ABSTRACT
This paper advocates a fairly obvious, but generally overlooked aspect of promoting more sustainable travel: The more that urban structure and travel patterns are orientated towards public transport, the more walking people will undertake.
The car now unfortunately dominates people’s extended geographical range of daily life beyond walking distance, but local buses can provide a less damaging alternative. Walking and public transport are often in transport planning treated as separate modes of travel. In this paper the case is made for treating them together, with the objective of increasing the use of both and thereby increasing sustainability, safety, and quality of travel experience.
Some assertions are made about the interconnection between walking and bus use, and relevant data are explored using the British National Travel Survey. This is followed by some consideration of the planning methods and principles needed to promote the walk-bus partnership.
