New Reseach Helps Define Transit Walking Shed

"Marc Schlossberg, a professor in the UO department of planning, public policy and management, and graduate student Vanessa Bekkouche, along with San Jose State team members Asha Weinstein, a professor, and student Katja Irvin, were honored for their research, which they titled "How Far, by Which Route, and Why? A Spatial Analysis of Pedestrian Preference."

"Their effort earned the 2007 Outstanding Paper Award from the Transportation Research Board during its annual conference Jan. 21-25 in Washington D.C."

"The researchers looked at activity near five rail transit stations in both areas and sought to uncover how far pedestrians walk to light rail stations and what environmental factors influence their routes."

"The paper concluded with five major findings:

* Pedestrians walk farther to access light rail stations than commonly assumed, with a mean distance of about a half-mile rather than the prevailing notion of a quarter to a third of a mile.

* Pedestrians say that their primary concern in choosing a route is minimizing time and distance.

* Secondary factors influencing route choice are safety and, to a lesser extent, attractiveness of the route, sidewalk quality, and the absence of long waits at traffic lights.

* Pedestrians vary considerably in how accurately they estimate the distance of their walks.

* Asking respondents to trace their walking route on a local map is an effective research technique."