The Impact of Employer Attitude Towards Green Commuting Programs on Reducing Auto Driving: A Mixed Method Analysis

Reducing auto trips and promoting green commuting modes are generally considered important solutions to decrease the growth of energy consumption and transportation CO2 emissions. Potential approaches of green commuting include improvements in public transit, carpooling programs, and incentives for employers to develop transportation management plans for their employees. However, current literature provided rather limited evidence on how and to what extent green commuting options offered by employers affect employees’ travel behavior. This paper offers a framework to quantitatively evaluate the effects of employer attitudes towards green commuting plans on commuter mode choice and the intermediating role that car ownership plays in mode choice decision process. A mixed method which extends the traditional discrete choice model by incorporating latent variables and mediating variables was used in this study. The empirical data were gathered from the Washington-Baltimore Regional Household Travel Survey 2007-2008, which includes all the trips from home to workplace during the AM peak hours. The model parameters were estimated using a simultaneous estimation approach that was found to perform better than the traditional multinomial logit model. The direct and indirect effects of socio-demographic attributes and employer attitudes were estimated. The results provide helpful information for transportation and planning policymakers to evaluate the effectiveness of green commuting policy.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD40 Transportation and Sustainability. Alternate title: Impact of Employer Attitudes Toward Green Commuting Programs on Reducing Auto Driving: Mixed Method Analysis.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Transportation Research Board

    500 Fifth Street, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20001
  • Authors:
    • Ding, Chuan
    • Liu, Chao
    • Lin, Yaoyu
    • Wang, Yaowu
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2014

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 16p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01519377
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 14-5356
  • Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Mar 24 2014 2:58PM