Background Understanding how different socioeconomic indicators are associated with transport modes provide insight into which interventions might contribute to reducing socioeconomic inequalities in health. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between neighbourhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage, individual-level socioeconomic position (SEP), and usual transport mode. Methods This investigation included 11 036 residents from 200 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia. Respondents self-reported their usual transport mode (car or motorbike, public transport, walking or cycling). Indicators for individual-level SEP were education, occupation and household income; and neighbourhood disadvantage was measured using a census-derived index. Data were analysed using multilevel multinomial logistic regression. High SEP respondents and residents of the most advantaged neighbourhoods who used a private motor vehicle as their usual form of transport was the reference category. Results Compared with driving a motor vehicle, the odds of using public transport were higher for white collar employees (OR 1.68, 95% CrI 1.41–2.01), members of lower income households (OR 1.71 95% CrI 1.25–2.30) and residents of more disadvantaged neighbourhoods (OR 1.93, 95% CrI 1.46–2.54); and lower for respondents with a certificate-level education (OR 0.60, 95% CrI 0.49–0.74) and blue collar workers (OR 0.63, 95% CrI 0.50–0.81). The odds of walking for transport were higher for the least educated (OR 1.58, 95% CrI 1.18–2.11), those not in the labour force (OR 1.94, 95% CrI 1.38–2.72), members of lower income households (OR 2.10, 95% CrI 1.23–3.64) and residents of more disadvantaged neighbourhoods (OR 2.73, 95% CrI 1.46–5.24). The odds of cycling were lower among less educated groups (OR 0.31, 95% CrI 0.19–0.48). Conclusions The relationships between socioeconomic characteristics and transport modes are complex, and provide challenges for those attempting to encourage active forms of transportation. Further work is required exploring the individual-level and neighbourhood-level mechanisms behind choice of transport mode, and what factors might influence individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds to change to more active transport modes.

Walking as regular physical activity (PA) is central to healthy aging, and environments influence walking. Multilevel neighborhood-based studies that only report average (fixed-effect) walking differences for gender and age implicitly assume that neighborhood environments influence the walking behavior of men and women, and younger and older persons, similarly. This study tests this assumption by examining whether gender and age differences in walking for transport (WfT) and walking for recreation (WfR) are similar or different across neighborhoods. This paper used data from the HABITAT multilevel study, with 7,866 participants aged 42-68 years in 2009 living in 200 neighborhoods in Brisbane, Australia. Respondents reported minutes spent WfT and WfR in the previous week, categorized as: none (0 mins), low (1-59mins), moderate (60-149mins) and high (≥ 150 mins). Multilevel multinomial logistic models were used to estimate average differences in walking by gender and age, followed by random coefficients to examine neighborhood variation in these individual-level relationships. On average, women were more likely to engage in WfR at moderate and high levels (no gender differences found in WfT); and older persons were less likely to do WfT and more likely to do high levels of WfR. These average (Brisbane-wide) relationships varied significantly across neighborhoods. Relationships between gender and walking, and age and walking, are not the same in all neighborhoods, (i.e. the Brisbane average conceals important information) suggesting that neighborhood-level factors differentially influence the walking behaviors of men and women and younger and older persons. Identifying these factors should be a priority for future research.