The Effect Of Health Status On Commuting Mode Choice

Governments are encouraging people to use less private cars but more active modes such as walking and bicycle and public transport.This call is mainly aimed at reducing pollution emissions and increasing population health.A lot of literature discusses the relationship between travel mode and heath indicators,but little to identify how the health status affects commuting mode choice.Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey（CHNS）from 2004 to 2015,my research uses Multinomial Logic（MNL）regression model to identify how health status affects commuting mode choice.Overall,we find that health indicators affect commuting mode choice to some extent.Based on the motorized vehicles category,commuters who are overweight but not obese（24≤BMI<28,also called pre obesity）or having chronic disease will decrease the probability of choosing active mode（include walking and bicycle）.Obesity and daily exercise will decrease the probability of the use of both active mode and public transit.Disabled commuters are less likely to use bicycle when commuting.Specially,we find obese（BMI≥28）commuters living in the rural areas will decrease the probability of choosing active mode while rural commuters with obesity,chronic disease and disabled problems will decrease the probability of the use of public transit.Further,we find these effects are related to occupation types and age groups,and influences are much more significant for office workers such as professionals and managers and commuters aging 31-40 years old.After controlling time and individual characteristics,income,work hours,the ownership of motorized vehicle and bicycle and disabled are still statistically significant at least at 5% level.The results can provide insight for the government and other related organizations,and strategies such as increasing greenways,optimizing bus services,rationally setting up shared bicycles,and strengthening publicity and education on green travel are proposed to shift commuters to walking,cycling,and public transportation.