Increasing Bicycle Use Research Articles

Kryteria projektowania sieci dróg rowerowych z wykorzystaniem GIS, niwelacji topograficznej i analizy przestrzennej

The current need for the creation of cycleways in traditional cities often presents problems. Converting existing roads into cycleways frequently creates serious traffic issues without leading to the expected increase in bicycle use. In order to overcome some of these problems, this paper presents a composite methodology using GIS, topographic levelling and spatial analysis. Upon application of this methodology in a case study in the city of Patras, Greece, problems with the city’s existing, recently-constructed cycleway are identified. After applying topographical, qualitative and population criteria, an alternative network of cycleways is proposed. This proposed new network does not create traffic congestion, as the basic criterion for selecting roads is their low traffic load. At the same time, topographic leveling is employed to select routes with a very low gradient (<2%), which is a determining factor in making the network attractive to users. Using spatial analysis, the network is spread in order to serve all areas of the city, making it available to the vast majority of residents. Finally, the findings of a social research poll (through the use of a questionnaire) indicate that the creation of such a network could increase bicycle use by a factor of up to18, which would make bicycles the main mode of transport for 22% of residents.

Shedding light on cycling in the dark: Some evidence from Flanders (Belgium)

Darkness is a barrier to cycling because the risk of an accident is higher and the feeling of social safety is lower. Factors influencing the choice to cycle (e.g., socio-demographic factors) have already been studied extensively, but rarely in relation to darkness. To implement strategies for increasing bicycle use (also when it is dark), we need to know what decision factors play a role for people to cycle or not when it is dark. A mixed method approach is adopted; applying a logistic regression using data of 842 surveyed cyclists in the province of East Flanders (Belgium), supplemented a qualitative analysis using 26 in-depth semi-structured interviews. Results show that knowing and using a route frequently has a positive effect on the likelihood of cycling in the dark. Elderly (and retirees) are less likely to cycle in the dark compared to youth and young adults. The latter group (ranging between 11 and 17 years old) often cycle to school while it is still dark (either or not accompanied by a parent). Whether or not one cycles alone or in group has a lower or higher propensity to cycle during the dark. People with a racing bike often cycle in groups and are less likely to cycle in the dark. Recreative and sportive cycle tours are mostly done during the day. Cyclists with an e-bike and speed pedelec have a higher likelihood to cycle in the dark compared to those who cycle on a regular bike. Women have 84% lower odds to cycle in the dark compared to men because they perceive darkness as less socially safe. Lastly, living in a rural environment has a positive impact on the odds to cycle in the dark compared to more urban environments. Establishing a cycling culture with inclusive infrastructure is essential for addressing the diverse needs of vulnerable groups and ensuring the provision of safe routes. A holistic approach is critical to effectively integrate these elements into urban planning and transport policies.

Examining the crash risk factors associated with cycling by considering spatial and temporal disaggregation of exposure: Findings from four Dutch cities

Cycling levels in cities keep increasing, which is accompanied with more cyclists being involved in serious road crashes. This paper aims to contribute to safer urban cycling by examining risk factors associated with cycling in the four largest Dutch cities, incorporating spatial and temporal variations in bicycle crash risk. For this purpose, the crashes and exposure metrics are analysed on an hourly temporal resolution. The results reveal that utilising an hourly temporal resolution in the exposure metrics and bicycle crash risk gives more detailed results compared to daily averages of these metrics. Moreover, the exposure to cyclists and motorised vehicles both have a significant impact on bicycle crash risk. The results also imply that separating cyclists from high-speed motorised vehicles might be more important than implementing a lower speed limit to curb the increasing severity of crashes. Despite some local differences, the overall results of the risk factors are remarkably similar across the cities, providing increased generalisability and transferability of the study. The findings indicate that concerns about the effects of increasing bicycle use and large flows of motorised vehicles on bicycle crash risk are valid, showing the importance of efforts towards improving bicycle safety in cities.

Understanding children's cycling route selection through spatial trajectory data mining

A sustainable alternative transportation mode to address growing transportation and environmental stress is cycling, which is eco-friendly and healthy for humans. Improving the quality of the bicycling experience is crucial for increasing bicycle use. Good bicycling experience is more critical for child bicyclists because they are less experienced and need more space for error. Therefore, a scientific assessment of child bicyclist perception of selected route safety, comfort, and environment is of great interest. Finding an effective way to learn child bicyclist behavior and help them reduce cycling risk is necessary. In response to this need, we utilize a data mining model to develop a methodology for measuring children's bicycling route safety conditions by evaluating multiple road safety-related features. The proposed method uses a set of route features representing the situation of street environments extracted from state data and first-hand children’s bicycle trajectory data collected using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) from volunteer children bicyclists. A random forest (RF), a well-known classifier, is adopted to predict child bicyclists' behavior. We extract the different route segments between children’s selected routes and the shortest path to learn the child bicyclists' behavior and use the selected best features to interpret their changing cycling behavior. The result shows that children bicyclists' behavior could be analyzed by giving trajectory and nearby road safety situation data. Our model achieves a promising accuracy with an average rate of 92% over multiple scenarios, demonstrating the proposed method's feasibility and the effectiveness of selected features. In addition, we compare our feature effectiveness with the state's generated road safety score data to evaluate the feature robustness. Our features outperform the safety score feature with an average of 10% improvement in prediction accuracy. Furthermore, our method proposes a model framework that can be applied to different study regions and adult bicycling behavior learning.

Exploring cyclists’ travel behaviour in different attitudinal market segments: case study of Quelimane, Mozambique

ABSTRACT Distinguishing bicycle market segments is relevant to promote bicycle use, as customised policy strategies can be targeted to each submarket. This paper aims to adopt the attitudinal market segmentation approach to identify potential markets of bicycle commuters and their travel behaviour differences. A survey was conducted among 902 commuters in Quelimane, Mozambique. Factor analysis is used to identify key latent factors. Two-step cluster analysis is used to segment the bicycle commuting market into several submarkets. Then, Mann-Whitney U test is used to compare pairs of segments based on a set of travel behaviour factors such as cycling frequency, travel time and commuting mode. Three segments are obtained: Reluctant cyclists (S1), Livelihood cyclists (S2), and Demanding cyclists (S3). The study reveals that S1 cycle less frequently when compared to S2 and S3. S1 can be motivated to cycle more frequently by promoting educational campaigns to increase their perception towards cycling benefits. S1 and S3 commute long hours when compared to S2, thus, promoting distribution of land-use activities to reduce travel distance could motivate bicycle use. S1 frequently walk commute compared to S2 and S3, therefore policies to increase bicycle use were pointed to making bicycles more accessible to Reluctant cyclists.

Factors associated with bicycle helmet use and proper fit: a cross-sectional survey of Montreal cyclists during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With increased bicycle use during the COVID-19 pandemic and growing availability of bicycle-sharing programs in Montreal, we hypothesize helmet use has decreased. The aim of this study was to evaluate helmet use and proper fit among Montreal cyclists during the pandemic relative to historical data. Nine observers collected data on bike type, gender, helmet use, and ethnicity using the iHelmet© app at 18 locations across the island of Montreal from June to September 2021. Proper helmet wear was assessed at one busy location. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with helmet wear and results were compared to a historical study. Of the 2200 cyclists observed, 1109 (50.4%) wore a helmet. Males (OR = 0.78, 95%CI = 0.65-0.95), young adults (OR = 0.65, 95%CI = 0.51-0.84), visible minorities (OR = 0.38, 95%CI = 0.28-0.53), and bike-share users (OR = 0.21, 95%CI = 0.15-0.28) were less likely to be wearing a helmet, whereas children (OR = 3.92, 95%CI = 2.17-7.08) and cyclists using racing bicycles (OR = 3.84, 95%CI = 2.62-5.62) were more likely to be wearing a helmet. The majority (139/213; 65.3%) of assessed cyclists wore properly fitting helmets. Children had the lowest odds of having a properly fitted helmet (OR = 0.13, 95%CI = 0.04-0.41). Compared to 2011, helmet use during the pandemic increased significantly (1109/2200 (50.4%) vs. 2192/4789 (45.8%); p = 0.032). Helmet use among Montreal cyclists was associated with age, gender, ethnicity, and type of bicycle. Children were least likely to have a properly fitted helmet. The recent increase in popularity of cycling and expansion of bicycle-sharing programs reinforce the need for bicycle helmet awareness initiatives, legislation, and funding prioritization.

Active transportation pilot program evaluation: A longitudinal assessment of bicycle facility density changes on use in Minneapolis

Cities around the world are adding bicycle facilities to enhance physically active travel to improve sustainable transport and public health outcomes. One of the most promising policy interventions is the use of targeted pilot programs that aim to build connected networks of bicycle facilities to increase bicycle use. In the United States, the federal Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program (NTPP) provided approximately $25 million to four communities (Columbia, MO, Marin County, CA, Minneapolis, MN, and Sheboygan County, WI) to test the impact of building a full network of bicycle facilities. This study examines the impact of the NTPP in Minneapolis to determine whether the addition of bicycle facilities and increased density of bicycle facilities are related to increased bicycle ridership over time. Secondarily, the study examines the impact of differing facility types (protected facilities like trails vs. non-protected facilities like on-street bike lanes) on bicycle use. The study finds that both the presence of and density of bicycle facilities emerged as significant independent predictors of bicycle counts and growth in counts over time. Compared to locations with no facility, sites with protected facilities had 113 more cyclists during the evening peak 2-hour count period (95% CI 16.19, 209.99; p = 0.02) and a greater rate of increase in cyclist counts over time. Over the study period, counts increased by 69% at locations with protected bikeways, by 26% at locations with on-street bike lanes, and by 10% at locations with no on-site facility.

Perceived disadvantages or motorized vehicle use habit? Investigating obstacles in bicycle use among adolescents in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

It is well known that the choice of travel mode decision is highly influenced by users’ perceptions of those travel modes. However, habitual behavior also acts as the primary determinant of mode choice, either complementary or as a substitute for perception factors. This study aimed to analyze how perception factors and habits influence cycling frequency among adolescents. The effect of socio-demographics (gender and age) and household characteristics (number of car and motorcycle ownerships and family members) on cycling frequency was also considered in this study. The analyses were based on 432 school students aged 13–18 years in Yogyakarta. The model results revealed two main determinants influencing the perceived disadvantages of cycling among adolescents. The first is related to the environment and constraints, and the second to cycling attitudes. However, the results revealed that rather than perceived disadvantages, habitual behaviors determine the cycling frequency for adolescents’ school commute. With regards to respondents’ characteristics and their households, boys and adolescents living in households with less car ownerships tend to cycle to school more often. Furthermore, attitude-related perceived disadvantages of cycling were affected by socio-demographic factors, such as age, gender, and number of cars and family members. However, only gender and car ownership substantially influenced the environment and constraints-related perceived disadvantages of cycling. Based on the findings of this study, policy recommendations were proposed to increase bicycle use for school trips among adolescents.

How does hourly variation in exposure to cyclists and motorised vehicles affect cyclist safety? A case study from a Dutch cycling capital

Cycling is promoted as a sustainable and healthy mode of transport, which results in an increase in bicycle use in urban areas. Increasing bicycle use comes with growing concerns about cyclist safety. This study examines how the temporal variation in the network-wide exposure to cyclists and motorised vehicles affects bicycle crash frequency. Network-wide hourly volumes of cyclists and motorised vehicles were estimated and regression models were used to identify the effect of the exposure to traffic on bicycle crashes in the city of Utrecht, a Dutch cycling capital. The results show that increasing exposure to motorised vehicles, and to a lesser extent, exposure to cyclists, increases the number of bicycle crashes on 50 km/h roads. For 30 km/h roads, no statistically significant relationship between the exposure to cyclists and bicycle crashes was found. Moreover, it was shown that cyclist crash numbers on 30 km/h roads are less sensitive to an increase in the exposure to motorised vehicles compared to cyclist crash numbers on 50 km/h roads. Furthermore, the exposure to motorised vehicles is a stronger factor affecting the increase in bicycle crashes on roads with bicycle lanes or mixed traffic conditions than on roads with separated bicycle facilities. To conclude, this study shows that road safety for cyclists needs further improvements, as cycling in cities keeps increasing.

Understanding the Willingness of Students to Use Bicycles for Sustainable Commuting in a University Setting: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

The bicycle is a forgotten and neglected mode of transport even though it offers numerous individual, social, and environmental benefits over motorised transport. This research seeks to determine the factors influencing students to use bicycles for commuting and focuses on the strategies that encourage bicycling in a university setting. This study proposes the novel model framework by adopting Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour. We modified the theory of planned behaviour by adding two new constructs, perceived barriers and habit. The respondents in this study are 422 students from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Selangor, Malaysia. The structural equation model in this study showed that the main attitudinal constructs, namely attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, have a significant positive and direct influence on the students’ willingness to cycle. In addition, the perceived barriers have a profound negative and indirect impact on behaviour intention through attitude, perceived behavioural control and habit. The perceived barriers did not have a significant influence on the subjective norms. However, habit has a profound positive and direct effect on three main attitudinal constructs (attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control). This element could indirectly influence the behaviour intention of cycling in a university setting. Finally, this study has identified the physical, educational and economic policies for promoting bicycle use on university setting. It also contributes beneficial information that authorities, policymakers, planners and researchers could use to formulate effective strategies for increasing bicycle use on university setting and promote green and sustainable university settings.

Traffic and Pedestrian Safety, Pre and Post Covid-19

The effects of planning initiatives aimed at increasing bicycle use have been little studied in relation to decreased auto use, injuries and pollution. As most programs promote the idea those public investments in bicycle lanes, traffic calming engineering of streets and valuing bicycling as economic and environmentally sound, this article assesses the goals and results. While bicycle use for commuting has decreased in recent years and congestion increased, focus on the effects of engineering streets for calming and bike and pedestrian use were found often to be associated with increased driving times, increased pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and increased pollution. While the economic slowdown due to Covid-19 has reduced traffic, use of existing traffic design has produced intensified conflicts which will be continuing patterns when full economic recovery takes place. The article makes use of data from a number of countries and original fieldwork.

Factors Influencing Bicycle Use in International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Gombak Campus

The use of bicycles on-campus at higher learning institutions including International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) is at a very low level. It is imperative to understand what influences bicycle use on-campus. This paper identifies factors that influence bicycle use in IIUM from the opinion of bicyclists. The main data used in this paper were from literature reviews, observational surveys, and field survey questionnaires. Univariate and bivariate analysis techniques were applied to the data to achieve the objectives of this study. The major findings show that good conditions and adequate bicycle facilities are some of the main factors, among others, that encourage students to cycle on-campus. At the end of this paper, few recommendations are suggested to increase bicycle use among the IIUM community on-campus.

The role of travel-related reasons for location choice in residential self-selection

Residential self-selection (RSS) is the theoretical mechanism that explains that the impact of the built environment on travel behaviour is weaker than bivariate correlations suggest, because mode attitudes influence both the built environment and travel behaviour and therefore at least partially account for the bivariate relationship. Recently, the concept of travel-related reasons for residential choice has been introduced, which reflects the actual extent to which the travel-related characteristics of the built environment were considered during the relocation decision. In this paper, we hypothesize that travel-related location reasons are stronger predictors of the built environment choice than generic mode attitudes. This hypothesis is examined by estimating both a cross-sectional and a longitudinal Structural Equation Model using data gathered in the Netherlands. The results suggest that the travel-related location reasons are indeed stronger predictors for built environment location than travel mode attitudes and that the directions of causality between attitudes, travel-related location reasons, the built environment, and travel behaviour often run in both directions. Substantively, our findings indicate that public transport use is most strongly affected by the built environment (after controlling for both stated reasons and attitudes), while car and bicycle use are hardly affected. From a practical point of view, this suggests that transforming the built environment to be more friendly to public transport may increase the use of public transport, but that, at least in the Netherlands, such a strategy would not work well if the aim were to reduce car use or increase bicycle use.

Avaliação da adequação geométrica da malha cicloviária de São Paulo

Para o incentivo e aumento do uso da bicicleta nas cidades, é necessária a oferta de vias cicláveis com geometria adequada. Este trabalho teve como objetivo contribuir para a avaliação da adequação geométrica das ciclovias e ciclofaixas de São Paulo. Para tanto, foi delimitada uma área piloto subdividida em segmentos da rede cicloviária para que três aspectos pudessem ser avaliados: larguras, declividades e velocidades. Foram coletadas as larguras médias e calculadas as declividades de cada segmento e observadas as velocidades máximas permitidas dos automóveis das vias adjacentes para comparação com intervalos de referência. Estes valores foram integrados no Indicador de Adequação Geométrica de Vias Cicláveis (IAGVC) que mostrou que nenhum segmento da área piloto é plenamente inadequado, porém apenas 28,95% foram classificados como plenamente adequados.

Categorizing Bicycling Environment Quality Based on Mobile Sensor Data and Bicycle Flow Data

The bicycle is a healthy and sustainable transport mode due to its emission-free characteristics. To increase bicycle use, it is fundamental to provide bicycle-friendly environments. To better monitor bicycle environments, this study proposed the concept of bicycling environment quality (BEQ), which was defined by perceived satisfaction and conflict level. Data collection was conducted at 19 road segments in five sites located in Beijing, China. Then, speed-related and acceleration-related bicycling behavior indicators (BBIs) were extracted from data collected using sensors on mobile phones, while bicycling environment indicators (BEIs), such as bicycle flow, were extracted from recorded data. Taking the BBIs and BEIs as input attributes, a two-level BEQ classification assessment model based on a random forest (RF) algorithm was constructed. The proposed RF-based classification assessment model was able to produce approximately 77.35% overall correct classification. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using GPS data in evaluating BEQ. In addition, a novel dockless bicycle-sharing system (DBS)-based framework for bicycle traffic monitoring is discussed, which is of great significance in the sustainable development of bicycles. This study provides a theoretical method for objective BEQ assessment. It can further be used by planners and road administrators to monitor and improve BEQ and by individual cyclists for optimal route choice.

The development of cycling in European countries since 1990

High pre-World-War-2 modal shares of cycling in European countries sharply decreased during the post-war decades. In the 1990s, European governments introduced policies to increase bicycle use. However, a database or longitudinal study on the development of bicycle use in European countries is lacking. The goal of this paper is to examine to what degree the amount of cycling has increased over the past decades, also in the context of potentially competing modes. Distances travelled per capita according to National Travel Surveys have been collected and were aggregated to seven 4-year periods between 1990 and 2017. Multilevel regression analyses on distance travelled per capita by bicycle, on foot, by public transport, and by passenger car were conducted for all countries. Additionally, analyses were conducted for which the 14 countries with data on bicycle use were divided in three groups categorised according to distance cycled per capita at the beginning of the study period. Distance cycled per capita per year ranged from some 30 km to 900 km. The results of all four regression analyses suggested that distance cycled per capita remained fairly constant over the past decades. Germany is an exception with some 150 km per capita more, in relative terms a 50% increase. Geographical variation in development is evidenced by a substantial increase of distance cycled per inhabitant in the capital cities of the countries included in the study. The outcomes suggest distance travelled on foot and by public transport (bus, tram, and metro) also remained fairly constant while the distance travelled by car increased by about 10% during the study period. We did not find indications that cycling substitutes travel on foot, by public transport or by car.

Uso de la bicicleta como transporte alternativo: implicaciones de la cuestión cultural en la preservación del medio ambiente

Fue analizada la cultura de la utilización de la bicicleta como medio de transporte en el municipio de Uberlândia. Se realizó el levantamiento de datos por medio de la observación de documentos e informaciones del Secretaría de Tráfico y Transportes, Universidad Federal de Uberlândia y Ayuntamiento local. También se aplicó un cuestionario electrónico, con participación de 109 ciclistas. La falta de infraestructura es un grave problema en el municipio, que posee cerca de 98.119 metros de ciclovías y tiene alto índice de accidentes que involucran a los ciclistas, lo que hace que la adhesión al uso de la bicicleta sea disminuida. Se concluye que la deficiencia de infraestructura cicloviaria ha ocasionado número elevado de accidentes. De esta forma, se acentuó la necesidad de discusiones sobre acciones que apunten a aumentar el uso de la bicicleta y la necesidad de implementar medidas para disminuir las ocurrencias de accidentes de tránsito involucrando a ciclistas.

Are e-bikes changing the social representation of cycling? An exploration of articles on cycling in Italian online publications

Despite policies aimed at increasing bicycle use, and the health benefits identified in the literature, cycling mobility is still quite limited in most cities. A cultural transformation is needed to change this situation. E-bikes might be capable of triggering this change, and turning the proposition of cycling into the preferred choice for everyday mobility. To explore this possibility, the present study extends a previous analysis conducted on the representation of cycling in Italian media, and further investigates its content as regards e-bikes. We identified a textual corpus of 3,239 articles dealing with bicycles published in Italian online publications in 2017 and subjected them to lexicometric analyses. The representation of cycling was found to be stable and only marginally fit the envisaged change in the mobility paradigm. Coverage revolved around a few main themes: infrastructure, mobility, and security and safety. The subcorpus relating to e-bikes (N = 200) showed that the representation of e-bikes added to the dominant representation of cycling without transforming it. Despite their still largely utilitarian and structural contents, the appearance of new perspectives relating to sustainable urban mobility associated with e-bikes introduces novelty in the representation of cycling that deserves to be carefully monitored.

Bike-Friendly and Other Traffic Calming Changes and Their Effect on Traffic and Pollution

The effects of planning initiatives aimed at increasing bicycle use have been little studied in relation to decreased auto use, injuries and pollution. As most programs promote the idea that public investments in bicycle lanes, traffic calming engineering of streets and valuing bicycling as economic and environmentally sound, this article assesses the goals and results. While bicycle use for commuting has decreased in recent years and congestion increased, focus on the effects of engineering streets for calming and bike and pedestrian use were found often to be associated with increased driving times, increased pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and increased pollution. The article makes use of data from a number of countries and original fieldwork.

Factors and policies explaining the emergence of the bicycle commuter in Bogotá

The capital of Colombia, Bogotá, managed to include the bicycle in its recent sustainable transportation efforts attaining a remarkable increase in bike ridership. The bicycle is one of the three general strategies that the city has recently implemented, along with car use reduction and transit prioritization. What is the story behind the urban cycling process in Bogotá? What were the actions and policies that led to an increase in the cycling share from 0.58% in 1996 to 9.10% in 2017? Through interviews with different actors that have operated in close relation to this process (officials, transportation experts, advocates, academics, and bicycle practitioners), we identify and analyze the key factors that influenced Bogotá’s increased bicycle use in recent years. Clear policies in mayors’ planning documents, a latent bicycle culture, advocacy groups, and continuity in effective local policies produced a series of processes that led the city to achieve high levels of bike ridership. In Latin American cities various successful cases promoting urban cycling have been undervalued and given little attention. Results can be relevant for other cities, especially in Colombian and Latin American settings, to promote the bicycle as a better sustainable transportation within the urban context.