Spatially Focused Travel Survey Data Collection and Analysis: Closing Data Gaps for Climate Change Policy

This research explored the effect of small area land use policies on land use–travel behavior relationships. The authors pioneered methods to obtain travel data with sufficient spatial focus to shed light on how land use influences vehicle miles of travel. Travel diary surveys were obtained from four small neighborhoods in southern California. Results suggest differences in walking, transit, and passenger vehicle travel behavior associated with residing in areas with different built environment, land use, and transit access characteristics. Households in areas with higher employment accessibility tended to have more walking travel and lower vehicle miles of travel (VMT). Households within 1.5 miles of a rail transit station tended to have more transit ridership. Households within 0.5–1.0 miles of a rail transit station tended to have more walking travel, while households with higher levels of transit service were associated with lower household VMT. The methods developed advanced efforts toward low-cost, rapid travel data collection that can be used in before-and-after transportation program evaluations in the future.