scholarly journals Evaluating the Effects of Household Characteristics on Household Daily Traffic Emissions Based on Household Travel Survey Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengcheng Xu ◽  
Shuyue Wu

This study aimed to investigate the effects of household characteristics on household traffic emissions. The household travel survey data conducted in the Jiangning District of Nanjing City, China were used. The vehicle emissions of household members’ trips were calculated using average emission factors by average speed and vehicle category. Descriptive statistics analysis showed that the average daily traffic emissions of CO, NOx and PM2.5 per household are 8.66 g, 0.55 g and 0.04 g respectively. The household traffic emissions of these three pollutants were found to have imbalanced distributions across households. The top 20% highest-emission households accounted for nearly two thirds of the total emissions. Based on the one-way ANOVA tests, the means of CO, NOx and PM2.5 emissions were found to be significantly different over households with different member numbers, automobile numbers, annual income and access to the subway. Finally, the household daily traffic emissions were linked with household characteristics based on multiple linear regressions. The contributing factors are slightly different among the three different emissions. The number of private vehicles, number of motorcycles, and household income significantly affect all three emissions. More specifically, the number of private vehicles has positive effects on CO and PM2.5 emissions, but negative effect on NOx emissions. The number of motorcycles and the household income have positive effects on all three emissions.

Author(s):  
Ryland Lu

This paper addresses academic discourse that critiques urban rail transit projects for their regressive impacts on the poor and proposes bus funding as a more equitable investment for urban transit agencies. The author analyzed data from the 2012 California Household Travel Survey on transit trips in Los Angeles County. The author cross-tabulated data on the modal breakdown of transit trips by household income category and on the breakdown of household income associated with trips by bus and rail transit modes. The author also comparatively evaluated the speed of trips (as a ratio of miles per hour) taken by rail and by bus by low-income households in the county. The author found convincing evidence that, on average, trips low-income households made by rail transit covered a greater distance per hour than trips taken by bus transit, but that trips made on the county’s bus rapid transit services with dedicated rights-of-way had a higher mean speed than those taken by rail. Moreover, the mode and income cross-tabulations indicate that rail transit projects only partially serve low-income households’ travel needs. To the extent that equitable transit planning entails minimizing the disparities in access, both rail and bus rapid transit projects can advance social justice if they are targeted at corridors where they can serve travel demand by low-income, transit dependent households.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (S1) ◽  
pp. S86-S93
Author(s):  
Kathleen B. Watson ◽  
Geoffrey P. Whitfield ◽  
Stacey Bricka ◽  
Susan A. Carlson

Background: New or enhanced activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations is an evidence-based approach for increasing physical activity. Although national estimates for some infrastructure features surrounding where one lives and the types of nearby destinations are available, less is known about the places where individuals walk. Methods: A total of 5 types of walking trips (N = 54,034) were defined by whether they began or ended at home (home based [HB]) and trip purpose (HB work, HB shopping, HB social/recreation, HB other, and not HB trip) (2017 National Household Travel Survey). Differences and trends by subgroups in the proportion of each purpose-oriented trip were tested using pairwise comparisons and polynomial contrasts. Results: About 14% of U.S. adults reported ≥1 walking trip on a given day. About 64% of trips were HB trips. There were few differences in prevalence for each purpose by subgroup. For example, prevalence of trips that were not HB decreased significantly with increasing age and increased with increasing education and household income. Conclusions: Given age-related and socioeconomic differences in walking trips by purpose, planners and other professionals may want to consider trip origin and destination purposes when prioritizing investments for the creation of activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations where people live, work, and play.


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