Browsing by Author "Handy, Susan"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Downtown, strip centers, and big-box stores: Mode choice by shopping destination type in Davis, California
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2015) Popovich, Natalie Danielle; Handy, Susan
    Growing concerns about climate change and traffic congestion are motivating policymakers to find ways to encourage sustainable travel options. In the United States, where 88 percent of shopping trips are made by car, research identifying the factors that influence shopping mode choice can provide insight into ways to divert some of these trips to more sustainable alternatives. This paper aims to better explain the relationship between the built environment and shopping mode choice by examining how mode choice differs for the same individual across three different types of shopping destinations—downtown, strip center, and big box—in Davis, California. We conducted two cross-sectional online surveys in 2009 and 2010 with a total of 2043 respondents that asked questions about recent shopping. To understand the factors influencing mode choice at these three shopping destination types, we estimate binary logit models for choosing to use an active travel mode (bike or walk) to shop. Our results suggest that while distinct factors influence mode choice at the different destination types, simple infrastructure changes to the destination are not enough to encourage mode shift. Distance to shopping destinations and enjoying bicycling are the primary determinants of choosing active travel modes, while socio-demographic characteristics play a smaller role.
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    The impact of residential growth patterns on vehicle travel and pollutant emissions
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2011) Niemeier, Deb; Bai, Song; Handy, Susan
    In light of the increasing reliance on compact growth as a fundamental strategy for reducing vehicle emissions, it is important to better understand how land use-transportation interactions influence the production of mobile source emissions. To date, research findings have produced mixed conclusions as to whether compact development as a strategy for accommodating urban growth significantly reduces vehicle travel and, by extension, mitigates environmental impacts, particularly in the area of air quality. Using an integrated simulation approach coupled with long-term land development scenarios, we conducted an assessment of the impacts of different long-term primarily residential growth patterns on vehicle travel and pollutant emissions in the eight counties of the San Joaquin Valley region in central California. The results suggest that higher residential densities result in slightly decreased regional vehicle travel and emissions. Our comparative analysis also suggests that the effects of future land use growth patterns may vary among different spatial areas. That is, compact growth strategies can result in significantly more travel and emissions changes in already fairly urbanized counties. This work indicates a minimum density threshold of approximately 1500 households per square mile is necessary to achieve commensurate emissions reductions relative to existing densities.
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    The impact of the residential built environment on work at home adoption and frequency: An example from Northern California
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2011) Tang, Wei (Laura); Mokhtarian, Patricia; Handy, Susan
    Working at home is widely viewed as a useful travel-reduction strategy, and it is partly for that reason that considerable research related to telecommuting and home-based work has been conducted in the last two decades. This study examines the effect of residential neighborhood built environment (BE) factors on working at home. After systematically presenting and categorizing various relevant elements of the BE and reviewing related studies, we develop a multinomial logit (MNL) model of work-at-home (WAH) frequency using data from a survey of eight neighborhoods in Northern California. Potential explanatory variables include sociodemographic traits, neighborhood preferences and perceptions, objective neighborhood characteristics, and travel attitudes and behavior. The results clearly demonstrate the contribution of built environment variables to WAH choices, in addition to previously-identified influences such as sociodemographic predictors and com- mute time. BE factors associated with (neo)traditional neighborhoods were associated both positively and negatively with working at home. The findings suggest that land use and transportation strategies that are desirable from some perspectives will tend to weaken the motivation to work at home, and conversely, some factors that seem to increase the motivation to work at home are widely viewed as less sustainable. Accordingly, this research points to the complexity of trying to find the right balance among demand management strategies that sometimes act in competition rather than in synergy.
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    Measuring the impacts of local land-use policies on vehicle miles of travel: The case of the first big-box store in Davis, California
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2013) Lovejoy, Kristin; Sciara, Gian-Claudia; Salon, Deborah; Handy, Susan; Mokhtarian, Patricia
    Concerns over climate change have brought new impetus to the goal of reducing vehicle travel through land-use policy. To determine the degree to which land-use policies are effective in reducing vehicle travel, studies are needed that measure and compare vehicle travel both before and after a land-use policy change. The opening of the first big-box retail store in Davis, California, represented a major change in the retail landscape and an unusual opportunity to study its effect on shopping travel. Surveys of residents' shopping behavior conducted before and after the opening of the store revealed a significant shift in where people shopped and a measurable reduction in overall vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for shopping. Although the observed change in VMT is specific to the Davis context, the findings support the general proposition that bringing retail destinations closer to residences could help reduce vehicle travel, particularly where the comparable alternatives for the newly introduced store are far away. The study also offers important insights into the challenges of conducting before-and-after studies of the impact of local land-use changes.