Investigating the Relationship Between Transit Planning for Leisure and Household Vehicle Ownership in King County

Abstract

Historically, transportation planning has focused on accommodating peak hour commuting behavior, but in reality, these trips represent just 15% of daily travel (Holden & Linnerud, 2011; Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2017). Meaningful efforts to curb emissions from the transportation sector must consider a wider range of trip types. Leisure travel makes up an estimated 27% of everyday trip-making behavior in the United States and is typically more spatiotemporally complicated than commuting, increasing the likelihood of driving (Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2017; Beirão & Cabral, 2010). This research investigates how transit planning for accessing leisure opportunities impacts household-level car ownership in King County through binary logistic modeling built around three key independent variables: average travel time and the transit/auto travel time ratio to nearby leisure destinations, and evening and weekend transit service area. Additionally, k-means clustering of households by leisure style reveals how activity preferences may impact the likelihood of owning one or more vehicles. Results indicate that household car ownership increases with longer average travel times to leisure-specific destinations and, less so, decreases with larger transit access sheds.