The Impact of Residential Location Decisions on Miles Traveled, Trip Frequency, and Automobile Ownership for Households in the Portland Metropolitan Region

Understanding residential location decisions and their interconnected relationship with travel behavior provides valuable insight to policymakers planning for a more accessible and efficient transportation-land use connection. Decisions regarding neighborhood type, building structure, and housing tenure uniquely contribute to the complexity of residential location. This study examined these residential location decisions and their association with the travel outcomes of miles traveled, person trips, and vehicle ownership for households in the Portland metropolitan region. A two-step methodology utilizing a factor and cluster analysis was employed to introduce a neighborhood typology, constructed of policy sensitive attributes and with commonly available archived data to enable replication in other settings. A set of linear regression models estimated miles traveled by mode, while additional negative binomial models estimated person trips by automobile, bike, and walk as well as household automobile ownership. These travel outcomes were compared across households segmented by lifecycle stage and in regard to light rail access. Results from this research revealed that households located in more urban neighborhoods exhibited lower vehicle miles traveled (VMT), conducted more non-motorized trips, and owned fewer automobiles. Moreover, households residing in multifamily structures tended to own fewer automobiles and walk greater distances with a greater frequency than those residing in single-family units; whereas, households who rented their housing units owned fewer automobiles and drove less often with lower VMT. Less instinctive findings suggested residing near a city center rail station actually increased person miles traveled by bike.