Built environment and active travel behavior of children: Results of a Bayesian belief network

In this study the participation of children in walking and bicycling activities for all purposes, and the relation with socio-demographic and environmental characteristics is examined. Specifically, a Bayesian belief network is proposed that derives and represents all direct and indirect relationships between the variables. Detailed individual travel data, including all walking and bicycling trips from a random sample of 4293 children in the primary school age category in the Netherlands are investigated. The participation in active travel behaviour has a direct relationship with all trip characteristics such as travel time and distance, and trip purpose. Furthermore active travel behaviour is related to the age of the child and the car possession of the household. The degree of urbanization has a strong direct influence on mode choice and therefore is an important explanatory variable for walking and bicycling of children. All the other environmental characteristics have an indirect influence on travel mode choice; they are directly related to the urban density level