En-route weather and place valuations for different transport mode users

Abstract

With the increasing societal interest in climate change, mostly separated strands of literature have investigated the travel-behavioural, thermo-sensational and environmental–psychological effects of weather on people in everyday life. This research conceptually and statistically integrates these fragmented insights. Drawing on unique Greater Rotterdam (The Netherlands) travel diary data enriched with hourly meteorological and spatial route attributes, we analyse how weather affects different transport mode users’ en-route place valuations in terms of liveliness, friendliness and aesthetics. Our main findings indicate that windy, cloudy, cold (<15 °C) or too hot (⩾25 °C) weather conditions negatively affect en-route place valuations, either directly or through lower thermal comfort. Active mode users generally value their route surroundings more positively than motorised transport modes, however they also appear more strongly affected by weather in their thermal experiences and place valuations. Policy makers are advised to expand climate-sensitive urban planning along active transport mode infrastructures.