Bicycle Mode Research Articles

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.

Determining the Optimal Layout Design for Public Bicycle System within the Attractive Scope of a Metro Station

Public bicycle acts as a seamless feeder mode in combination with the citywide public transit, as well as a competitor for the inner-city short trips. The primary objective of this study is to address the layout planning of public bicycle system within the attracted scope of a metro station. Based on the land use function, population, and bicycle mode share, bicycle rental stations are divided into three types, namely, the metro station, district station, and resident station, and later the quantity of bicycle facilities in each rental station is estimated. Then, the service stations are selected from these bicycle rental stations to provide the service of periodical bicycle redistribution. An improved immune algorithm is proposed to determine the number and locations of service stations and the optimal route options for the implement of redistributing strategy. Finally, a case study of Nanjing Tianyin Road metro station is conducted to illustrate the proposed model and clarify some of its implementation details.

Sustainable transportation infrastructure investments and mode share changes: A 20-year background of Boulder, Colorado

This case study examines transportation infrastructure investments along with data revealing mode share in order to highlight correlations between investments in sustainable transportation infrastructure (‘supply’) and patterns of non-automobile mode share (‘demand’). The analysis assesses data from Boulder, Colorado, a city that has made substantial efforts to improve its multi-modal transportation infrastructure and services by investing in pedestrian, bicycle, and transit infrastructure and services. We aim to describe connections between supply and demand by measuring two phenomena: the extent of transportation infrastructure investments supporting pedestrian, bicycle, and transit modes made between 1990 and 2009 and the share of these modes during the same 20 years period. Results illustrate an overall increase in transit and bicycle mode share and a decrease in single occupancy vehicle share, with consistent pedestrian share. We conclude that Boulder's investments in improving mode choices through new infrastructure and services supporting non-automobile modes are associated with increasing share of non-automobile modes. This is despite national trends that indicate an increasing automobile mode share. Regardless of the reasons for the positive trends experienced in Boulder, the presence of robust pedestrian, bicycling, and transit infrastructure has clearly coincided with evolving travel preferences. Boulder therefore serves as an example for other cities desiring to focus on developing policies and infrastructure that expand the availability of non-automobile modes.

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.

Relationships between neighbourhood environments and residents’ bicycle mode choice: a case study of Seoul

The purpose of this study is to analyse the characteristics of neighbourhood environments affecting residents’ bicycle mode choice through a case study of Seoul. In this study, neighbourhood environments and other socio-demographic factors were used as explanatory variables in a causal model. The main data source used for this research was the 2006 Household Travel Survey, from which 214,978 observations were selected as the final sample. Statistical analysis was carried out by applying the random intercept logit model. The results of analysing the factors that affect the residents’ bicycle mode choice can be summarized as follows: first, the gender, income, occupation, vehicle ownership status, and residential type have statistically significant correlations with the bicycle mode choice. In addition, the travel time and travel distance affect the bicycle mode choice. Second, a high level of land use mix results in more bicycle travel. However, unlike what is shown in previous western studies, residential density does not have a significant correlation with bicycle travel. Third, the density of bicycle lanes has an effect on the bicycle mode choice, which shows that accessibility to bicycle lanes is an important planning factor in activating bike travel. Fourth, gradients are one of the important factors that affect the bicycle mode choice because residents use bicycles less in regions with steep slopes. Fifth, analysing the destination, like the origin, the land use mix, and bicycle lane density, was found to affect the bicycle mode choice.

Can We Reduce the Access by Motorcycles to Mass Transit Systems in Future Hanoi?

Whether or not the number of short-distance trips by motorcycles can be reduced still remains as an ill-answered question, especially in motorcycle dependent cities. Introducing mass transit systems in such cities may reduce long-distance trips by motorcycles on one hand, but may create short access trips by motorcycles on the other. Therefore, this paper aims to clarify the possibility of reducing the use of motorcycles for access trips. Based on subjective expectation data collected in Hanoi in 2009, we found significant disparity in the modal shares of future access modes to/from different stations between motorcycle and non- motorcycle users, suggesting potential influences of state dependence and spatial differences on why people ride motorcycles. For the purpose of this study, we apply a multi-level modeling approach. Estimation results revealed the causal link between current main travel mode and future access mode choices. Current walkers and cyclists tend to choose walking and bicycle modes as future access modes, but they are less likely to choose motorcycles. If current bus users mostly walk from their homes to bus stops, they do not tend to ride motorcycles to access to/from urban railway stations in future. Additionally, people may dislike riding motorcycles from their homes to stations if they request the improvement of sidewalk and pedestrian facilities for better accessibility. Inversely, those selecting measures to improve parking facilities prefer motorcycles than other access modes. Moreover, it is empirically confirmed the significant influences of spatial variations and inter-household variations on choices of future access modes. The findings of this study suggest the importance of incorporating state dependence, spatial variations and inter-household variations in future studies of access mode choice behavior.

Exposure to volatile organic compounds: Comparison among different transportation modes

The increasing trend of promoting public transportation (bus tram, metro, train) and more environmental friendly and sustainable non fossil-fuel alternatives (walking, cycling etc) as substitutes for auto vehicles brings forward new questions with regard to pollutant levels to which commuters are exposed. In this study, three transportation modes (tram, auto vehicle and bicycle) are studied and concentration levels of 84 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, oxygen containing hydrocarbons, terpenes and halogenated compounds) are measured along a route in the city of Ghent, Belgium. The concentration levels are obtained by active sampling on Tenax TA sorbent tubes followed by thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) using deuterated toluene as an internal standard. The median total VOC concentrations for the tram mode (33 μg/m³) is 1.7 times higher than that of the bicycle mode (20 μg/m³) and 1.5 times higher than for the car mode (22 μg/m³). It is found that aromatic hydrocarbons account for a significant proportion in the total VOCs concentration (TVOCs) being as high as 41–57%, 59–72% and 58–72% for the tram, car and bicycle respectively. In all transportation modes, there was a high (r > 0.6) degree of correlation between BTEX compounds, isopropylbenzene, n-propylbenzene, 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene. When comparing time weighed average concentrations along a fixed route in Ghent, it is found that commuters using the tram mode experience the highest TVOCs concentration levels. However, next to the concentration level to which commuters are exposed, the physical activity level involving the mode of transportation is important to assess the exposure to toxic VOCs. It is proven that the commuter using a bicycle (4.3 ± 1.5 μg) inhales seven and nine times more benzene compared to the commuter using the car and tram respectively, when the same route is followed.

Shifts between Automobile, Bus, and Bicycle Commuting in an Urban Setting

AbstractIn an urban setting, investments in bicycle and transit modes are expected to reduce automobile vehicle miles traveled. In reality, these benefits might be lower than expected if users simply shift between nonautomobile modes. This article investigates modal shifts among automobile, bus, and bicycle use in students commuting to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) in 2008 and 2012, when a few changes were made to the local transportation system. The authors found that a significant decline in automobile mode share was associated with a significant increase in bicycle mode share, suggesting that bicycling replaced certain automobile commuting trips. Analysis by distance revealed nuances in mode substitution. There were significant increases in bicycle commuting for students living between 1.6 and 15.9 km (1.0 and 9.9 miles) from campus. However, the increases in bicycling for students living between 1.6 and 3.1 km (1.0 and 1.9 miles) corresponded with decreases in bus rather than automobile ...

Examining the Impact of Urban Morphology on Bicycle Mode Choice

Nonmotorized transport modes such as bicycling are becoming important components to urban transportation systems in the United States, in particular with the recent emphases on sustainable urban development. Recent bicycle forecasting methods have included urban design elements to help explain bicycle behavior but most measures lack accountability of microscale built form attributes that address bicyclist perception. This study developed a discrete choice model to examine the impact of urban morphological factors on people's utilitarian bicycle mode choice decisions. In the model, traditional factors considered include personal, household, and environmental variables. Urban morphology variables from space syntax were also incorporated in the model to test for the marginal influence of microscale design and space characteristics in the decision to bicycle. Results indicate that microscale built form factors that enhance visibility and contain well connected street networks significantly affected bicycle mode choice decisions at the trip origin. The finding that built form variables by and large influence the probability that someone will commute via bicycle suggests that policies and planning efforts aimed at increasing bicycle mode share should include human-scaled built form metrics that address urban space and cognition.

Performance Evaluation of Extreme Bicycle Scenarios

This present work evaluates the performance of extreme bike scenarios for partners-cities of the Central Europe project “BICY”. With extreme bike scenarios we mean that a city has implemented the best possible conditions for cycling. Our analyses confirm that approximately half of all urban trips are less than five km and could be done by bike. Some cities in the Netherlands have shown that bike mode shares of 40% and higher can be achieved. The question is how much cycling infrastructure and investments are required to convert a city into a top cycling city and what would be the benefits?For the purpose of establishing a quantitative relation between infrastructure investments, increase in cycling and effects on the environment and health, we reduce the cycling conditions to the presence of cycling infrastructure. It is shown that such a reduction is a conservative assumption as promotion, mobility management and education are low cost measures to increase bike mode share even without expanding the cycling network. The health benefits have been calculated using the HEAT framework developed by the World Health Organization. This is a standard to determine the costs of lives saved due to reduced mortality as a consequence of more physical exercise.Gathering official data and detailed information from mobility surveys in 13 central European cities with low to medium-high cycling levels, we have estimated the potential bike share with an average of approximately 50%, the required cycling infrastructure necessary to reach the potential between 30 and 370km of exclusive bikeways and cycling infrastructure costs between 10-60Million. The expected benefits/cost ratios have been found between 1.2 and 15, average 5.7. However, analyse of current stated preferences show that the share of persons willing to start cycling is far less than the potential, even if ideal cycling conditions were provided.

Modeling Nonmotorized Travel Demand at Intersections in Calgary, Canada

In September 2009, the City Council of Calgary, Canada, approved Plan It Calgary, which proposed policies that focused on the development of resilient neighborhoods through the intensification and diver-sification of urban activities around transit stations and routes. More intensive development and mixed land use encourage nonmotorized trips and reinforce comfortable, safe, and walkable streets. The development of high-density, mixed-use, and transit- and pedestrian-oriented communities has the potential to generate shorter trips to destinations; these trips are expected to result in a higher share of active travel modes, such as biking and walking. Thus, there is a growing need to estimate the impact of land use development scenarios and transportation policies on bicycle and pedestrian demand to predict nonmotorized trip volumes and design the related infrastructure adequately. In this study, on the basis of multiple linear and Poisson regression models were calibrated to estimate nonmotorized travel demand on the basis of geographic information system data, transportation services, and road characteristics. The empirical models developed in this research can be used to assess the impacts of urban design and built environments, such as development of high-density and mixed land use areas, of complete street construction in the middle ring communities of Calgary, and of influenced demand for active travel modes. The developed models also show the benefits of improved pedestrian infrastructure, such as improved network connectivity and increases in the length of pedestrian pathways, as well as the benefits of the integration of transit and walking modes and transit and bicycle modes in encouraging more nonmotorized travel demand. This method is a straightforward statistical analysis for practitioners, and the needed data are relatively easy to access.

Understanding Pedestrian and Bicyclist Compliance and Safety Impacts of Walk Modes at Signalized Intersections for a Livable Community

With increasing energy costs as well as rampant congestion in major U.S. cities, the popularity of walk and bike mode choices has increased in recent years. NHTSA has estimated that, in 2011, 11.1% of pedestrian fatalities and 18.5% of bicyclist fatalities in the United States occurred in Florida, although the state accounted for just 6.1% of the nation's population. In addition, intersections are hot spots for vehicle–pedestrian conflicts. This finding has been confirmed by FHWA's estimate that in the United States nearly one in five pedestrian fatalities occurs at an intersection. Because signalized and nonsignalized intersections are conflict points for vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists, traffic control methods to ensure that safety is not compromised are essential. For the examination of the safety effects of walk modes at signalized intersections, four locations in the Tampa Bay area were chosen. Two of the locations operated with rest in walk and pedestrian recall, and the other two operated without rest in walk and pedestrian recall. The study collected a total of 26 h of data in early 2013 at the four study sites, with a yield of 202 pedestrian and bicyclist observations. The behaviors were modeled with a multinomial logit model. The modeling found that the presence of rest in walk and pedestrian recall on minor street pedestrian phases, which operated concurrently with major street vehicle phases, encouraged higher pedestrian and bicyclist compliance rates. The presence or absence of the combination of rest in walk and pedestrian recall was found to be the most influential variable examined.

Investigating the Relative Influence of Various Factors in Bicycle Mode Choice

Rapid urbanization is becoming a common trend in developing countries like India, resulting in a consequence of transport in-equilibrium in urban areas. Pendakur (2002) mentioned that in 1995, 45% of the global population lived in urban areas, but by 2020, this is expected to increase to about 66%, which clearly warns us about the forthcoming urban transport crisis situation in urban areas. Padam and Singh (2001) mentioned that as the cities grow larger, the travel distances (trip lengths) and therefore, the travel costs increase geometrically. Which means the distance which was walk-able or bicycle-able, has no w become necessary to use vehicles. Although mobility and accessibility issues are addressed in urban areas still problems such as delay, congestion, accidents, air and noise pollution, energy wastage, etc are ever increasing due to rapid urbanization. But inadequate passenger or public transport especially in developing countries like India are forcing the high income group of people to choose personalized modes over public transport. People belonging to middle income group are mostly choosing intermediate or Para-transit such as autos, which are adding massively to the congestion and all other ill effects of transport. This leaves the lower income group of people or captive riders to suffer, which forces the researchers in this field to take a closer look in the urbanization crisis and problems. As reported by Wilbur Smith (2008) the future mode share in different cities are presented here, which shows a significant decrease in public transport and a very high increase in private mode share for all city categories and very high share of NMT (nonmotorized transport) in small sized cities, which shows the main importance of improving NMT infrastructure in small sized cities.

Key influences on motivations for utility cycling (cycling for transport to and from places)

Although increases in cycling in Brisbane are encouraging, bicycle mode share to work (the proportion of people travelling to work by bicycle) in the state of Queensland remains low. The aim of this qualitative study was to draw upon the lived experiences of Queensland cyclists to understand the main motivators for utility cycling (cycling as a means to get to and from places) and compare motivators between utility cyclists (those who cycle for utility as well as for recreation) and non-utility cyclists (those who cycle only for recreation). For an online survey, members of a bicycle group (831 utility cyclists and 931 non-utility cyclists, aged 18-90 years) were asked to describe, unprompted, what would motivate them to engage in utility cycling (more often). Responses were coded into themes within four levels of an ecological model. Within an ecological model, built environment influences on motivation were grouped according to whether they related to appeal (safety), convenience (accessibility) or attractiveness (more amenities) and included adequate infrastructure for short trips, bikeway connectivity, end-of-trip facilities at public locations and easy and safe bicycle access to destinations outside of cities. A key social-cultural influence related to improved interactions among different road users. The built and social-cultural environments need to be more supportive of utility cycling before even current utility and non-utility cyclists will be motivated to engage (more often) in utility cycling. SO WHAT?: Additional government strategies and more and better infrastructure that support utility cycling beyond commuter cycling may encourage a utility cycling culture.

Quantifying the total cost of infrastructure to enable environmentally preferable decisions: the case of urban roadway design

Efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of transportation infrastructure have generally overlooked many of the efficiencies that can be obtained by considering the relevant engineering and economic aspects as a system. Here, we present a framework for quantifying the burdens of ground transportation in urban settings that incorporates travel time, vehicle fuel and pavement maintenance costs. A Pareto set of bi-directional lane configurations for two-lane roadways yields non-dominated combinations of lane width, bicycle lanes and curb parking. Probabilistic analysis and microsimulation both show dramatic mobility reductions on road segments of insufficient width for heavy vehicles to pass bicycles without encroaching on oncoming traffic. This delay is positively correlated with uphill grades and increasing traffic volumes and inversely proportional to total pavement width. The response is nonlinear with grade and yields mixed uphill/downhill optimal lane configurations. Increasing bicycle mode share is negatively correlated with total costs and emissions for lane configurations allowing motor vehicles to safely pass bicycles, while the opposite is true for configurations that fail to facilitate passing. Spatial impacts on mobility also dictate that curb parking exhibits significant spatial opportunity costs related to the total cost Pareto curve. The proposed framework provides a means to evaluate relatively inexpensive lane reconfiguration options in response to changing modal share and priorities. These results provide quantitative evidence that efforts to reallocate limited pavement space to bicycles, like those being adopted in several US cities, could appreciably reduce costs for all users.

An empirical tool to evaluate the safety of cyclists: Community based, macro-level collision prediction models using negative binomial regression

Today, North American governments are more willing to consider compact neighborhoods with increased use of sustainable transportation modes. Bicycling, one of the most effective modes for short trips with distances less than 5km is being encouraged. However, as vulnerable road users (VRUs), cyclists are more likely to be injured when involved in collisions. In order to create a safe road environment for them, evaluating cyclists’ road safety at a macro level in a proactive way is necessary. In this paper, different generalized linear regression methods for collision prediction model (CPM) development are reviewed and previous studies on micro-level and macro-level bicycle-related CPMs are summarized. On the basis of insights gained in the exploration stage, this paper also reports on efforts to develop negative binomial models for bicycle–auto collisions at a community-based, macro-level. Data came from the Central Okanagan Regional District (CORD), of British Columbia, Canada. The model results revealed two types of statistical associations between collisions and each explanatory variable: (1) An increase in bicycle–auto collisions is associated with an increase in total lane kilometers (TLKM), bicycle lane kilometers (BLKM), bus stops (BS), traffic signals (SIG), intersection density (INTD), and arterial–local intersection percentage (IALP). (2) A decrease in bicycle collisions was found to be associated with an increase in the number of drive commuters (DRIVE), and in the percentage of drive commuters (DRP). These results support our hypothesis that in North America, with its current low levels of bicycle use (<4%), we can initially expect to see an increase in bicycle collisions as cycle mode share increases. However, as bicycle mode share increases beyond some unknown ‘critical’ level, our hypothesis also predicts a net safety improvement. To test this hypothesis and to further explore the statistical relationships between bicycle mode split and overall road safety, future research needs to pursue further development and application of community-based, macro-level CPMs.

Unified, Low-Cost Analysis Framework for the Cycling Situation in Cities

We propose a low-cost uniform analysis framework allowing comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of the bicycling experience within and between cities. A primary component is an expedient, one-page mobility survey from which mode share is calculated. The bicycle mode share of many cities remains unknown, creating a serious barrier for both scientists and policy makers aiming to understand and increase rates of bicycling. Because of its low cost and expedience, this framework could be replicated widely, uniformly filling the data gap. The framework has been applied to 13 Central European cities with success. Data is collected on multiple modes with specific questions regarding both behavior and quality of travel experience. Individual preferences are also collected, examining the conditions under which respondents would change behavior to adopt more sustainable modes (bicycling or public transportation). A broad analysis opportunity results, intended to inform policy choices.

1410 非同一軸上の車輪を有する並行二輪車型パーソナルモビリティビークルの提案(OS7-1 パーソナルモビリティ,OS7 福祉・バリアフリー,次世代交通システム,オーガナイズド・セッション(OS))

This paper proposes a new running mode for personal mobility vehicle (PMV). Generalized running modes in PMV are known as an inversed pendulum vehicle and a bicycle. This proposed mode is to connect between the pendulum mode and the bicycle mode. In case proposed mode has possibility to use in practical, it is able to change between the pendulum mode and the bicycle mode during a running state. In this paper, a test vehicle with asymmetric wheel alignment to examine a running stability in the asymmetric wheels. Moreover, usage of proposed mode is verified by the running experiment.

Documenting Targeted Behaviors Associated with Pedestrian Safety

The purpose of this study was to provide an exploratory analysis of the proportion of pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers exhibiting four specific behaviors at 12 intersections near transit stations in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Those target behaviors were (a) pedestrians crossing a roadway while using a mobile device, such as a cell phone; (b) pedestrians crossing a signalized intersection against a red light; (c) bicyclists running a red light at a signalized intersection; and (d) automobiles turning right on red without stopping. Those four behaviors are important because they may lead to pedestrian crashes. Overall, 8% of pedestrians used mobile devices while crossing, but the proportion ranged from less than 3% to more than 18% at specific study sites. At some locations, fewer than 3% of nonmotorized road users violated red lights, whereas approximately 70% did at other sites. The percentage of motorists turning right on red without stopping ranged from zero to more than 70%. Female pedestrians were more likely than were males to talk on mobile devices while crossing a street, but males were more likely to violate traffic signals while walking or bicycling. However, these observations did not control for differences in gender and other characteristics at sites. As pedestrian and bicycle mode shares increase, it will be essential for all users to understand their rights and responsibilities in the environment of the roadway. The documentation of behaviors helps provide a foundation for engineering, education, enforcement, and encouragement countermeasures that will improve safety for pedestrians and other roadway users.

자전거 이용활성화 가능성 진단 및 결정요소 도출

Automobile-oriented urban transport system, continued from the past in Korea, is giving rise to inefficiency and social costs in transport sector. With revitalizing usage of bicycle, human-powered transport mode, it is possible to enhance sustainable green growth, improvement of the city-competitiveness, and the quality of life. In this study, the possibility of bicycle usage promotion in Korean cities is examined at 7 points of views. As a result, though the bicycle usage is low now, we figured that there are many positive signs to increase bicycle usage in Korea. Also, we draw a diverse key policies for building green urban transport system that bicycle have a most important role on transport system. So policies to promote bicycle usage are reviewed to analyze on bicycle-oriented 5 cities, in which have high bicycle mode share. By this review, this study could draw 41 key effective policies to 3 aspects (bicycle infrastructure, safety and promotion, and policy sustainability). In addition to, importance of 21 key effective policies about bicycle infrastructure is suggested as considering city's characteristics.