An Exploratory Study of Transit and Active Commuters in US Transit Station Areas
dc.contributor.author | Cunningham, Alan Felder | en |
dc.contributor.committeechair | Buehler, Ralph | en |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Sanchez, Thomas W. | en |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Wernstedt, Kris Frederick | en |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Hankey, Steven C. | en |
dc.contributor.department | Public Administration/Public Affairs | en |
dc.date.accessioned | 2025-06-28T08:00:51Z | en |
dc.date.available | 2025-06-28T08:00:51Z | en |
dc.date.issued | 2025-06-27 | en |
dc.description.abstract | Researchers have examined transit and active commuting in relation to land use, infrastructure, and economic factors, but few have considered their relationship with each other, especially not for the US. This thesis aims to understand the relationship between transit and active commuters within and between rail transit station areas. Multiple linear regressions were conducted at the national level and for each metro with rail transit service. Each regression used one of the four commuter types (home- and work-based transit or active commuters) as the dependent variable and the other three as independent variables. In addition, bivariate regressions were performed between the four commuter types and 30 demographic, economic, or transit service attributes at the national level and for 24 metros with rail transit. This study found that the number of significant relationships between commuter types was positively correlated with the number of station areas in a metro, with work-based relationships being most common. No station area attributes from the bivariate comparisons improved the fit of the national level models, suggesting that further analysis of metro attributes and models may be fruitful. The main finding was that station areas with large populations of transit commuters also had large populations of active commuters, although this relationship varied between metros and home or work transit or active commuters. | en |
dc.description.abstractgeneral | Researchers have explored transit and active commuting in relation to land use, infrastructure, and economic factors, but not at a national level or focused on transit station areas for both transit and active commuters. This thesis examines these relationships in Census tracts with transit, using multiple regressions to identify relationships between populations of home- and work-based transit and active commuter among the 29 US metros with rail transit stations. It also investigates how land use, economic factors, and transit service attributes impact home- or work-based transit and active commuters across the national set of Census tracts. This thesis suggests that more developed transit networks have more significant relationships among commuters in station area tracts. Metros that enhance their transit networks can positively impact both transit and active commuting between and within transit station areas. | en |
dc.description.degree | Doctor of Philosophy | en |
dc.format.medium | ETD | en |
dc.identifier.other | vt_gsexam:44039 | en |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10919/135737 | en |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
dc.rights | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International | en |
dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ | en |
dc.subject | Transit Oriented Development | en |
dc.subject | Active | en |
dc.subject | Transit | en |
dc.subject | Active Commuters | en |
dc.subject | Transit Commuters | en |
dc.subject | Home-based Trips | en |
dc.subject | Work-based Trips | en |
dc.subject | Transit Station Area | en |
dc.subject | Land Use | en |
dc.subject | National survey | en |
dc.subject | Commuter 2010 | en |
dc.subject | ACS | en |
dc.subject | CTPP | en |
dc.subject | metro survey | en |
dc.subject | Transit Station Attributes | en |
dc.subject | Transit Servi | en |
dc.title | An Exploratory Study of Transit and Active Commuters in US Transit Station Areas | en |
dc.type | Dissertation | en |
thesis.degree.discipline | Planning, Governance, and Globalization | en |
thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
thesis.degree.level | doctoral | en |
thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Philosophy | en |