Characteristics associated with willingness to walk further than necessary to the bus stop: Insights for public transport-related physical activity

doi:10.1016/j.jth.2021.101139

Journal of Transport & Health

Volume 22, September 2021, 101139

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2021.101139 Get rights and content

Highlights

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Half of bus users were willing to walk further to the bus stop if frequency was improved.
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Various characteristics were associated with willingness to walk further to bus stops.
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Younger people were more willing to walk further to bus stops than older people.
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Some groups may be more amenable to strategies to increase public transport-related physical activity.
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Improving bus service frequency may increase public transport-related physical activity and confer health benefits.

Abstract

Background and aims

There is untapped potential for public transport-related physical activity to make an important contribution to total physical activity and hence improve health. This study aimed to determine the willingness of public transport users to walk further than necessary to a stop, and the characteristics of those willing to do so.

Methods

This study used data from three waves (2016, 2017, 2018) of the Metro Tasmania Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS), an annual cross-sectional survey of bus passengers in Tasmania, Australia. Linear and logistic regression modelled associations between socio-demographic and transport behaviour characteristics with willingness to travel further to usual bus stop if frequency was improved (yes/no), and if willing, the extra distance (metres) prepared to travel. Analyses were restricted to those reporting walking to their bus stop (n = 1402).

Results

Half of 1402 bus passengers were prepared to walk further (average 521 m) to their usual bus stop if frequency was improved. A range of characteristics were positively (residential location) and negatively (age, female sex, retired/on pension, no regular motor vehicle access, intermittent public transport use, higher public transport-related physical activity) associated with willingness to walk further to the bus stop. Distance willing to walk varied by a range of demographic characteristics (sex, household income, age, employment status, bus use, public transport-related physical activity). Only age was consistently associated across all three surveys: younger bus passengers were more willing to walk further and recorded greater distances willing to walk.

Conclusions

The characteristics identified provide insights into which population groups may be more amenable to strategies to increase public transport-related physical activity, and which groups may require further investigation to identify reasons for lack of willingness to walk further to bus stops. Improving bus service frequency may increase public transport-related physical activity and confer health benefits.

Introduction

Insufficient physical activity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality (attributed to 6% of deaths). It causes an estimated 6% of the global burden of disease from coronary heart disease, 7% from type 2 diabetes, 10% from breast cancer, and 10% from colon cancer (Lee et al., 2012; World Health Organization, 2009, 2010). Globally, an estimated 31% of people aged 15 and over are physically inactive (Hallal et al., 2012), with Australian estimates suggesting only 30% of children aged 2–17 and 44% of adults aged 18+ years meet the Australian Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour guidelines which align well with World Health Organization guidelines (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018; Bull et al., 2020).

Public transport-related physical activity is physical activity undertaken to get to or from public transport. This most commonly involves walking or cycling. The use of public transport usually involves some active commuting (e.g., walking between a destination and stop/station) (Bassett Jr, 2011; Buehler et al., 2016; Lachapelle and Pinto, 2016; Renne, 2005; Rissel et al., 2012; Voss et al., 2015). Public transport use is associated with greater physical activity (Besser and Dannenberg, 2005; Lachapelle and Pinto, 2016; Patterson et al., 2018; Renne, 2005; Rissel et al., 2012, 2013; Voss et al., 2015); an English representative study of travel diaries indicated public transport users accumulated 20.5 min of physical activity per day (16.5 min for bus users) (Patterson et al., 2018), and a systematic review estimated public transport use was associated with an extra 8–33 min of walking per day compared to using private transport only (Rissel et al., 2012). Public transport-related physical activity likely confers health benefits, with one systematic review finding a consistent association between public transport use and lower adiposity, although few studies have investigated non-adiposity cardiometabolic outcomes (Patterson et al., 2019). Public health messages also encourage public transport users to walk further than necessary to/from distant public transport stops/stations to accumulate more physical activity. However, our work in a regional capital city of Australia suggests that very few public transport users engage in this behaviour (Ragaini et al., 2020), and while those who did were more physically active, no sociodemographic correlates could be identified and it was unclear how much further people were willing to walk to the bus stop. This information would be useful for informing both public health and public transport strategies.

Given the health benefits of physical activity, and the potential for public transport-related physical activity to confer health benefits, there is a need to understand public transport users’ willingness to walk further to stops/stations, the distance they are willing to walk and the characteristics associated with this willingness. This information may be used to inform appropriate and effective public health and public transport messaging and promotion strategies. This study aimed to: (i) determine the socio-demographic and transport behaviour characteristics associated with willingness to walk further to the bus stop among public transport users; and (ii) among those willing to walk further to their usual bus stop, determine the socio-demographic and transport behaviour characteristics associated with distance willing to walk further to their usual bus stop.

Section snippets

Methods

All procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and the appropriate institutional committee(s) have approved them. The Tasmanian Health and Medical Human Research Ethics Committee approved this study on July 20, 2019 (reference number: H0018234).

Results

Table 1 describes the socio-demographic and transport behaviour characteristics of bus passengers in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Compared to the Tasmanian general population, the samples were similar in terms of the proportion living in Hobart (70–75% vs. 65% according to 2016 census data), Launceston (17–20% vs. 28%) and Burnie (8–11% vs. 7%), but were younger (60% age 14–24 in 2017 and 23% 16–24 in 2015–2016 vs. 15%), comprised a lower percentage of people working/employed (39–40% in 2015–2016 and

Discussion

The results of this study show that most bus passengers walk to their bus stop, and approximately half of bus passengers were willing to walk further to their usual bus stop if frequency was improved. This demonstrates important public health potential as a source of physical activity. Passengers were prepared to walk an average of 265 m – approximately 4 min walking time – further to their bus stop if bus service frequency was improved. On average across all bus passengers, the extra distance

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Oliver Stanesby: Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Megan Morse: Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Lexie Magill: Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Kylie Ball: Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing. Leigh Blizzard: Conceptualization,

Declaration of competing interest

MM and LM were employees of Metro Tasmania during the period this work was conducted. They each contributed to the interpretation of results and provided critical revision of the manuscript prior to submission, but were not involved in the development of the study aims or analytic processes.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Partnership Project grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council Australia (1152999) and Metro Tasmania, the Tasmanian Department of Health, and the Local Government Association of Tasmania. VC is supported by a National Heart Foundation of Australia Future Leader Fellowship (100444). We acknowledge the partnership of Metro Tasmania, the Tasmanian Department of Health, and the Local Government Association of Tasmania in conducting this work. This work