Transit users’ preferences for street infrastructure during daytime and night-time walking

Source abstract

To create pedestrian-oriented access environments around urban rail transit (URT) stations and enlarge the station catchment area, exploring the effects of multiple street design attributes on pedestrians’ propensity to walk on access/egress trips to transit stations is essential. This study devised a visual route choice experiment to investigate the walking preferences of 651 transit users from Guiyang, China. We estimated the stated choice data using a mixed logit model and assessed the utility of street infrastructure design on daytime and nighttime trips through the 'willingness-to-walk' (WTW) measure. The results indicate that narrower driveways, wider pavements, and walkways with trees and hedges present can stimulate pedestrians to walk longer. Adequate street lighting, more natural and mechanical surveillance can alleviate pedestrian security concerns related to the time of day (day vs. night). The visualized choice experiment and its findings can reveal the trade-offs required between various design scenarios and provide evidence-based insights into urban design projects to promote walking trips and transit ridership.