explained through improved cognitive capabilities, which result in more independent mobility (Mitra, 2013).…”

“…This extension toward the third dimension is unique, as is the application of space-syntax-based urban form indicators. Because the Netherlands was the study area, this investigation advances the literature specifically targeting a walking-and cycling-oriented country (Van Goeverden & de Boer, 2013), which complements the automobile-oriented North Americacentric body of knowledge (Pont et al, 2009). Finally, the present research was the first to compare different urban form operationalizations.…”

“…Although univariate models indicated that mode choice varies across sex, analogous to Larsen et al (2009), no evidence was found in multivariate models. While supporting Van Goeverden and De Boer (2013) for the Netherlands and McDonald (2008) for the United States that gender is not significantly related to walking, this result contradicts the position of Børrestad et al (2011), who showed that Norwegian girls are more likely to walk and less likely to cycle compared to boys. In the base model, the trip distance stands out.…”

“…Even though long commuting distances are uncommon for this age group, it might have an influence on mode choices, especially public transport. Although the influence of socioeconomics on the household level (e.g., income, automobile ownership) is inconclusive (McDonald, 2008;Van Goeverden & de Boer, 2013), our models remained unadjusted due to missing data and did not acknowledge interdependence among transport mode alternatives (Ermagun & Levinson, 2017). Lastly, our dataset solely relied on objective indicators, although there is no doubt that parental perceptions influence children's mobility (Yeung et al, 2008;Mitra, 2013).…”

The motivation underlying adolescents׳ intended time-frame for driving licensure and car ownership: A socio-ecological approach

“…A high share of elementary school children are being driven by their parents (Arbour-Nicitopoulos et al, 2012) and even though these shares decrease in secondary school, the prevalence and importance associated with the car as a travel mode to school and leisure activities is far from negligible even in bicycle-oriented countries (Van Goeverden and De Boer, 2013;Sigurdardottir et al, 2013). Several studies conducted in Europe, among others in bicycleoriented countries, show that, when asked about their future, both children and adolescents indicated their intentions to obtain a driving license and own a car as adults (Baslington, 2009;Line et al, 2012;Kopnina and Williams, 2013;Sigurdardottir et al, 2013).…”