Impact of Built Environment on First- and Last-Mile Travel Mode Choice

Abstract

The paper studies the impacts of built environment (BE) on the first- and last-mile travel modal choice. We select Singapore as a case study. The data used for this work is extracted from the first- and last-mile trips to mass rapid transit (MRT) stations in the Household Interview Travel Survey of Singapore in 2012 with nearly 24,000 samples. The BE indicators are quantified based on four “D” variables: Density, Diversity, Design, and Distance to transit. We also take into account sociodemographic and trip-specific variables. Mixed logit (ML) modeling frameworks are adopted to estimate the impact of BE and the heterogeneity of taste across the sample. Based on the availability of light rail transit (LRT) in different areas, two modeling structures are implemented with binary ML models for non-LRT areas where “walk” and “bus” are the available travel modes, and multinomial ML models for areas where LRT is an additional alternative. The modeling results shed light on the following findings: BE—especially distance to MRT station, transportation infrastructures, land-use mix, and socioeconomic activities—significantly influences the first- and last-mile travel behaviors. Those who live or work close to MRT stations and in an area with high socioeconomic activities and land-use mix may have stronger preferences to walk for the first- and last-mile trips. The impact of physical BE (i.e., distance, infrastructures) is relatively homogeneous among the sample, while the impact of socioeconomic BE factors (i.e., floor space density, entropy) tends to vary across the sample.