“Bike trains” to school to increase cycling adoption and bikeability: Results from the Lisbon city program

Abstract

Travel to school is often a major car trip generator and a cause of traffic congestion in the surroundings of schools. To tackle this, the municipality of Lisbon launched in 2020 a bike train to school scheme with 16 lines operated in 12 schools. This work describes the program's implementation process and presents the evaluation results obtained from the operation of the bike trains and a parental questionnaire of participating children. Results show consistent demand for the service across different built environments, even when cycling infrastructure is absent, and that it is possible to scale up the operation while maintaining levels of adherence and satisfaction high. Parent-reported behavior changes indicated an increase in the utilitarian use of the bicycle among children and parents, yet further investigation is necessary to establish a causal relationship.