Is it possible that public transportation is actually “good for you”? Is there a link between transit and health, individual and collective? Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute (Canada) reports that a number of recent studies do show that high quality public transit service can improve public health by...
These factors cannot overcome other demographic and economic factors that reduce poor people's health, but it does suggest that everybody, particularly poor people, are much better off in a transit oriented community than in an automobile-dependent community.
Todd Alexander Litman - litman@vtpi.org
Victoria Transport Policy Institute - “Efficiency - Equity - Clarity”
Victoria, Canada
For information see:
Heather Allen (2008), Sit Next To Someone Different Every Day - How Public Transport Contributes To Inclusive Communities, Thredbo Conference ( www.thredbo.itls.usyd.edu.au/downloads/thredbo10_papers/thredbo10-plenary-Allen.pdf).
APTA (2003), The Route to Better Personal Health, American Public Transportation Association (www.apta.com); at http://spider.apta.com/lgwf/legtools/better_health.pdf.
David Bassett, John Pucher, Ralph Buehler, Dixie L. Thompson, and Scott E. Crouter (2008), Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Vol. 5 ( www.humankinetics.com/jpah/journalAbout.cfm), pp. 795-814.
Reid Ewing, et al. (2003), “Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity,” American Journal of Health Promotion, Vol. 18, No. 1 ( www.healthpromotionjournal.com), Sept/Oct. 2003, pp. 47-57; at www.smartgrowth.umd.edu/research/pdf/EwingSchmidKillingsworthEtAl_SprawlObesity_DateNA.pdf .
Lawrence Frank, Sarah Kavage and Todd Litman (2006), Promoting Public Health Through Smart Growth: Building Healthier Communities Through Transportation And Land Use Policies, Smart Growth BC (www.smartgrowth.bc.ca); at www.vtpi.org/sgbc_health.pdf.
Ugo Lachapelle and Lawrence D . Frank (2008), “Mode Of Transport, Employer-Sponsored Public Transit Pass, And Physical Activity,” Journal Of Public Health Policy ( www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp).
Todd Litman (2003), “Integrating Public Health Objectives in Transportation Decision-Making,” American Journal of Health Promotion, Vol. 18, No. 1 ( www.healthpromotionjournal.com), Sept./Oct. 2003, pp. 103-108; at www.vtpi.org/AJHP-litman.pdf.
Todd Litman (2004), If Health Matters: Integrating Public Health Objectives into Transportation Decision-Making, Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org); at www.vtpi.org/health.pdf .
Todd Litman (2007), Community Cohesion As A Transport Planning Objective, VTPI (www.vtpi.org); at www.vtpi.org/cohesion.pdf.
Todd Litman (2008), Evaluating Transportation Affordability, Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org); at www.vtpi.org/affordability.pdf.
Todd Litman (2008), Evaluating Public Transit Benefits and Costs, VTPI (www.vtpi.org); at www.vtpi.org/tranben.pdf .
Todd Litman and Steven Fitzroy (2006), Safe Travels: Evaluating Mobility Management Traffic Safety Benefits, Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org); at www.vtpi.org/safetrav.pdf.
William H. Lucy (2003), “Mortality Risk Associated With Leaving Home: Recognizing the Relevance of the Built Environment,” American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 93, No. 9, September 2003, pp. 1564-1569; at www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/93/9/1564.
Richard E. Wener and Gary W. Evans, (2007), “A Morning Stroll: Levels of Physical Activity in Car and Mass Transit Commuting,” Environment and Behavior, Vol. 39, No. 1, 62-74 ( http://eab.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/39/1/62).
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Public Transit <-> Public Health: The Link?
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Public transit users 3 times more likely to meet fitness guidelines: UBC research
ReplyDeletePosted On: March 26, 2009
A new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia suggests taking public transit may help you keep fit.
The study, published in the Journal of Public Health Policy, finds that people who take public transit are three times more likely than those who don't to meet the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada's suggested daily minimum of physical activity.
Doctoral student Ugo Lachapelle and Assoc. Prof. Lawrence Frank of the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning used 4,156 travel surveys from metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, to examine whether transit and car trips were associated with meeting the recommended levels of physical activity by walking.
Because transit trips by bus and train often involve walking to and from stops, the study found that users are more likely to meet the recommended 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day, five days a week.
According to the study, people who drove the most were the least likely to meet the recommended level of physical activity.
"The idea of needing to go to the gym to get your daily dose of exercise is a misperception," says Frank, the J. Armand Bombardier Chairholder in Sustainable Transportation and a researcher at the UBC Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. "These short walks throughout our day are historically how we have gotten our activity. Unfortunately, we've engineered this activity out of our daily lives."
The researchers conclude that making transit incentives more broadly available may produce indirect health benefits by getting people walking, even if it's just in short bouts.
"This should be appealing to policy makers because it's easier to promote transit incentives - such as employer-sponsored passes or discount fares - than to restructure existing neighbourhoods," says Frank.
The research could have major implications for urban planning and public transit development,
Lachapelle says.
"You don't necessarily have to rebuild communities or make major investments in infrastructure to promote public health," he says. "There are things we can do in the interim, such as encourage people to drive less, and adapt their lifestyles which will get people more physically active and generate fewer greenhouse gasses."
Source: University of British Columbia
This is some great research. I'd figured that more use of transit would encourage more walking but I didn't consider it could reduce traffic fatalities.
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