The Role of Land Use in Travel Mode Choice: Evidence from Boston and Hong Kong

This article presents a study that analyzed the influence of land use on travel mode choice using survey data from Metropolitan Boston and Hong Kong. In Boston, the focus of inquiry was on whether land use would still matter for mode choice (and if so, to what extent) when mode attributes and traveler socioeconomic characteristics were taken into account. In Hong Kong, where the role of land use in mode choice is obvious due to the densely built environment, the focus was on whether land use completely explained the transit-dominated travel pattern. The empirical modeling confirmed that the role of land use in influencing travel was independent from travel time and monetary costs. Elasticity estimates show that the composite effect of land use on driving could be comparable in magnitude to that of driving cost. Yet being place specific, land use strategies are limited by the spatial extent to which they can be implemented. Land use strategies influence travel more effectively when complemented by pricing policies.