Field Observations of Factors Influencing Walking Speeds

1. Field Observations of Factors Influencing Walking Speeds Kirsten Finnis and Darren Walton Opus Central labs Email: darren.walton@opus.co.nz

2. Overview Why examine pedestrian walking speeds? Method Results Implications

3. Why examine pedestrian walking speeds? Knowing pedestrian time budgets is essential when planning the placement of transit facilities People adapt their travel behaviour to a �travel time budget� The average walking speed is approximately 80m/min Typical person allows 1hour travel per day (Marchetti, 1994) Typical walker allows 10min walk to transit facilities 30min walk to destination (Newman & Kenworthy, 2006) Preference for highly permeable environment to allow direct routes Pace of life Cities with larger populations typically have faster walking speeds (Bornstein & Bornstein, 1976)

5. 10mins walking � diameter = 800m10mins walking � diameter = 800m

6. Factors influencing walking speed Personal characteristics Walking for purpose (e.g. commute) Walking with children Shoe type Interacting with the environment Cell phone Listening to music Age Gender Baggage Environmental characteristics Gradient

7. Method: Measuring walking speed 13 walking sites selected to differ by: Geographic location Auckland, Wellington, Palmerston North, Levin Gradient Commuter flow traffic Variety of pedestrians Measured walking speed on video Time taken to travel 5m

15. Key findings There is no simple relationship between city population and walking speed New Zealanders are faster walkers than overseas sites Counterintuitive finding that walking speeds were faster uphill compared with walking on flat surfaces People in Levin and Palmerston North walk faster than those in Auckland�.why?

16. Conclusions The key to it all is to ask �who walks?� Are walking speeds are an indicator of �walkability�? A key measure of performance/LOS can be the alignment of observed mean walking speed with the mean walking speed of the general population