Livable Neighborhood Factors Affecting Mode Choices in a Medium Sized University Community

Abstract

Communities across the United States are striving to increase walking, biking, and riding transit among their residents and thus become more livable. In order for these communities to become more livable, city planners need to understand what factors affect an individual’s mode choice. This thesis uses data collected from the Auburn University Campus Travel Choices Survey and a newly created Neighborhood Walkability Survey. A multinomial logistic regression model was created to determine the influencing factors and the level of influence they had on an individual’s mode choice. Along with the model, results from the Auburn University Campus Travel Choices Survey were examined to determine other possible influencing factors of mode choice. The analyses found that built environment factors such as roadway attributes, bicycle facilities, pedestrian facilities, transit facilities, land use, neighborhood reason for visiting campus, neighborhood location, and distance from campus affected mode choice. Socio-demographic characteristics such as age, income, gender, role at Auburn University, and living arrangements were found to significantly affect mode choice. Finally, preference characteristics such as reason for visiting campus, enjoyment of travel, life responsibilities, environmental impacts, traffic congestion along the route, and cost of travel were found to be significantly related to mode choice.