Choice Of Bicycle Research Articles

The impact of attitudes on bicycle-oriented and car-oriented attitudes for non-work travel: A hybrid choice model

Active travel choice analysis in response to policies related to sustainability and urban sprawl has been considered in past research. Recent research emphasizes the importance of attitudinal variables in explaining underlying travel preferences. However, these studies lack detailed econometric analysis of attitudinal preferences impact on active and non-active transport choices for non-work travel activities explicitly. In this study, travel diary data from a Netherlands-based mobility panel survey is utilized. Bicycle-oriented and car-loving attitudinal indicators along with travel time and sociodemographic variables are incorporated in a simultaneous integrated choice and latent variable model for non-work travel activities. It is found that latent preferences for bicycle and car significantly impact the choice of active and non-active modes, respectively, for non-work travel activities. Bicycle choice probability is found to be more elastic to the latent car-loving attitude as compared to bicycle-oriented attitude. Both auto and bicycle choice probabilities are found to be more elastic to their respective latent preferences as compared to their respective travel times. Current research aims to contribute toward the dialogue on policies for promotion of active travel. This study provides empirical support for strategies that consider persuasive techniques and incentive mechanisms to enhance active transport usage through information technologies. Since the current empirical research advocates the influence of attitudes on the active transport choice for non-work activities, there is a high probability that such policies can be implemented and would be preferred by the individuals.

Analysing the influence of attitude and habit on bicycle commuting

New transport trends have emerged in developing countries to promote bicycling due to its individual and societal benefits. Although bicycle infrastructure provision has been one of the most utilised strategies to encourage bicycling, it has had a limited immediate impact on the bicycling modal share. Published research indicates the need to incorporate the psychosocial dimension to understand commuters' transport behaviour and explain why bicycling infrastructure usage is lower than expected. This study highlights the processes behind bicycle mode choice decisions, explicitly incorporating pro-bicycle attitudes and habits, while also considering the influence of socioeconomic, bicycle facilities and bicycling experience variables on shaping that attitude. For this purpose, an online survey was designed and sent to students, faculty members and staff of two Chilean universities to collect ad-hoc data. The modelling used an approach based on an integrated choice and latent variable model. The main findings are: attitude in itself is a relevant construct to explain behaviour; bicycling infrastructure contribute to explain bicycle choice but only indirectly through attitude; socioeconomic characteristics, bicycling familiarity and practical issues have both a direct effect on bicycle choice decision and an indirect one by fostering pro-bicycling attitudes. Additionally, results show that the explicit inclusion of habit reduces the contribution of pro-bicycle attitude in explaining bicycle choice. This might be due to interaction and reinforcement between habit and attitude.

Alternativa de mobilidade urbana em Palmas-TO

O objetivo do artigo foi investigar a percepção dos indivíduos com relação ao uso da bicicleta como meio de transporte no município de Palmas, capital do estado do Tocantins. O estudo utilizou uma pesquisa de atitude com alguns fatores relacionados a escolha da bicicleta como meio de transporte. A aplicação dos questionários ocorreu entre 29 e 31 de setembro de 2017 em três pontos distintos da cidade: Plano Diretor, Taquaralto e Aurenys, foram aplicados 400 questionários. Os principais resultados apontaram que as pessoas utilizam a bicicleta como meio de transporte; que o seu uso faz bem para a saúde e que é um transporte barato. O sexo masculino tem maior aceitabilidade quanto ao uso. Os entrevistados reclamam da falta de infraestrutura e segurança para a utilização da bicicleta.

Analysis of factors influencing the travel mode choice of bicycle by trip purpose -a case study of Seoul

Analysis of factors influencing the travel mode choice of bicycle by trip purpose -a case study of Seoul

Social Factors Influencing the Choice of Bicycle: Difference Analysis among Private Bike, Public Bike Sharing and Free-Floating Bike Sharing in Kunming, China

The emergence of free-floating bike sharing (FFBS) has made essential changes in urban bicycle travel. In order to explore the differences of travel behavior among private bicycle (PB), public bicycle sharing (PBS) and FFBS, a survey was conducted in Kunming, China in 2018. Firstly, the differences of travel characteristics among these three modes were analyzed based on 522 valid questionnaires. Then, a multinomial logistic model was applied to explore the influential factors among them. The results show that: 1) PB and FFBS are more attractive for long-distance travel enthusiasts compared with PBS, PB is rarely used for transfer in suburbs while FFBS is the most desirable in connecting other travel modes. The theft problem and high maintenance costs are main obstacles for PB. 2) The elderly, high-income and non-student groups in inflexible travel activities show a preference for PBS, while the young, low-income and student groups in flexible travel demands have a tendency towards FFBS. 3) PB and PBS imped the use of FFBS to a certain extent, while PB seems to have less impact on PBS. 4) FFBS is desirable in temporary travel demand while PBS is more preferable in fixed demand. Interestingly, residents with registered permanent residence tend to use PBS while those without registered permanent residence prefer FFBS. Finally, several management strategies and policy recommendations were proposed for the government and FFBS enterprises to improve the management of bicycles.

Bicycle choice modeling: A study of university trips in a small Colombian city

Abstract Bicycles and public transportation are modes of sustainable transport that reduce both the increasing levels of pollution and traffic congestion and the worrying statistics concerning obesity and physical inactivity. This article shows results of the application of a stated preferences survey in the city of Ocana, Colombia, to identify factors that influence the modal choice, introducing the bicycle as an alternative for the trips to and from the University Francisco de Paula Santander Ocana, using discrete choice models. These results show that the infrastructure availability is a key variable for modal shift and that giving incentives such as meals do not influence modal choice. These results were shared with the local authorities as an argument towards cycle lanes investment and public transportation grants for students.

Factors influencing bicycle use: a binary choice model with panel data

Abstract Cycling has been commonly neglected in urban transport planning. In the same fashion, there is a shortage of available data on cycling mobility, especially in countries with low rates of bicycle share. Nevertheless, a modal shift towards soft modes such as cycling appears to be one of the keys for progressing towards a sustainable urban mobility paradigm. Understanding the factors that influence bicycle choice is necessary for implementing efficient probike transport policies. This research identifies the main factors affecting bicycle choice for commuting. It analyses an ad-hoc panel survey conducted in Vitoria-Gasteiz, a medium-sized city in northern Spain where cycle rate has rocketed in few years. Data from commuters, either workers or students, were collected in 2012, 2013 and 2014. An unbalanced binary panel model includes both objective – such as gender, age, occupation, car availability, or trip distance – and subjective variables – as attitudinal beliefs towards cycling–. The research confirms the importance of individual´s perceptions on cycling for understanding their modal choice and identifies main factors related to higher bicycle use likelihood.

A Bayesian Network Model on the Public Bicycle Choice Behavior of Residents: A Case Study of Xi’an

In order to study the main factors affecting the behaviors that city residents make regarding public bicycle choice and to further study the public bicycle user’s personal characteristics and travel characteristics, a travel mode choice model based on a Bayesian network was established. Taking residents of Xi’an as the research object, a K2 algorithm combined with mutual information and expert knowledge was proposed for Bayesian network structure learning. The Bayesian estimation method was used to estimate the parameters of the network, and a Bayesian network model was established to reflect the interactions among the public bicycle choice behaviors along with other major factors. The K-fold cross-validation method was used to validate the model performance, and the hit rate of each travel mode was more than 80%, indicating the precision of the proposed model. Experimental results also present the higher classification accuracy of the proposed model. Therefore, it may be concluded that the resident travel mode choice may be accurately predicted according to the Bayesian network model proposed in our study. Additionally, this model may be employed to analyze and discuss changes in the resident public bicycle choice and to note that they may possibly be influenced by different travelers’ characteristics and trip characteristics.

The Increasing Role of Latent Variables in Modelling Bicycle Mode Choice

ABSTRACTThe growing interest in promoting non-motorised active transport has led to an increase in the number of studies to identify the key variables associated with bicycle use, and especially those related to the bicycle mode choice problem. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the modelling literature on the choice of the bicycle for utilitarian purposes, and summarises and assesses the evolution of the explanatory variables and methodologies used. We review both the evolution of the incorporation of latent variables in bicycle mode choice models and the critical role they play. The chronological evolution of the studies is divided into three stages —initial, intermediate and late — according to the different ways of introducing attitudinal or perceptual indicators and latent variables into the models. Our review shows that the incorporation of latent variables in bicycle choice models has increased in the last decade, with a progressive use of more sophisticated methodologies until the arrival of complex models that explicitly and properly deal with psychological latent variables. In fact, with the use of hybrid choice models, latent variables have nowadays become the core of bicycle mode choice models. Based on our review, a set of questions is proposed as a uniform measurement scale to identify attitudes towards bicycling. Recommendations for future research are also presented.

Enhancing Utilitarian Cycling: A Case Study

An increase in utilitarian cycling could have many benefits for society as well as the individual. Today, cycling is however used for only a small share of everyday trips. Several studies have identified factors that facilitate or hinder an increase in everyday cycling (e.g. built environment; weather; attitudes) but one factor missing from this list is the bicycle per se and its effect on the willingness to cycle. The paper presents the results of an interview study with participants (Ps) of a field trial where they promised to replace three days worth of car journeys with bicycling. Main questions posed were: how did the Ps in the field trial experience trying to shift their transport behaviours? and what role did the bicycle designs play in the attempt to shift travel behaviour? An assumption behind the project was that the present development of bicycles and accessories was an interesting entry point to increase utilitarian bicycling with potential to replace car use to a higher degree for a wider target group than ordinary bicycles. Ps were therefore guided regarding the choice of bicycle, i.e. they had to specify their needs in relation to bicycle design based on which trips they intended to use the bicycle for, and other everyday factors that could influence how and for what they would use a bicycle.The results show that cycling became the normal mode of transport for the Ps after a short period of acclimatisation and a longer period of regular cycling; they claimed that to have established a new habit. The Ps painted a very positive image of cycling as a mean of transport: as convenient, flexible, energizing, relaxing and fun. With regards to physical health, the Ps reported improvements in terms of loosing weight and lowering blood pressure. The Ps had also discovered new uses for the bicycle, aside from the intended commuting. The personalized choices of bicycle had helped the Ps overcome some initial barriers to increased utilitarian cycling, such as lacking sufficient fitness, uncomfortable, long distances, being tired, too much effort, difficulties with trip chaining, shopping and picking up children with the help of their bicycles, but other barriers remained including bad weather, being too busy, lack of time, lack of daylight, inconvenience, too dangerous and too much traffic.The study shows that it is possible to establish new habits, given certain preconditions. A bicycle that fits the individual's needs can increase the adoption of utilitarian cycling, but potential users need to be made aware of their existence and special characteristics. However, bicycle designs cannot remove all perceived obstacles. The design and interplay between different parts of the transport system sets the boundaries for the actions that are available and hence for any behavioural shift.

Investigating next generation's cycling ridership to promote sustainable mobility in different types of cities

The aim of this paper is to develop a mode to school choice model to quantitatively evaluate the impact of various bicycle services and facilities on adolescents' mode choice behaviour. Stated preference (SP) scenarios specifically designed for this survey were used to elicit preferences for bicycle facilities and infrastructure, such as bike-lanes and bicycle parking places, and also for the availability of safety courses for school goers. The estimated mode choice model, which explicitly considers taste heterogeneity and panel effects, was tested with data collected in different types of cities (urban, rural and insular) of two different countries Greece and Cyprus, enabling comparisons in adolescents' travel behaviour across different geographical areas. The sample consisted of 9554 adolescent who yielded 20,432 SP responses for model estimation. Our results show that the prevalent factors affecting bicycle choice differ across different types of cities. Bad weather conditions affect the most the choice of bicycle in urban areas, while the most significant variable for rural areas is the percentage of cycleway coverage in the route between home and school. The availability of bicycle parking spaces at the schoolyard and the availability of school courses regarding how to walk and cycle with safety, also increased the bicycle utility in all five areas considered. Finally, three policy scenarios were tested to investigate modal split under various cycling policies.

New methods to measure the built environment for human-scale travel research: Individual access corridor (IAC) analytics to better understand sustainable active travel choices

While travel is an inherently linear activity, most studies rely on coarse zonal measures of the built environment, likely missing key details important to human-scale travelers (pedestrians and bicyclists). To more fully understand these relationships, this study tests a new, linear spatial unit of analysis (the individual access corridor) in combination with finer-grained geospatial data (parcel, point, street network)—in sum, human-scaled measures for human-scale travel research. This paper first analyzes the current state of practice, details the development of a set of new linear human-scaled measures, and finally, provides both a quantitative and qualitative assessment of their usefulness toward research and policy application. This paper confirms that these new measures both improve model performance and, perhaps more importantly, provide richer, more nuanced insight into the influence of the built environment on human-scale travel. For example, this study finds that smaller parcels, the presence of small personal-service retail opportunities, and narrower, well-connected streets are positively associated with walking and bicycling. Furthermore, this paper is one of the first to align built environment measures along an individual’s path, from origin to destination, as well as to provide a detailed examination of the choice of bicycle over other modes.

A New Approach to Understand Modal and Pedestrians Route in Portugal

The present paper aims at examining which factors interfere on the choices people make of modes of transport or path (when walking), take into account four variables groups: geometrics, syntactic, land use and transportation accessibility. For that purpose, an online questionnaire was applied to formulate a Discrete Choice Model in two parts: mode choice and path choice for walking trips. The findings showed that factors such as safety, comfort and urban form contribute significantly to the choice of path. For the choice of car as transport choice, the most determining factors were: weather (rain, strong sun, cloudy) and periods of the day (night), both of which are examples of factors that are not controllable; and economic elements (the presence of paid parking lot) and the displacement time (total displacement time and time of access to the car). For the choice of bicycle, the main factors were the presence of cycle lanes and bicycle parking. Based on these findings, it was possible to conclude that the car is the transport mode with greater natural preference, followed by walking and finally bicycle.

Methodological Framework to Obtain Key Factors Influencing Choice of Bicycle as a Mode

User perception strongly influences transportation mode choice. Two case study cities, Kharagpur and Asansol, India, with different urban characteristics and bicycle patronage, were selected for analysis to capture the effects of urban characteristics such as city size, structure, economy, and demographic patterns on users' perception of bicycle mode choice. Eighteen factors influencing the choice of bicycling, either as motivators or as deterrents, were identified. Selected attributes were analyzed on the basis of user perception across different population subgroups to investigate their effect on the choice of bicycling as a travel mode. The Kruskal–Wallis H-test and the Mann–Whitney U-test were used to test for heterogeneity in user response across various population subgroups. The results of these tests indicated that perceptions of almost all attributes differed significantly across the two cities in this study. Hence, two models were developed with the use of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to extract the underlying structure of user perception. Two five-factor models were derived from the analyses, with one factor, perceived benefits, being common to both cities, reflecting a similarity in users' attitudes toward benefits associated with bicycling. On the basis of the EFA results and user ranking, most significant variables were identified. Among them, physical fitness was identified as a motivator common to both cities. Route visibility, road width, and on-street parking were identified as deterrents common to both cities, indicating common concerns about road infrastructure among users. These key attributes could be used to formulate bicycle-related policies and could be included in stated-choice experiments for the purpose of valuation.

Identification of factors influencing bicycling in small sized cities: A case study of Kharagpur, India

With increasing concern about global warming, greenhouse gas emissions and rising fuel prices, non-motorized modes, such as bicycle are gaining importance as viable mode in urban transportation worldwide. In small sized Indian cities non-motorized transportation accounts for over two thirds of all trips, but with increase in purchasing power and affordability, Indian commuters are leaning towards motorized private modes leading to a rapid growth in motorized vehicle population and thus increasingly congested roadways and urban air pollution. At this juncture it is very important to investigate that what influences people's mode choice in general and bicycle mode choice in particular.This study has identified specific attitudinal attributes related to Physical factors, Psychological factors, Travel Time sensitivity, Economic aspects, Congestion, Parking, Route or Link level facilities, Route topography, Safety related factors, Security related factor, Environmental awareness and Weather related factors. A travel behavior survey with questionnaire designed to address these attributes was conducted to understand user's attitude toward bicycling in a small Indian city. The survey outcomes were then used in exploratory factor analysis (EFA), which revealed Perceived Benefits, Physical Barriers, Safety Hazards, Social Barriers, and Road Condition to be the major factor classes influencing bicycle mode choice.In order to compare user perception with expert perception, a pair-wise comparison using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) has also been performed on factors related to user-specific, route-related and journey-related components. The results reveal physical factors, safety related concerns and route topography to be the key and common set of parameters influencing bicycle choice both from the user's and as well as expert's point of view.

Exploring the causal relationship between bicycle choice and trip chain pattern

Choices of bicycle and trip chain are important decisions in an individual's daily travel activities. Little is known about the causal relationship between the two decisions. It is interesting to ask if a decision on bicycle choice is made prior to the determination on a trip chain, or is dependent on the pre-determined chain pattern. This study aims to explore the relationship between the choices of bicycle and trip chain and capture the order of decision between them. Based on the survey data from a medium-sized Chinese city, the co-evolutionary approach with logit-modeling framework was estimated for the study purpose. Results show that there are more bicycle uses in the subsistence trip chains as compared to these non-subsistence ones. Considering the interaction between the two decisions improves the predicting accuracy of both bicycle choice and chain choice. In most cases, a trip chain is determined prior to a decision on bicycle choice, especially when the chain contains subsistence activities. For travelers who currently using a bicycle, most of them first decide the chain type and then choose a bicycle accordingly. Most of travelers who first determine the trip mode do not consider using a bicycle. We also estimate a model to predict the decision process of travelers. The order of decision is mainly impacted by the individual and household characteristics as well as the travel attributes. Findings of this study are discussed to assist the development of policies to promote cycling in urban areas.

Perspectives and images of cycling as a barrier or facilitator of cycling

The public images of cycling can act as barriers or facilitators of cycling. This qualitative study explored images and perceptions of cycling, their potential influence on cycling and whether these views differed between regular, occasional and non-riders. Seventy participants (24 males and 46 females) were recruited. Of these, 22 were classified as non-riders, 23 were occasional riders and 25 were regular riders. Twelve focus groups were held in inner Sydney during October and November 2005. Data were audio taped, transcribed and thematically analysed. Themes linked to images of cycling included: ‘clean and green’; ‘healthy and fun’; ‘dangerous’ and ‘serious business’. Themes linked to images of cyclists included: ‘risk takers and law breakers’ and ‘status and sub-cultures’. Discussion centred on the low social status of riding over other transport modes, the relative acceptability of different riding sub-cultures, the ‘green’ image of cycling transport and the status associated with the riders clothing and bicycle choice, especially lycra and its ‘serious and sporty’ connotation. While ‘cycling’ was generally viewed as a positive, environmentally friendly activity, the actions of some ‘cyclists’ were disliked, which influenced views about cycling, particularly among non-riders. A cycling acceptability hierarchy emerged; with recreational riding at the top, followed by cycling for sport and exercise, with transport/commuter cycling towards the bottom. Bicycle couriers were viewed least favourably. A common perception among non-riders was the latter two groups were rule breakers and risk takers, while regular riders felt unfairly judged by this stereotype. While there was greater acceptance of recreational riding, riding for transport was not viewed as a mainstream activity. There is a need to improve the public acceptability of cycling and change public norms so it is seen as an everyday activity that can be undertaken by almost anyone, without the need for special clothing, expensive equipment or limited to purpose built facilities.

Style and Action

Using a social world’s perspective, this article looks at the style of New York City bike messengers. Combining the works of Hebdige and Biernacki, it is argued that messenger style is intertwined with messenger practice. Five stylistic elements are analyzed: riding behaviors, the use of helmets, bicycle choice, clothing, and language. In each case, evidence is presented to illustrate how a liminal social position and an outlaw character is expressed within the signs messengers display.