Impact of local transportation environment on household car ownership and commuting mode choice: evidence from Edinburgh

Abstract

With the rapid development of urban transport systems,private car ownership has surged, posing challenges for transport governance.

Taking Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, as the study area, this study aims to systematically assess the effects of transport environmental factors on household car ownership and residents' driving commuting rate, and to explore the mediating mechanism of car ownership in the relationship between the two. The study combines GIS spatial analysis with a variety of econometric models (OLS, SLM, GWR) to set a number of transport environment variables and carry out quantitative empirical analyses. The results show that public transport accessibility, coverage of cycle parking facilities and controlled parking policies can indirectly reduce the probability of residents commuting by car by suppressing household car ownership. In addition, the results of GWR further find that the role of transit accessibility and cycle parking coverage on car ownership and commuting choices is heterogeneous within cities and generally insignificant in suburban areas. Based on these findings, the study suggests a moderate expansion of the coverage of controlled parking zones, the introduction of ‘Demand Responsive Transport routes (DRT)’ in the suburbs, and the deployment of a bike-sharing system to reduce residents' reliance on private cars. Future research could introduce a spatial Durbin model to incorporate commuting endpoint characteristics, or incorporate micro-travel data at the individual level for a more comprehensive analysis.