Activating the potential for more walking in work tour: An explorative study on car commuters

•Transportation network with more connectivity in the residential neighborhood significantly affects activating the PMW.•Activating PMW is affected by having a positive perception toward sidewalk conditions.•Having a positive attitude toward walking can increase the probability of activating PMW.•Pull measures (to encourage walking) are more significant than push measures (to discourage driving) in activating PMW.•Turning streets into pedestrian malls,increasing sidewalks green spaces, and sidewalks widening significantly affect the PMW. This paper investigates the Potential for More Walking (PMW) in work tour among car commuters and proposes ways to encourage them to activate this potential. The study utilized a sample of 621 car commuters in the city of Qom, Iran, who expressed a willingness to replace their daily commute pattern with an alternative commute pattern that involves more walking time. The findings of the random effect binary logit model indicated that network patterns with improved connectivity in the residential neighborhood have a significant impact on activating the PMW. Additionally, subjective factors such as positive perceptions towards sidewalk conditions, longer distances between home and workplace, and positive attitudes towards walking were found to be associated with an increased tendency to activate the PMW. Moreover, the study assessed a set of transportation demand management measures that could influence individual behavior towards activating the PMW. The results indicated that pull measures are generally more effective than push measures in promoting walking during work commuting. Furthermore, the measures of turning streets with dense land-uses into pedestrian malls, increasing green spaces on sidewalks, and widening sidewalks were found to have the highest impact on activating the PMW, respectively.