Interactive effects of the built environment and rail transit on commuting behavior: Evidence from Hefei, China

A deep understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the built environment on commuting behavior along with rail transit is considered of great importance for both TOD land use and formulation of transport policies. The impact of the built environmental factors on commuting behavior has been already explored in the literature. However, the main focus has been laid on the separate effects of each factor and the interactions among these factors have been neglected. Along these lines, taking Hefei, China as the case, this work filled this gap by employing a social ecological model to systematically investigate the interactive effects of the built environment and urban rail transit on commuting behavior. From our analysis, it was demonstrated that land-use intensity was negatively correlated with car commuting, and mixed land use was positively related to metro commuting. Additionally, rail access near the workplace plays a key role in reducing car commuting than residential neighborhoods. This work revealed also some interesting findings on the association between rail transit and commuting behavior, which were significantly affected by land use intensity and mixed land-use. Our work provides valuable insights for the TOD land use to effectively reduce car commuting.