Analysing the Vibration of Bicycles on Various Road Surfaces in the City of Zilina

Abstract

Over recent years, cycling has emerged as a particularly desirable mode of transport in Europe. Many local authorities, together with cycling lobbyist and advocating groups strive to get cycling to accepted perceived level of urban mobility. Some movements have already introduced the citizens’ science approach aimed at improving the local conditions for cyclists with crowd-sourced data collection. With this in mind, this paper presents an entry-level analysis of vibration from various surfaces which might affect the comfort of cyclists in the city of Zilina. The emphasis is focused on analysis of the road surface with a smartphone application and a so-called instrumental or probe bicycle. The results of testing are explained in the context of the problematic issues that occur in the infrastructure. The results are aimed at drawing attention to the fact that not all infrastructure is properly built, designed or maintained. There is a relationship between properly planned and built cycling infrastructure and the cycling traffic. An Android smartphone with the Phyphox application was used in the analysis as the example of citizens science.