Bike Racks Research Articles

Bicycle parking security and built environments

The lack of secure bicycle parking is a serious but often neglected issue that discourages bicycling. Classical environment criminology theories try to explain the pattern of bicycle theft but provide limited insights into the relationship between crime and the built environment. This study examines the association between built environment factors and bicycle theft using a zero-inflated negative binomial model to account for data over-dispersion and excess zeros. The assembled dataset provides variables pertaining to the road network, land use, bicycle travel demand, and socio-demographics. The key findings are as follows: (1) Bicycle theft is more likely to occur in areas for commercial purposes, areas with a high population or employment density, and areas with more bike lanes or sidewalks. (2) Bicycle theft is likely to occur at sites with more bike racks or bus stops. (3) Bicycle theft is more likely to occur at mid-blocks than at intersections. (4) Bicycle theft is more likely to occur in neighborhoods with a greater percentage of socially disadvantaged people and in neighborhoods where residents’ median age is lower. (5) The likelihood of losing a bicycle is lower in areas with more bicycle trips. In general, the number of bicycle thefts increases in dense areas with more targets and decreases with greater natural guardianship provided by more passersby. With respect to policy implications, governments and transport planners should implement a geographically-differentiated surveillance strategy, encourage bicycling, improve the visibility of bike racks to the public, and promote surveillance and natural guardianship in densely developed areas.

A Macroscale Approach Using Open Source Data, an Automated Rule-based Rating System, and GIS to Assess Sidewalk Quality in Manhattan, New York ( elevator pitch )

Background A microscale approach to understanding the walkability of pedestrian corridors involves identifying and analyzing detailed tangible elements at sidewalk level. This method, although possessing substantial merits, requires a large budget and long duration to accomplish, especially for large cosmopolitan areas. Determining the quality of sidewalks using a macroscale approach, while not providing the same level of detail can, when combined with a scoring and rule-based system, display quality pedestrian corridors that show varying degrees of walkability. Aim To display the walkability of Manhattan, using open source data and an automated rule-based rating system. Method The macroscale approach to identifying degrees of walkability involves the following steps: 1) gathering open source data, b) creating an automated rule-based rating system to assign degrees of walkability at block level, and c) displaying walkability results using geographic information systems (GIS). Results Macroscale open source data was collected primarily from the New York City Open Data. The results of the study allow the display of degrees of walkability of approximately 12,000 blocks covering 100 miles of sidewalk within 37 square miles (23,700 acres). Walkability is displayed on a color-coded scale of 1 to 5 with 5 (green) being most walkable and 1 (red) least walkable. Maps generated include a total walkability map, sidewalk category maps (beauty, utility, safety, vibrance, etc.), and feature maps (trees, bike racks, subway stations, cafes, land use, etc.). The resulting maps contain 11 category layers and 24 open source data layers. Conclusions A macroscale approach using a combination of open source data, automated rules definition, and rating system can define degrees of walkability that can be displayed in an App for ease of use when walking or finding streets and neighborhoods with varying walkability scores.

Cycle Tracks and Parking Environments in China: Learning from College Students at Peking University.

China has a historic system of wide cycle tracks, many of which are now encroached by cars, buses and bus stops. Even with these conditions, college students still bicycle. On campuses, students park their bikes on facilities ranging from kick-stand-plazas to caged sheds with racks, pumps and an attendant. In other countries, including Canada, some of the newer cycle tracks need to be wider to accommodate an increasing number of bicyclists. Other countries will also need to improve their bike parking, which includes garage-basement cages and two-tiered racks. China could provide lessons about cycle tracks and bike parking. This study applied the Maslow Transportation Level of Service (LOS) theory, i.e., for cycle tracks and bike parking, only after the basic needs of safety and security are met for both vehicle occupants and bicyclists can the higher needs of convenience and comfort be met. With random clustering, a self-administered questionnaire was collected from 410 students in six dormitory buildings at Peking University in Beijing and an environmental scan of bicycle parking conducted in school/office and living areas. Cycle tracks (1 = very safe/5 = very unsafe) shared with moving cars were most unsafe (mean = 4.6), followed by sharing with parked cars (4.1) or bus stop users (4.1) (p < 0.001). Close to half thought campus bike parking lacked order. The most suggested parking facilities were sheds, security (guard or camera), bicycle racks and bicycle parking services (pumps, etc.). If parking were improved, three quarters indicated they would bicycle more. While caged sheds were preferred, in living areas with 1597 parked bikes, caged sheds were only 74.4% occupied. For the future of China’s wide cycle tracks, perhaps a fence-separated bus lane beside a cycle track might be considered or, with China’s recent increase in bike riding, shared bikes and E-bikes, perhaps cars/buses could be banned from the wide cycle tracks. In other countries, a widened cycle track entrance should deter cars. Everywhere, bike parking sheds could be built and redesigned with painted lines to offer more space and order, similar to car parking.

Objective And Subjective Measures Of Walkability And Bikability At Westfield State University

PURPOSE: Walking and bicycling are popular forms of active transportation that help an individual engage in physical activity. College campuses present unique opportunities for all of it members to engage in physical activity as they are moving on and around campus and these forms of active transport should be encouraged for all campus members. This study aims to compare objective walkability measurements of Westfield State University’s (WSU) pathways and roadways and how they support walking and biking versus student and faculty/staff perceptions of infrastructure support for walking and biking. METHODS: Mixed methods were used to obtain data: selected segments of WSU campus were objectively measured using a modified CDC Walkability Audit tool; the results of the audits were compared to results of an online survey distributed to WSU students and faculty/staff about their perceptions of ease of walking and biking on and around the campus. Two open-ended response question were given to each group to propose recommendations to facilitate walking and biking. RESULTS: Selected path segments (n=26) on and connecting the WSU campus were audited for their objective walkability/bikability. The segments received a mean score of 62.9±18.4, giving WSU a grade C. Only 31% of audited segments received a grade A or B while the remaining 68% received a grade C or F, indicating fair or poor conditions for walking and biking. Students (n=389) and faculty/staff members (n=78) responded to the survey. Student age was 20.4±1.7 years and 48.72% self-reported their daily physical activity level as a mix of both sedentary and activity. Faculty age was 48.2±13.2 years and 46.75% self-reported their daily physical activity level as mostly sedentary with some activity. For the open-ended questions, the top answers for both students and faculty/staff were posting more motivational signage about walking and installing bike racks and outdoor bike storage. CONCLUSIONS: The objective audit supports current student and faculty/staff perceptions of campus walkability and bikability. Both subjective and objective measures can be used when designing a long-term campus master plan as well as physical activity interventions.

A case study of bicycle theft on the Washington DC Metrorail system using a Routine Activities and Crime Pattern theory framework

This article employs Routine Activities and Crime Pattern theories to explore the factors that lead to increased risk of bike theft, focusing on Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority Metrorail (Metro) property. Utilizing the Metro bike census and other data, we use negative binomial regression analysis to model the relationship between bike thefts and various station- and neighborhood-level risk factors that can either create or close off opportunities for bike thefts. The findings indicate that bike thefts around Metro stations are positively influenced by the number of targets, as measured by the number of bikes per station, and the presence of likely offenders, as measured by the volume of auto-related larcenies. Stations that have greater guardianship, as measured by the number of nearby businesses, are less likely to experience bike theft. The implications of these findings for theory, methodological considerations, and crime prevention are discussed. We suggest that bike racks can be placed in locations with greater informal guardianship, and discuss ways our findings can inform traditional interventions such as bike locking campaigns.

Do food trucks and pedestrians conflict on urban streets?

In the late 2000s, food trucks became common in US cities and municipalities debated controversial food truck regulations. When they justify the regulations, municipalities raise safety, health and general welfare concerns, including potential pedestrian congestion. This paper uses the insights from pedestrian behaviour research to determine whether food trucks interfered with pedestrian flow. Based on direct observation of food truck customers and customer-pedestrian interactions in and near the Chicago Loop, the findings show that food trucks served customers most often without interrupting pedestrian flow. In part, this was due to the street furniture zone, including trash cans, bike racks and utility poles that created waiting space along the kerb. During periods of crowding, pedestrians adeptly manoeuvred through lines of food trucks. Food truck customers were also responsive to pedestrian flow and the lines moved in ways that reduced impact.

Decreasing Physical Inactivity in the Veterans Health Administration Employee Population.

The aim of this study was to describe a comprehensive approach to decrease physical inactivity in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employee population. The approach included (1) initiatives to decrease physical inactivity in the workplace; (2) two operational surveys to assess system-wide service provision; and (3) two national employee surveys. From 2010 to 2012, 86 employee fitness centers were completed in VA medical centers. A grants program (2010 to 2015) funded smaller projects designed to decrease physical inactivity in the workplace. Projects involved the provision of equipment to decrease sedentary behaviors, including stability balls, treadmill and sit-to-stand desks, stairwell projects, and funding for on-site fitness classes, bicycle racks, and outdoor par courses and walking paths among others. A comprehensive approach to decrease physical inactivity in VHA employees was successful. Overall, self-reported, age-adjusted physical inactivity in VHA employees decreased from 25.3% in 2010 to 16.1% in 2015.

Adolescents' perceptions of cycling versus walking to school: Understanding the New Zealand context

Cycling to school is less common than walking in many developed countries. This cross-sectional study compared correlates and perceptions of walking versus cycling to school in Dunedin adolescents living ≤4 km from school. Adolescents (n=764; 44.6% males; 15.2±1.4 years) from 12 secondary schools completed an online survey about perceptions of walking and cycling to school. Distance to school was calculated using Geographic Information Systems network analysis. Overall, 50.8% of adolescents walked and 2.1% cycled to school, 44.1% liked cycling for recreation and 58.8% were capable/able/confident to cycle to school. Adolescents expressed more positive experiential (walking: 45.9%; cycling: 34.9%) and instrumental beliefs (walking: 74.2%; cycling: 59.2%) towards walking versus cycling to school (p<0.001). Compared to walking, adolescents reported that cycling to school was perceived as less safe by themselves (cycling vs walking; 61.3% vs 89.8%) and their parents (71.4% vs 88.6%) and was less encouraged by their parents (23.0% vs 67.0%), peers (18.8% vs 48.4%) and schools (19.5% vs 30.8%) (all p<0.001). The route to school had fewer cycle paths compared to footpaths (37.2% vs 91.0%; p<0.001). Cycle friendly uniforms (41.4%), safer bicycle storage at school (40.1%), slower traffic (36.4%), bus bicycle racks (26.2%) and bicycle ownership (32.7%) would encourage cycling to school. Compared to walking, cycling to school among Dunedin adolescents was less common, perceived as less safe and had less social and infrastructure support. Future interventions should focus on creating supportive physical and social environments, and improving road safety for cyclists in New Zealand.

Applying spatial-temporal analysis and retail location theory to public bikes site selection in Taipei

In order to turn Taipei into a sustainable, green metropolis, in 2009, the Department of Transportation of Taipei City Government launched a public bike rental system (YouBike) to meet people’s daily commute and/or leisure needs. Given that users may return bikes to sites differing from their starting locations, rental stations frequently lack bikes or bike racks. This study sought to identify lacking-bike and/or lacking-bike rack hot spots utilizing spatial-temporal analysis. In addition, it applied retail location theory to determine site selection of further rental stations. Historical data indicated that shortage of bikes was much more severe than shortage of bike racks in the YouBike public bike system and lacking-bike and lacking-bike rack hot spots were clustered significantly. The study demonstrated that spatial-temporal analysis can be used to effectively identify rental stations’ spatial patterns, determine the most suitable locations for further installation of rental stations, help to provide public bike users with a more effective rental system, and greatly assist public bikes’ operational management and decision-making in Taiwan.

Associations between demographic characteristics and physical activity practices in Nevada schools.

Schools are important settings for not only providing and promoting children's physical activity (PA) but also for reducing PA disparities. We investigated associations between school-level demographic characteristics (racial/ethnic and socioeconomic composition, urban-rural status, and student-to-teacher ratio) and 16 PA-promoting practices in 347 Nevada public elementary, middle, and high schools in 2014. We found that low-cost and easy-to-implement practices are most prevalent. There is relative demographic equity in ten of 16 PA practices and significant differences in six PA practices in Nevada schools. Schools with comparatively larger percentages of Black students are the most disadvantaged, as they have the fewest PA-supportive practices in place. Higher percent black was associated with lower odds of providing classroom activity breaks (AOR=0.632, 95% CI=0.453-0.881) and bike racks (AOR=0.60, 95% CI=0.362-0.996), greater odds of withholding recess/PE for disciplinary reasons (AOR=1.377, 95% CI=1.006-1.885), and lower odds of having recess supervisors who are trained to promote PA (AOR=0.583, 95% CI=0.374-0.909). Schools with greater percentages of Hispanic students have lower odds of providing before-school PA programs (AOR=0.867, 95% CI=0.761-0.987), whereas schools with greater percentages of low-SES students have greater odds of providing after-school PA programs (AOR=1.135, 95% CI=1.016-1.268). Higher student-to-teacher ratio was also associated with greater odds of providing after-school PA programs (AOR=1.135, 95% CI=1.016-1.268). Urban-rural status was unrelated to all PA practices.

There׳s an app for that: development of a smartphone app to promote active travel to a college campus

Abstract Active travel (AT) is associated with many health benefits, however rates of AT remain low in the USA. Using technology to target population level AT behavior allows for the widespread dissemination of behavior change messages. Limited evidence exists on an effective process for developing and tailoring apps for a specific population. Therefore the purpose of the current study was to document the development process of a smartphone app for promoting AT to a college campus. Methods: Formative research was conducted with students and employees through previous studies and an online survey. The online survey ( n =999) was conducted to examine current travel patterns and gain feedback on the possible app features. Descriptive statistics described the sample and trends. The app was developed through a collaborative process with the research team and a software development company with weekly design meetings and frequent beta testing. Results: The surveys revealed that students׳ AT was influenced by time and costs. Employees indicated that time, distance from campus, and health concerns influenced AT. Among both employees and students the most frequently requested app features were: route planning (requested by 37.1% employees, 45.7% students), projected time for commute (30.2%, 45.4%), weather for commute time (32%, 39.2%), information on campus bike parking (18.3%, 14.3%) and motivational messages for AT (10.2%, 14.9%). The app was developed to include these features; app users can plan routes and are prompted with relevant information (estimated travel time, forecasted weather) for each trip. Trips can be logged and individuals are rewarded with information about their accomplishments. A map was developed showing bike racks on campus. Conclusion: The formative research process allowed for a better understanding of the AT behavior for campus members. Feedback from the formative research allowed the developers and research team to build an app addressing the preferences of the community.

Comment from the Field

A couple of years ago I stopped using the words blind and visually impaired to describe my experience because I realized that my experience did not center on the visual sense anymore. I had just moved to Portland and was in the process of learning a bunch of important walking routes-like the route from my apartment to the train that would bring me to school, and the route from my apartment to the coffee shop or grocery store. My friend Jason Sturgill had just given me a camera as a way of encouraging me to capture images of the things that might catch my attention on a given day. It was a way for us to get to know each other because we had just started grad school together, and had somewhat identified with one another on the basis that we both had to learn to see differently at a point in our lives: me at age 21, I started to shift toward non-visual ways of knowing the world, and Jason, sometime during his teenage years, he managed, in a split second, to prove the you'll shoot your eye theory is sound, by experimenting with some old tin cans and a BB gun.I would take the camera for the weekend and we would meet up the following week at school so Jason could describe to me what I had shot. Initially my subject matter centered on the moments after a significant peak in the soundscape-like the moment after an abrupt mechanical noise or after someone's voice had risen significantly during a conversation. The only reason that I chose to focus on the moment directly after a sound event, as opposed to focusing on the sound event itself, was because it would take a few seconds for me to pull out the camera and get situated-and by the time the shot was all lined up, the sound in question would already be a memory. I started titling these photos, for myself, after Jillian laughed really loud or when that truck with the backfiring engine passed by. However, I would show the images to Jason, a fair bit of negotiating went on between us in order to distinguish what the heck I had photographed. Jason would say something like, you got a picture of a street, it looks like the corner across from the bookstore and I would say something like, oh yeah, that was taken as I was waiting to cross the street, after a truck with a backfiring engine passed by.Soon this process of taking photos based on some non-visual cue synchronized with the process of me learning my walking routes-and it synchronized with a thud. I was walking beside my apartment, toward the crossing street to the train station and, in the process, walked right into a tree branch that was hanging lower than usual due to a recent downpour. Slightly startled, and with a face full of soggy foliage, I reached for my camera and took a photo of the delinquent tree branch-the low hanging tree branch by my apartment. With Jason's encouragement, it became one in a collection of photos of the things that I had physical interactions with while on walks.There were photos of street signs, metal poles, fire hydrants, sandwich boards, brick walls, trees, bike racks, pylons, wet floor signs, windows, doors, fences, bus shelters and a lone land surveyor's tripod. My process went something like this: I would be walking to grab some breakfast at the cafe near my apartment and I would be fantasizing about my morning coffee. My head would be in the clouds of foam that would surely crown the cappuccino that I would order, and would therefore not be on my immediate surroundings. Then thud, I would smash my knee into a bike rack. The rush of pain was my signal to reach into my bag, feel around for the camera, locate the camera, pull out the camera, take the camera out of its case, situate myself and line up the shot. It worked every time in distracting me from the moment of embarrassment that was so often connected to walking into an obstacle in public.Aside from the visual archive that it produced, this six-month dedication came with the added benefit of learning to navigate the city by simply bumping into it. …

방송사건물에 적용된 녹색건축인증평가요소 분석에 관한 연구

This study scrutinizes the basic data on various eco-friendly factors through the cases of environment-friendly certified broadcasting station buildings. These data are expected to be helpful for the green building certification of broadcasting station buildings which are to be newly built. Three steps for the analysis were used. Firstly, they were examined the layout plans by the sun shadow and wind direction for an external environment control field, planting with environmentally purified water and land biotope, and ecological forestation by the water space plan. Secondly, they were tested the items for the building form plans with environmental loads, the building envelope plans by solar radiation analysis, louver and fittings plans, environment-friendly atrium plans, rooftop greening plans and bicycle racks and so on. Finally, it was evaluated the items of the plans to use new and renewable energy, water resources, the electrical and lighting systems such as geothermal heat, photovoltaic power generation, solar duct, rain water and wastewater reuse system, etc. The result shows that Korea's environment-friendly certification system evaluates these broadcasting station buildings the same as office facilities without basic understandings. Therefore the new items and scoring criteria are especially needed for air, thermal and sound environments for the large energy consumption buildings such as broadcasting station buildings.

The future of mental health in the UK: an election manifesto

The future of mental health in the UK: an election manifesto

Anticipatory Service Network Design of Bike Sharing Systems

Today‘s conurbations suffer from inefficiency in transportation systems. Bike sharing systems (BSS) combine the advantages of public and private transportation to better exploit the given transportation infrastructure. They provide bikes for short-term trips at automated rental stations. However, spatio-temporal variation of bike rentals leads to imbalances in the distribution of bikes, causing full or empty stations in the course of the day. Ensuring the reliable provision of bike and free bike racks is crucial for the viability of these systems. On the tactical planning level, target fill levels of bikes at stations are determined to provide reliability in service. On the operational planning level, the BSS operator relocates bikes in vehicles among stations based on target fill levels. A recent approach in tactical service network design (SND) anticipates relocation operations of BSS by means of a dynamic transportation model yielding the required demand of relocation services (RS). A RS is described by pickup and return station, time period, and the number of relocated bikes. RS represent the design decision for implementing a service between two stations in each period for each day of the system operation. The output of the SND model are the time-dependent target fill levels at stations and the set of cost-efficient RS to facilitate these target fill levels. However, the existing approach neglects the sequence of RS into tours, thus leading to a weak anticipation of operational decisions. We extend an existing SND approach by including the concept of service tours (ST). RS are sequenced in ST which start and end at the depot. Experiments shows that the ST obtained by the extended SND yield a stronger anticipation of operational decisions.

Short-term Strategies for Stochastic Inventory Routing in Bike Sharing Systems

Bike sharing systems (BSS) provide individual and eco-friendly urban mobility and are implemented in a growing number of cities. In BSS, customers can rent and return bikes spontaneously at stations and at every time of the day. To allow a reliable usage, system operators have to enable a sufficient number of bikes and empty bike racks at each station. Therefore, system operators use a set of vehicles to relocates bikes between stations. The according routing can be derived solving an inventory routing problem (IRP). For planning, operators can draw on expected customer trips generally following specific daytime patterns. Nevertheless, a significant amount of rentals and returns occur unpredictably and spontaneously forcing immediate adaptions of the routes.In this paper, we define the stochastic IRP for BSS and present a short-term relocation strategy (STR). A STR defines priority stations regarding their urgency that have to be rebalanced. In a real world case study, we compare STR to a long-term relocation strategy (LTR) using given target fill levels. STR outperforms LTR significantly leading to suitable service levels.

A geospatial reference framework for a university campus: a case study for managing student surveyed topographic data

Abstract. This presentation describes a geospatial reference framework for managing student surveyed topographic data of a university campus. This topographic data is collected annually by Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering (GGE) students at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) as part of the requirements for a UNB course. Examples of the type of features collected include: buildings, roads, sidewalks, walking paths, bike racks, parking lots and parking designation (e.g. accessibility parking). The applications and the information products built for managing this student surveyed topographic data can be viewed as a geospatial reference framework for this GGE survey camp.

Partners for a healthy city: implementing policies and environmental changes within organizations to promote health.

Current research has suggested that obesity prevention efforts should promote policy and environmental changes. The Partners for a Healthy City project, implemented in Douglas County, Nebraska, focused on collaborating with local organizations to help them select and implement 1 or more policies that promoted healthy eating and physical activity. Of the 346 organizations participating in the project and completing the follow-up assessment, 92% implemented at least 1 new policy or expanded an existing policy related to healthy food and drink options and physical activity, totaling 952 individual policy changes. Common policies included providing water as the primary beverage and installing bike racks to support active commuting to and from work. These findings suggest widespread support for policy changes that promote community health.

Changes in access to public transportation for cycle–transit users in response to service reductions

North American transit agencies have made large investments since the late 1990s in the coordination of bicycling and public transit services. A key goal in doing so has been to increase transit ridership by extending the geographic area from which riders can easily and quickly reach transit stops and stations. While it is widely hypothesized that being able to travel on transit vehicles with bicycles allows riders to access transit stops and stations from a larger geographic area, the empirical evidence of this is scanty. Information available for Northeast Ohio, where the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) operates rail, bus and demand response transit, presents an opportunity to address an important aspect of this issue. The availability of detailed long-term bicycle-on-bus boardings (BoBBs) data and the implementation of a series of service reductions in 2008, 2009 and 2010 offer an opportunity to ask the question: Do significant changes in geographic access to transit services result in significant changes to the numbers of cycle–transit users accessing transit buses? The evidence from GCRTA׳s service area provides some support for this conclusion, with the rates of utilization of bus bicycle racks increasing significantly over time and in slightly higher numbers for routes that saw the largest reductions in bus transit service.

Participatory Budgeting in the United States: A Preliminary Analysis of Chicago's 49th Ward Experiment

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the first participatory budgeting experiment in the United States, in Chicago's 49th Ward. There are two avenues of inquiry: First, does participatory budgeting result in different budgetary priorities than standard practices? Second, do projects meet normative social justice outcomes? It is clear that allowing citizens to determine municipal budget projects results in very different outcomes than standard procedures. Importantly, citizens in the 49th Ward consistently choose projects that the research literature classifies as low priority. The results are mixed, however, when it comes to social justice outcomes. While there is no clear pattern in which projects are located only in affluent sections of the ward, there is evidence of geographic clustering. Select areas are awarded projects like community gardens, dog parks, and playgrounds, while others are limited to street resurfacing, sidewalk repairs, bike racks, and bike lanes. Based on our findings, we offer suggestions for future programmatic changes.