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He 1 1 ABSTRACT 2 Trips to school are increasingly undertaken in automobiles. Smart growth and health advocates suggest 3 that a better designed built environment in a neighborhood can promote walking or biking to school and 4 that children’s walking improves the environment, lowers obesity and increases physical activity. The 5 effects of school variables on travel behavior, however, have rarely been documented. The objective of 6 this research is to examine the impact of school location and characteristics on students’ mode choice. My 7 argument is that if the local school is good, then the child will be more likely to attend it, and thus 8 increase the chances that the child will commute actively to the school within short distance, all else 9 equal. School trips from the 2001 Post Census Regional Household Travel Survey of the Los Angeles 10 region were analyzed in relation to school quality in the area of the traveler’s origin (residence) and 11 destination. Results revealed that for young travelers attending K-6th grades, school quality and 12 residential environment has no significant effect on non-motorized modes. In addition, school quality has 13 little impact on mode choice. Nonetheless, the distance from home to the nearest high school significantly 14 increases the probability students that attend 7th-12th grades choose the bus over private vehicle. A 10% 15 increase in the distance from home to the nearest high school will raise the probability of taking bus to 16 school by 2.86% while a 10% increase in residential density will increase the probability of walking or 17 biking by 1.09%. TRB 2011 Annual Meeting Paper revised from original submittal.
