Children’s Independent Trips on Weekdays and Weekends: Case Study of Québec City

Abstract

Children’s independent mobility (CIM) on school days (weekdays) and on the weekend are examined in this study. Previous studies have focused primarily on weekday trips, with a vast majority only examining trips to school. However, the types of trips and the available time differ between weekdays and weekends. Weekday trips are more regular and possibly more local, whereas on the weekend the children may have more free time (i.e., no school) to engage in activities. Parents (as a group) are also less likely to have work obligations, and thus potentially more time, on the weekend. Theoretically, each context for the weekend could facilitate more independent or active mode trips. Nonetheless, this may be linked to whether destinations are local, which is linked to the built environment. Using origin–destination data (2011) for the City of Québec, this paper will expand knowledge in the field of children’s travel by examining all trips during a weekday ( n = 979) and weekend ( n = 315) for children aged 9 to 11 across five built environment types. The findings show that weekend trips are rarely independent, and that the key explanatory factors for greater CIM are shorter distances, having an older sibling, and more urban environments. Other sociodemographic variables were not significant or were inconsistent between the two types of weekday.