A new rail stop - Tracking moderate physical activity bouts and ridership

Background: The natural intervention of a new light-rail stop in a neighborhood is examined for relationships with ridership and moderate-activity bouts. Design: At Time 1, surveys and 1-week accelerometer readings assess transit use and moderate-activity bouts. One year later (Time 2), after the opening of a new light-rail stop, measures were repeated. Setting/Participants: During the summers of 2005 and 2006, 51 residents participated from a low-income, mixed ethnicity neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah. Intervention: A new light-rail stop was built and opened in the middle of the surveyed neighborhood. Main Outcome Measures: Physical activity was measured as a bout of 8 or more minutes of moderate activity (3.0 metabolic units [METS]), according to accelerometer counts, controlling for hours worn. Prompted recalls allowed moderate-activity bouts to be labeled as walks to transit or not. Results: Analyses in 2006-2007 show that the percentage of rail riders increased significantly, from 50% to 68.75%, after the stop opened. In cross-sectional analyses at Times 1 and 2, self-reported rides on light rail were significantly related to more moderate-activity bouts, controlling for gender, household size, and home ownership. Longitudinally, with the same control variables and adding Time I moderate activity, light-rail rides at Time 2 predicted increased Time 2 moderate activity. Conclusions: A new rail stop was associated with increased ridership. Walks to light rail were associated, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, with moderate-activity bouts.