School travel mode choice in Beijing, China

This study explores school travel mode choice behavior of 7-18 year-old students in Beijing, China, based on the data collected in Fifth Travel Survey of Beijing Inhabitants. The integration of tree-based and logit-based models is employed to examine the influence of key variables on school travel mode choice. In particular, the tree-based model is used to preliminarily select the traits which have a statistical effect on mode choice, and the logit-based model is used to provide deeper understanding of the underlying decision processes and the correlation effects of the variables. Results show that car ownership, poor walking/cycling environment, and adults' convenience for escorting students significantly stimulate the use of cars in school commuting. Students are more inclined to choose cars when their departure time is at rush hour compared to the other time. Moreover, the longer distance encourages the use of motorized transport, where the households with local hukou (usually related to the car ownership and other welfares) are more willing to drive their children to school. A number of recommendations on car restraint, sustainable travel environment improvement, different working hour implementing, and educational resources layout for the encouragement and promotion of sustainable travel practices are lastly proposed.