Chapter 9 Understanding and Promoting Bicycle Use – Insights from Psychological Research

Abstract

Purpose – To demonstrate where and how transport planners could benefit from insights gained by psychological theory and research. Methodology – Theory-driven narrative review. Findings – An extended version of Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour is proposed which could be used for empirically analysing how environmental and psychological factors influence the individual decision to cycle. Research implications – The review indicates that taking into account psychological insights could considerably increase the understanding of individual bicycle use. Currently research systematically analysing how psychological processes mediate the relation between environmental features and individual cycling is rare. Practical implications – The review indicates that current interventions for increasing cycling are not very effective. It is assumed that taking into account insight from psychological research may help to develop new and more effective interventions for promoting cycling. Furthermore, studies evaluating the effects of these interventions in a methodological acceptable way are urgently needed.