How New Yorkers Prefer to Take Public Transport? A Comprehensive Analysis Based on 2010-2011 Regional Household Travel Survey

Public transport as a means of transport is an essential part of moving travelers from place to place. Considering the aggregate mode of travel, public transport is regarded as a more environmental friendly and sustainable travel mode compared to single occupancy vehicles travel. I am interested to discover the exact factors on how built environment, individual characteristics and characteristics in travel could change mode choice preference in New York Metropolitan Area. The 2010-2011 NYMTC Regional Household Travel Survey and 2010 ACS 5-year estimate data will be used to establish multinomial logit models to interpret the effects. From model results, both high population density and job density help to encourage more public transport trips. The effects of population density and job density only vary by trip purposes. Other socioeconomic and trip-based variables also play significant role on mode choice decisions