# The Role of Infrastructural and Psychological Factors in Sustainable Transportation Mode Choices
## 4 Discussion
This supports the hypothesis that individuals who live closer to centers are less likely to rely on their cars for daily activities. This finding is consistent with previous research that has demonstrated a reduction in MIT use when walking or biking access to a destination is improved [29]. In contrast to the reduction in MIT use, walking time to the nearest center did not play a significant role in predicting PT use. Residents living closer to centers may prefer alternative modes of transportation, such as bicycling, that offer similar flexibility to MIT but may not affect PT use. This finding can be better understood by examining the implications of the compact city (green, healthy, resilient, smart, safer, etc.) and 15-min or 20-min city concepts that improve people's quality of life. These concepts prioritize reducing travel times and increasing walkability by creating environments where destinations for daily activities are within walking or at least cycling distance. By promoting such accessibility, these concepts could reduce car reliance. Thus, while these concepts are potentially successful in reducing MIT use, they do not necessarily increase PT use, as the immediate need for PT is reduced when active modes are feasible and convenient. Regarding the psychological variables, adaptability is by definition linked to an individual's capacity to respond to change [15], such as a world critically influenced by climate change and the related need for adaptive behavior in the form of more sustainable mobility. Our findings that less adaptable persons would more likely choose MIT for their daily travels are therefore conforming with our expectations and prior research [16; 24]. Surprisingly, we did not find this relationship regarding the use of PT. This might hint at a more complex relationship between trait adaptability and the use of sustainable transport modes. Possibly, there could be variables hindering more adaptable individuals from choosing PT, which was not considered in the present study. For instance, MIT may reflect proactive, self-directed behaviors requiring openness to innovation--domains, where adaptability plays a direct role--while PT use, might depend more on external factors like accessibility or cost, which are less tied to psychological traits. Similarly, the distinction between autonomy-driven MIT (e.g., cycling) and necessity-driven PT (e.g., bus/train use) could explain varying adaptability effects. Future studies should, therefore, take a closer look at this relationship and search for intervening variables in the interplay between personality and transport mode choice. Also, climate change as a situation that makes behavior change necessary could be too far away from the individual's daily reality. For comparison, when a construction site is on the individual's way to work, they will probably quickly search for an alternative route or mode of transportation. Meanwhile, the effects of climate change do not become evident in such an immediate manner. Our study took the first steps to explore the so-far understudied relationship between adaptability and travel mode choice, which can and should serve as a foundation for future research. Similarly, we took a first step towards understanding the role of CCP in travel mode choice. Interestingly, it did not show a role in the use of PT or MIT. These findings support our previously explained presumption that climate change could be an alteration that is too far away from an individual's daily mobility and reality of life. This would be in line with construal level theory, which explains how people perceive events like climate change as psychologically near or, in that case, more distant [47]. Prior adaptive behaviors successfully predicted by CCP were more closely related to climate change [19; 21], giving this possible explanation more support. Still, it is a reportable finding that individuals highly aware of climate change will not, per se, use more sustainable transportation modes.