Characteristics of Trips by Foot and Bicycle Modes in Indian City

Abstract

Walking and bicycling are the two modes predominantly used for travel in urban areas of developing countries, and the location of transport‐related facilities in urban areas thus is influenced by the characteristics of these modes. The promotion of trips by these nonmotorized modes will also help, to a significant extent, in energy conservation and environmental protection. Herein, the home‐based walking and bicycling trips of Tiruchirapalli, India are analyzed with respect to trip length, and the influential variables like age, sex, occupation, trip purpose, and time of day of travel. Significant variations in trip lengths by walk and bicycle were found to exist among trip makers of different categories. As walking and bicycling modes cannot be used for longer trips, it is necessary to determine the acceptable trip lengths by the two modes. The acceptable trip length for these modes was found by fitting polynomials to the trip‐length distributions. Use of probability distributions for determining the acceptable trip length has also been illustrated in selected cases.