Cycling and socioeconomic (dis)advantage

Abstract

The socioeconomically disadvantaged have much to gain from cycling uptake, as they are most likely to suffer transport disadvantage and be less physically active. This chapter reviews research on “cycling and socioeconomic disadvantage” from two different perspectives: (1) socioeconomic inequalities in cycling levels and (2) spatial inequalities in the provision of cycling facilities. We found evidence of variable relationships between socioeconomic disadvantage and cycling levels. In European “high-cycling” countries, all income groups seem to cycle with minor variations. In Western “low-cycling” countries such as the UK, Canada, and Australia, middle- and high-income groups tend to cycle more. By contrast, in the US, slightly higher levels of cycling among low-income groups or no significant differences were found. In South America, there is a consistent negative association between income and cycling. Education was found positively associated with cycling in Europe, North America, and Oceania, but negatively in South America. Most studies found that disadvantaged populations have lower access to cycling networks and particularly to docked-based Bike Share Schemes (BSS). Dockless BSS may, however, help to reduce geographical inequalities relative to BSS. These results lead to the conclusion that socioeconomic inequalities in cycling should receive greater consideration in research into cycling uptake and in practice, at design, implementation, and monitoring stages of interventions to enable cycling uptake. Further work is needed in a range of areas relating to cycling and socioeconomic disadvantage, including research from both perspectives—socioeconomic inequalities in cycling levels and spatial inequalities in the provision of cycling facilities—in middle- and low-income countries, new methods to reliably assess spatial inequalities in the provision of cycling facilities, more insight into trends in inequalities, and in-depth analysis of the barriers to cycling among disadvantaged populations.