Work

How does Regional Air Pollution affect Pedestrian, Car, and Transit Use?

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: To examine how regional air pollution affects multimodal traffic volumes, we analyzed two years (2018–2019) of daily automobile traffic counts, estimated pedestrian volumes, and transit ridership in Cache County, Utah, United States. Multilevel models accounted for locational differences while controlling for weather and other temporal variables. When the air quality was poor, pedestrian volumes decreased, automobile traffic increased, and system-wide bus ridership showed no significant change. Walking declines were larger in neighborhoods with higher car ownership and smaller in areas with greater street connectivity and more commercial land use.

Source: Findings

DOI: 10.32866/001c.155021

Authors: Prachanda Tiwari, Patrick A Singleton, Keunhyun Park

Institutions: Utah State University, University of British Columbia

Language: English

Topic: Urban Transport and Accessibility

Subfield: Transportation

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $100