Ninety percent of respondents to a recent survey overestimated the time it would take to walk or bike to work, and those with parking permits were the worst at guessing their commute times.
Pennsylvania State University conducted a study with 505 participants and asked them to estimate the time it would take them to walk or bike to work. 90 percent of respondents to a survey over-estimated how long it would take for them to walk or bike to work, according to an article by Gretchen Reynolds.
Drilling down into the data, the researchers found even more interesting insights. Those who did walk or bike were (not surprisingly) much more likely to guess accurately how long it would take them to walk, and those that had permitted work parking were most likely to overestimate the commute and to exaggerate that overestimation beyond their peers. Researchers suggest that if people knew how much time it actually took to get to work under their own power they might be more likely to opt to walk.
FULL STORY: Think Biking or Walking to Work Would Take Too Long? Think Again
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research