Gender differentials in travel behavior among TOD neighborhoods: Contributions of built environment and residential self-selection

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has become essential for rapidly expanding cities in reducing vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) and increasing public transport usage in their neighborhoods. Numerous studies explored the effects of built environment and residential self-selection on the travel behavior of individuals living in TOD neighborhoods. However, few studies quantified relative contributions of these combined effects to travel behavior changes. Of them, gender-disaggregated studies are very less, especially from developing nations. The present study fills this gap by quantifying the relative contributions of built environment and residential self-selection on travel behavior outcomes such as VKT, public trips, active trips, and private trips of 3349 male and 2298 female individuals living in four TOD types of Delhi, India. For this purpose, this study has employed hierarchical clustering method for segmenting 48 neighborhoods into TOD typology, and propensity score matching method for controlling residential selection among TOD type pairs. Propensity score matching of male and female individuals among TOD pairs indicated that most individuals choose to live in balanced-TODs. After controlling for residential self-selection, female individuals in balanced-TODs tend to make shorter (98% reduction), and fewer (54% reduction) private trips, and higher (63% increase) active trips as compared to females in residential-TODs. For females, its built environment matters most, but for males, residential self-selection has an equal effect as built environment on travel behavior. Findings from this study are useful for planners and policymakers attempting gender-based policies in upcoming TOD cities.