LAUSR

With the ever‐increasing number of family cars in China, pollution and traffic jams seriously affect residents' daily lives. Motivating residents to select green travel modes is becoming a major issue. Based on the theory of planned behavior, a framework is developed to identify influencing factors and then examine how these factors affect residential green travel behavior (GTB). An empirical study with 332 valid questionnaires finds that personal factors mediate the relationship between soft environmental factors and green travel intentions (GTIs), whereas hard environmental factors could help GTIs transform into GTB. Such results indicate that the Chinese government needs to improve GTIs by developing related policies and transport systems to motivate people to select green travel modes. GTIs are improved directly by addressing personal factors and indirectly by perfecting green travel policies and campaigns. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment