Comparative Study of Pedestrian Travel Culture in Different Cities in Japan

Abstract

Attitudes and preferences toward walking in different urban areas have been investigated to understand differences among pedestrian travel culture. Analysis revealed attitude toward walking has a statistically significant difference among different age groups with relatively old age groups expressing positive responses. Car ownership of respondents did not contribute to a significant difference in attitudes although the public transport usage showed an impact. Preferences related to walking space also showed a significant difference between respondents who use and do not use public transport. Analysis also showed that citizens in large cities who use public transport consider pleasant walking environment in their route choice behavior even at the cost of making a detour. Walking behavior, particularly the pedestrian signal compliance at traffic signals, is found to be different between many city pairs considered in the analysis.