Weather and Mobility

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Along with dodging vehicle traffic, pedestrians and cyclists must cope with weather to get where they want or need to go.

Likewise, transit-dependent individuals have no choice but to use bus stops, regardless of whether shelters or nearby trees are present to provide respite from adverse heat conditions. But extreme heat reduces ridership simply because hot streets discourage walkers.

 

Sui Tao, Jonathan Corcoran, Francisco Rowe, Mark Hickman, “To travel or not to travel: ‘Weather’ is the question:  Modelling the effect of local weather conditions on bus ridership.” Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Volume 86, 2018

Man walking from shaded bus stop.
Courtesy CapMetro, Phoenix

Kevin Lanza and Casey P. Durand, “Heat-Moderating Effects of Bus Stop Shelters and Tree Shade on Public Transport Ridership,” International Journal of Environmental Research (Public Health) 2021

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