Data Sources, Variables, and Model Development
Data for this analysis originate primarily from the 2007/2008 DC Household Travel Survey conducted by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Govern- ments’ (MWCOG) Transportation Planning Board. The survey is representative of the region and consisted of an introductory household questionnaire—which collected demographics and socioeconomics—as well as a travel diary to gather in-depth information on daily travel on a specifically assigned travel day for each household member (MWCOG 2010). The survey collected information on the
provision of free car parking, public transportation benefits, facilities/services for cyclists and pedestrians (such as showers and lockers), and secure bicycle facili- ties (such as bike parking) at work. The survey is particularly useful for assessing the relationship between commuter benefits and an individual’s commute mode choice. The final sample includes 4,630 adult full-time workers living in the urban core or inner suburbs and commuting to regular workplaces using a reported usual mode to work. For this analysis, data on transit access, bikeway supply, population, and land area were merged with the travel survey dataset using 2,155 traffic analysis zone (TAZ) identifiers.