Highlights•Chinese built environment affects commuting differently from developed countries.•Chinese residential built environment affects commuting more than employment one.•Dense and pedestrian-oriented development facilitates shorter and greener commute.•Local specificity should be considered in urban transportation policymaking.

AbstractThe impacts of the built environment characteristics in residential neighborhoods on commuting behavior are explored in the literature. Scant evidence, however, is provided to scrutinize the role of the built environment characteristics at job locations. Studies also overlooked the potential error correlations between commuting mode and commuting distance due to the unobserved factors that influence both variables. We examined the impacts of the built environment characteristics at both residential and job locations on commuting mode and distance, by applying a discrete-continuous copula-based model on 857 workers in Shanghai. In contrast with studies of Western countries, we showed residential built environment characteristics are more influential on commute behavior than the built environment characteristics at job locations. This suggests the importance of local specificity in policymaking process. We also found the proportion of four-way intersections, road density, and population density in residential areas are negatively associated with driving probability, with elasticity amounts of −1.00, −0.23, and −0.08, respectively. Hence, dense and pedestrian- and cyclist-oriented development help to reduce travel distance and encourage walking, biking, and transit modes of travel.