Gender Responsiveness in Public Transit: Evidence from the 2017 US National Household Travel Survey
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 147, Issue 3
Abstract
Public transportation plays an important role in urban sustainability. To increase public transit usage, it is essential to understand the underlying reasons that discourage people from using transit through the perspectives of different users. Drawing on the 2017 US National Household Travel Survey, this study aims to explore gender-sensitive factors in transit usage by sociodemographics and trip attributes for both men and women through a combination of descriptive analyses and econometric methods. Results show that, statistically speaking, significant factors for both women’s and men’s transit usage are similar, including being in a household with children, at an older age, with a high household income, car access, low-density residence, no heavy rail, travel for the purpose of maintenance or recreation, frequent daily trips, and short trip distance. The Chow test follows to further reveal that compared with trips made by men, trips by women are less likely to use transit when the women are 40 years old or more, with a high household income (>$100,000), with low residence density (i.e., <10,000 persons/mi2), or when recreation is the purpose of the trip. This research may assist policymakers, administrators, and responsible agencies to make better sustainable transport policies by refining gender-specific transit services in attracting both men and women to use public transit.
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Data Availability Statement
NHTS has been conducted by the US Department of Transportation periodically since 1969 to obtain an inventory of daily travel for the nation. Details about the survey methods, questions, and weighting can be found at nhts.ornl.gov/2001/index.shtml. Some or all data, regression models, and code of the Chow tests generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
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Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 147 • Issue 3 • September 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 2, 2020
Accepted: Dec 23, 2020
Published online: Apr 19, 2021
Published in print: Sep 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Sep 19, 2021
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