Factors associated with reduced car commuting among Finnish public sector employees

Abstract Background Shifting from car use to walking, cycling, or public transport increases physical activity and decreases traffic-related emissions. However, many commutes with healthier transportation options are still undertaken by private cars. Methods We linked individual-level survey data with map grid-based data on residential environment (250*250 m grid cells). Using dominance analysis, we examined the relative importance of 55 survey measures (sociodemographic characteristics, psychosocial and other work characteristics, health and health behaviours) and 15 grid-based measures of neighbourhood (location within urban neighbourhood, availability of services, neighbourhood socioeconomics, availability of green areas) in explaining reduction in car commuting from 2020 to 2022 in Finnish public sector employees (n = 4644). Results The most important predictors of reduced car commuting were shorter average commute length, lower proportion of green areas, higher proportion of households without a car, shorter distance to the nearest grocery shop, less car ownership within the neighbourhood and at the individual-level, higher total physical activity, being a non-smoker, and lower body mass index. The overall predictive power of the analysis was only 4%. Conclusions Residential environment, health, and health behaviours explained a shift towards healthier and more sustainable commuting. Albeit we had 70 predictors included in the model, only a small proportion of the total variance in reduction in commute by car could be explained. Future studies could include factors related to travel chains (sum of travels made on a given day), private life psychosocial factors, personality and self-esteem, and workplace sustainability practices as predictors of decreased car commute. Despite low predictive power, we determined some important predictors of reduced car commute. This information is useful for decision makers in their efforts to create healthier and sustainable urban areas.