Does the first/last-mile design matter for transit commuting compared to land use?

Pedestrian-friendly first/last-mile (FLM) path design has potential to promote transit use. Few studies focused on the design of transit FLM paths and comprehensively discussed the combined effects of land use attributes and FLM on transit commuting. Using computer vision techniques and the XGBoost model to analyze street view data and resident travel data in Wuhan, China, we elucidated the nonlinear association among work and residence place land use, FLM design, and individual commuting choices regarding transit, while controlling for individual demographic attributes. Our finding demonstrates the effectiveness of focusing on micro-street design in promoting transit commuting. The first-mile design attributes and residential land use attributes had a greater impact. Furthermore, almost all built environment attributes were nonlinearly associated with transit commuting. The findings emphasize urban design interventions that improve street-level walkability. In comparison, transit-oriented built environment interventions centered solely on land use may struggle to achieve satisfactory results.