Spatial Analysis of Propensity to Escort Children to School in Southern California

The spatial distribution of children's school commute behavior is analyzed from three perspectives: commuting to school independently of parents, commuting to school by active modes, and allocation of escorting tasks for children between mothers and fathers. Accessibility measures and population density are introduced in the propensity regression models to account for the impact of spatial characteristics around school locations and to identify the spatial distribution of behavioral patterns. The results from the models are presented as maps combining the impacts of all the significant spatial variables to display the spatial patterns of behavior and intrahousehold interaction. These patterns can identify and pinpoint the impact of barriers, with the paper offering the example of the negative impact of a park area in the middle of the city of Los Angeles, California, on children's independent and active commutes to school. Similarly, barriers create significantly different intra-household interaction patterns at different locations in the region. The results of this study show that an opportunity exists to expand the micro-analysis to a more comprehensive treatment of travel behavior in space and to contribute to the development of models integrating land use and transportation.