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Active travel, public transport and the built environment in youth : Interactions with perceived safety, distance to school, age and gender
Loh, Venurs Sahlqvist, Shannon Veitch, Jenny Walsh, Anthony Cerin, Ester Salmon, Jo Mavoa, Suzanne Timperio, Anna
Loh, Venurs
Sahlqvist, Shannon
Veitch, Jenny
Walsh, Anthony
Cerin, Ester
Salmon, Jo
Mavoa, Suzanne
Timperio, Anna
Abstract
Introduction
This study examined interactive effects of the built environment, perceived safety, age and gender on active travel and public transport use among adolescents for school journeys.
Method
This study used cross-sectional data from 440 adolescents (mean age 15.4 ± 1.5 years, 58% girls) in Melbourne, Australia. Adolescents self-reported their school travel modes, perceptions of traffic and personal safety. Exclusive active travel and public transport use to/from school were determined. Objective built environment features around home and school (1 km buffer) were generated. Multilevel logistic regression was used to estimate main and interactive associations.
Results
Overall, 18% travelled exclusively by active travel and 32% by public transport. Distance to school was negatively associated with exclusive active school travel (OR = 0.44, 95%CI: 0.34, 0.56). Distance to school moderated the association between some built environment attributes (land use mix, residential density around home, distance to public transport stops) and odds of active school travel. There was a positive association between residential density around school and active school travel among those who perceived their traffic environment to be safer. Boys were more likely than girls to use public transport if they lived further from school. A negative association between distance to a public transport stop from home and the odds of public transport use was observed among those who perceived their environment to be less safe.
Conclusion
The findings highlight the complexity of influences on mode choice for the school journey. Distance to school remains one of the most important predictors of active travel/public transport use. Supportive built environment attributes, such as a diverse mix of land use around home had facilitating effects on active travel among adolescents who lived closer to school. Multilevel interventions that target both the environment and perceived safety are needed to promote active travel and public transport use among adolescents.
Keywords
active transport, sustainable travel, public transport, adolescents, neighbourhood, school
Date
2024
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Transport and Health
Book
Volume
38
Issue
Page Range
1-13
Article Number
Article 101895
ACU Department
Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).