Inclusive roads in NYC: Gender differences in responses to cycling infrastructure

Abstract

This paper tests whether and to what extent the implementation of bike infrastructure increases the propensity to cycle overall and by gender. We develop statistical models to test for gender-differentiated responses to the implementation of different types of bike lanes. We use large-scale Citibike data which records customer behaviours for New York city for years going from 2013 to 2019. Results indicate that an increase in bike infrastructure has a significant impact on the number of cyclists as well as on the gender composition of those who cycle. More precisely, we find that dedicated cycling infrastructure increases women's participation in cycling by 4% to 6%. This corroborates the hypothesis that both men and women are more likely to bike when it is safer, and even more so for women. This is in line with previous literature findings showing the presence of a gender gap in the perception of safety in transport. Results are stable across specifications and robust to the inclusion of city-level and time controls.