EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Changes in travel mode use associated with the transition of leaving full-time education across early adulthood: A multilevel interrupted time series analysis

Yinhua Tao, Xingxing Fu, Yuwen Sui, Ying Jiang and Junyi Zhang

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2025, vol. 199, issue C

Abstract: A growing body of evidence shows decreases in car use, and in some contexts, increases in the use of alternative sustainable travel modes, including public transport and bicycle, for the younger generations. However, it is less known to what extent this sustainable travel pattern persists as young adults navigate through life transitions across age. Focusing on the transition of leaving full-time education, this study investigated changes in travel mode use pre-post the transition across early adulthood (age 16 to 30 years). Using data from the Netherlands Mobility Panel (MPN), our multilevel interrupted time series analysis found that young adults increased car use but cycled less often, immediately and over years after completion of education. Public transport use declined immediately after the transition and sustained at a low level across post-transition years, indicating leaving full-time education as a transitional timing for changes in transit use. Moreover, the relationship between leaving full-time education and changes in travel mode use depended on personal car ownership, residential location and employment status in post-transition years. These findings have implications for targeting the transitional period of early adulthood for interventions to retain the sustainable travel pattern as observed when young adults are enrolled in education.

Keywords: Young adults; Travel behaviour; Life events; Mobility biographies; Longitudinal designs; The Netherlands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096585642500179X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transa:v:199:y:2025:i:c:s096585642500179x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2025.104551

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice is currently edited by John (J.M.) Rose

More articles in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().

 
Page updated 2025-09-09
Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:199:y:2025:i:c:s096585642500179x