Walking Characteristics in Central Riydah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

In recent decades, the importance of walking as a significant urban travel model in the total transportation system of an area has been recognized in the industrial nations of the West. In rapidly developing countries, however, the recognition of the importance of walking is still in its infancy; no data exist on this important mode of travel. Herein, the pedestrian and walking characteristics in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, are studied and the influential variables of purpose, time, distance, and speed are examined. Significant variations in walking distances and speed were found to exist among pedestrians of different nationalities and different sex in Riyadh. When compared to his counterparts in urban centers of Western nations, an individual pedestrian in Riyadh, on the average, walks a significantly longer distance at a substantially lower speed. Knowledge of pedestrian characteristics could effectively assist in the optimization of policies concerning urban land use and the locational distribution of transport‐related facilities in rapidly growing urban areas of the developing nations.