Urban Bicycle Research Articles

Structural Design and Analysis of a Bicycle Stereo Garage

The design of a smart bicycle three-dimensional garage was proposed and designed. The mechanism uses a multi-bar linkage with a combination of universal joints to achieve multi-angle rotation of the mechanical claws and the function of holding and supporting the bicycle. At the same time, the underground garage is used. The design is designed to save land resources, and simulation calculations are performed to determine the feasibility of the relevant design and a movement analysis is carried out to provide a new idea for urban bicycle management.

Multichannel queueing behaviour in urban bicycle traffic


 
 
 The objective of this paper is to propose a method to analyse and describe cyclists’ behaviour at signalized intersections with specific focus on the multichannel (multi-lane) queue phenomenon. As we observed, cyclists form queues without a fixed-lane and FIFO discipline, for which the classical, car-oriented analytical approach becomes insufficient. Cyclists’ multichannel queueing behaviour is common and characterized by substantial degree of variability, especially in case of shorter queues which emerge regularly at cycle crossings. Although cyclist behaviour has been widely studied by transportation research community, their queueing behaviour picture is still incomplete. Namely, there is no method addressed to analyse the full scope of these phenomena and to quantify their impact on the cyclist queue performance.
 To bridge this gap, we introduce the technique to observe multichannel queues and report relevant observations, which we then complement with a methodological framework to analyse obtained results and provide a complete multichannel queue description. We video-record cyclists as they enqueue to one of multiple channels, form the queue and smoothly merge into a single lane again as the queue discharges. We apply the method to analyse results from a pilot study of 160 cyclists forming 50 queues in the city of Krakow, Poland. The proposed method allows us to analyse and quantify the observed queue performance and its characteristics: the number of channels, their emergence process, channel and queue lengths, discharge process with FIFO violations, starting and discharging times. Findings from pilot study reveal that both queue length and discharge times strongly depend on queue formation process.
 The contribution of this paper is the method to describe multichannel cyclist queueing behaviour, enriching current picture of bicycle flow and cyclists’ behaviour. Since the method has been developed on relatively short queues (up to 10 cyclists), findings included in this paper primarily refer to such queue sizes. Nonetheless, the method is formulated in a generic way, applicable also for longer bicycle queues. Possible practical implications are new estimates for queue lengths and discharge times - useful for bicycle infrastructure design and traffic engineering purposes.
 
 

The specificity of the city bicycle system on the example of the city of Radom

The article discusses the problem of the functioning of the urban bicycle system in the aspect of meeting transport needs in Polish cities. The principles of the system functioning in cities as well as the assessment of existing municipal bike systems in Poland and basic conditions for the functioning of the urban bike system in cities and the expectations of potential users of this system in the context of displacements are presented.

Force from Motion: Decoding Control Force of Activity in a First-Person Video.

A first-person video delivers what the camera wearer (actor) experiences through physical interactions with surroundings. In this paper, we focus on a problem of Force from Motion-estimating the active force and torque exerted by the actor to drive her/his activity-from a first-person video. We use two physical cues inherited in the first-person video. (1) Ego-motion: the camera motion is generated by a resultant of force interactions, which allows us to understand the effect of the active force using Newtonian mechanics. (2) Visual semantics: the first-person visual scene is deployed to afford the actor's activity, which is indicative of the physical context of the activity. We estimate the active force and torque using a dynamical system that can describe the transition (dynamics) of the actor's physical state (position, orientation, and linear/angular momentum) where the latent physical state is indirectly observed by the first-person video. We approximate the physical state with the 3D camera trajectory that is reconstructed up to scale and orientation. The absolute scale factor and gravitation field are learned from the ego-motion and visual semantics of the first-person video. Inspired by an optimal control theory, we solve the dynamical system by minimizing reprojection error. Our method shows quantitatively equivalent reconstruction comparing to IMU measurements in terms of gravity and scale recovery and outperforms the methods based on 2D optical flow for an active action recognition task. We apply our method to first-person videos of mountain biking, urban bike racing, skiing, speedflying with parachute, and wingsuit flying where inertial measurements are not accessible.

Landscape Analysis of Urban Bike Aerial Lanes—Take Xiamen Aerial Bike Lanes as an Example

The urban aerial bike lanes landscape not only provides convenient transportation for urban residents, but also shoulders the vital task of enhancing the urban image. And it has become an essential factor of the sustainable development of urban three-dimensional landscape. Through the research and analysis of the aerial bike lanes landscape in Yunding Road, Xiamen, this thesis summarizes the enlightenment and reference of the urban aerial bike lanes design, which is of great significance to the urban sustainable landscape development in the future.

Should traffic-related air pollution and noise be considered when designing urban bicycle networks?

This study was motivated by an interest in capturing the factors affecting the exposure of cyclists to ambient Ultrafine Particles (UFP), Black Carbon (BC), and noise (LAeq) across the entire bicycle network of the City of Toronto. Measurements were conducted along 270 km of unique roads, and we developed land use regression models and exposure surfaces. Median UFP, BC and noise levels recorded were 19,848 part/cm3, 1224 ng/m3, and 72.9 dB respectively. The average UFP and BC exposures along the biking routes (18,900 part/cm3 and 1130 ng/m3) were higher than the average levels measured at a fixed station located in downtown Toronto (13,300 part/cm3 and 809 ng/m3). The highest UFP and BC levels were experienced on dedicated bicycle tracks (30,000 part/cm3 and 1600 ng/m3 as median concentrations), while the highest noise levels occurred on major roads (median of 74 dB). In contrast, median levels on trails were 13,200 part/cm3, 535 ng/m3 and 70.2 dB, for UFP, BC, and noise. The exposure surfaces developed for the air pollutants and noise were intersected with the planned extensions to the bicycle network in the City of Toronto to evaluate the distributions of exposures expected across the future cycling network. We observe that the mean and median UFP, BC, and noise levels across planned facilities are equal to or significantly higher than the levels across the current network.

CICLISMO URBANO COMO DIREITO HUMANO À MOBILIDADE ATIVA NA CIDADE DE SÃO PAULO

O ciclismo urbano é um fenômeno recente valorizado como alternativa ao transporte motorizado individual. O objetivo do artigo é compreender os processos educativos do ciclismo urbano, decorrentes da prática social do cicloativismo atuante na cidade de São Paulo. Realizamos quatro entrevistas com pessoas que habitam e se locomovem de bicicleta neste município. A trajetória metodológica seguiu a modalidade fenômeno situado da Fenomenologia. Na construção dos resultados, as unidades de significado: a) luta por reconhecimento no direito de fruir o território em bicicleta; b) solidariedade com outrem no compartilhamento seguro das vias públicas; c) percepção do entorno e d) comunicação do movimento cicloativista resultaram na categoria “Pedalar como direito humano à mobilidade ativa na cidade”. Constatamos que, apesar do processo legítimo de diálogo, as demandas cicloativistas são pouco incorporadas às políticas públicas de mobilidade urbana por falta de representação institucional.

Quality of Bicycle Traffic Management at Urban Road Links and Signalized Intersections Operating under Mixed Traffic Conditions

This study proposes bicycle level of service (BLOS) models for the urban road links and signalized intersection approaches operating under heterogeneous traffic flow conditions prevailing in developing countries. Extensive data collection was carried out through field investigations, videography techniques, and perception surveys to inspect which parameters primarily affect the quality of bicycling in the mentioned facilities. As many as 74 road links and 70 intersection approaches of nine different Indian cities were included in the study locations. In addition, the perceived satisfaction ratings of 22,320 on-site bicyclists (i.e., 155 bicyclists from each site) were included in the database. These ratings ranged from 1 to 6 (excellent–worst bicycling conditions), and were used as the array of dependent variable in the model development process. Separate BLOS models were developed for road links and bicycle through movement at signalized intersections through the application of a novel evolutionary artificial intelligence technique, namely multi-gene genetic programming. The link model included eight significant variables in total whereas the intersection model included a total of seven. With compacted structures, both models represented excellent reliabilities in the present context and produced high coefficient of determination ( R2) values of above 0.86 with averaged observations. These models will help traffic planners and engineers to evaluate the service levels of urban bicycle facilities of developing countries. Statistical analysis of modeled parameters has reported that the traffic volume and crossing pedestrians have the highest influences on the quality of bicycle traffic management at urban road links and intersection approaches, respectively.

Institutional Modelling of Integrated PPT System in Urban Agglomerations

Urban agglomerations (centres with gravitating settlements in the suburbs) are examples of overpopulated urban structure with almost permanent peak load. Selection of public transport is the fundamental issue in planning the expansion of the existing one, or in constructing a new form of urban public transport system. Achieving a higher level of using mass public transport can also be inspired by building intermodal terminals (e.g. bus-train/urban railways/-car). However, apart from the urban railway, funicular, bicycle subsystem and maritime transport should be included as alternative public transport modalities as well. According to the problem described in this scientific paper, the suggested model is that of integration of all forms of public passenger service with a unique organisation, unified payment collection, integrated timetable, all included into a unique information system. The results of research in this paper indicate that the first step of integration of the public passenger transportation implies founding regional transport administration.

Bike helmets – a dangerous fixation? On the bike helmet’s place in the cycling safety discourse in the United States

Despite the increasing popularity of the bicycle as a mode of urban transport in the United States, compared to much of the industrialized West, the US cycling scene continues to struggle with a high fatality and severe injury rate, and comparatively low levels of cycling. In contrast to the most bicycle-friendly countries, which have achieved high rates of safe cycling not through widespread adoption of bicycle safety helmets, but through bicycle-friendly infrastructure and policy, the US appears to have maintained a greater fixation on, and a higher rate of use of, bicycle helmets. In this paper, I seek to examine whether there is evidence of a helmet fixation, to sketch out the broad strokes of such a fixation as a discourse, and to offer an explanation of the effects of this discourse. Using a qualitative analysis of the official online presence of 25 US city planning departments relating to bicycling and bicycle safety, I first provide evidence that the helmet does in fact take a central place in the US urban bike safety discourse, and I characterize four rhetorical strategies used to encourage helmet use. I then argue that this helmet fixation is ultimately tied to the (re)production of unfettered automobility, and that it arguably hampers efforts to actually improve bicycle safety. I subsequently suggest implications for research, practice, and advocacy.

Rear Wheel Drive Recumbent Bicycle for Urban Transportation in a Tropical Emerging Country

Bicycle for urban transportation in emerging countries still relies on “upright” bicycle which is unchanged since the 20th century. In a tropical emerging country such as Indonesia, a bicycle must be ergonomically designed because it may be used in a long run. On the other hand, bicycle rider may face various traffic conditions. Additionally, weather makes trip become heavy and takes a lot of energy. This research aims to develop and test a new bicycle concept for an urban transportation in the tropical emerging country. A multi-criteria decision method was used to select a right bicycle concept. Then the concept was detailed into a bicycle design. We used biomechanics model and simulated finite element method to verify its frame strength. After the design verified, we built a full bicycle prototype and compare it with a commercially available urban bicycle with equal specifications. The comparison tests include physiological tests and a subjective test for several terrain and traffic conditions. The new concept is an ergonomic bicycle based on rear wheel drive recumbent bike. Based on the overall test result, it can be concluded that the new bicycle concept is promising and still appropriate for the next development.

Unpacking a citizen self-tracking device: Smartness and idiocy in the accumulation of cycling mobility data

Based on the Smart Cities imaginary, the bottom-up project Stgo2020 created a self-tracking device known as Rastreador Urbano de Bicicletas (or Urban Bicycle Tracker) to record the daily trips of cyclists in Santiago de Chile and use the data gathered to help government officials make better and data-driven decisions on cycling infrastructure planning. In this article, we examine the iterative design of this technology as well as its introduction into the everyday practices of cyclists. We argue that efforts to quantify the ordinary experience of cycling were overwhelmed and interrupted by an ecology of breakdowns, everyday contingencies, forgetfulness, and re-interpretations in the assemblage of devices, data, humans, and bicycles. These breakdowns generated incoherent or absurd bits of information that we call them as “idiotic data” based on recent conceptualizations of the character of the idiot. Significant displacements were provoked by these idiotic data, forcing the engineer behind the device to control and purify the sample by design and algorithms, waning the civic nature of the project at the same time. The case shows how new ways of knowing the urban space by smart devices should be not separated from the emergence of idiotic data, putting into question the versions of citizen participation and smartness at stakes.

Longitudinal evaluation of travel and health outcomes in relation to new bicycle infrastructure, Sydney, Australia

Abstract Background This study sought to evaluate the health and transport impacts of urban bicycle infrastructure for transport through a commuting corridor in Sydney, Australia. Methods An online survey and seven-day travel diary collected health and travel data from intervention area residents, and residents of a control area with similar characteristics and distance from the city, at baseline (n = 846), and follow-up, four months (wave 2; n = 512) and 16 months (wave 3; n = 418) post-construction. Multilevel regression modelling was used to compare changes over time with distance from the cycleway. Results In wave 3 24.5% of the intervention group reported using the new cycleway. Residents who started using the cycleway predominantly lived within 1 km of the cycleway (62%); however 13% of users in wave 3 lived more than 3 km from the cycleway. Frequent cycling (weekly) was strongly associated with use of the cycleway (p Conclusions Cycling participation has been decreasing in Sydney and Australia in recent years; however, urban bicycle transport infrastructure can have a positive impact on cycling, particularly urban cycling for transport, and has the potential to improve health and transport outcomes for city residents.

Understanding bicycling in cities using system dynamics modelling.

BackgroundIncreasing urban bicycling has established net benefits for human and environmental health. Questions remain about which policies are needed and in what order, to achieve an increase in cycling while avoiding negative consequences. Novel ways of considering cycling policy are needed, bringing together expertise across policy, community and research to develop a shared understanding of the dynamically complex cycling system. In this paper we use a collaborative learning process to develop a dynamic causal model of urban cycling to develop consensus about the nature and order of policies needed in different cycling contexts to optimise outcomes.MethodsWe used participatory system dynamics modelling to develop causal loop diagrams (CLDs) of cycling in three contrasting contexts: Auckland, London and Nijmegen. We combined qualitative interviews and workshops to develop the CLDs. We used the three CLDs to compare and contrast influences on cycling at different points on a “cycling trajectory” and drew out policy insights.ResultsThe three CLDs consisted of feedback loops dynamically influencing cycling, with significant overlap between the three diagrams. Common reinforcing patterns emerged: growing numbers of people cycling lifts political will to improve the environment; cycling safety in numbers drives further growth; and more cycling can lead to normalisation across the population. By contrast, limits to growth varied as cycling increases. In Auckland and London, real and perceived danger was considered the main limit, with added barriers to normalisation in London. Cycling congestion and “market saturation” were important in the Netherlands.ConclusionsA generalisable, dynamic causal theory for urban cycling enables a more ordered set of policy recommendations for different cities on a cycling trajectory. Participation meant the collective knowledge of cycling stakeholders was represented and triangulated with research evidence. Extending this research to further cities, especially in low-middle income countries, would enhance generalizability of the CLDs.

A Network Model for an Urban Bike Sharing System

In this paper, we study and implement a model of the “ToBike” bike sharing system, located in the city of Turin, Italy. The system is modeled through a closed queuing network. A thorough data analysis phase is executed on the logged dataset provided by the service provider, to assess the stationarity properties of the system and to estimate the system parameters. In particular, customer arrival rates, not directly available, are estimated from station throughput measurements through a sparse optimization technique. The parameters are then used to perform predictions of the system behavior over an unseen validation dataset. While the accuracy provided by asymptotic methods, like mean value analysis, is quite limited, numerical simulations of the closed queueing network offer viable predictions, especially when realistic behavioral patterns for the customer behavior are considered.

Community Impacts of Bicycle Infrastructure: A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of a New Urban Cycleway in Sydney, Australia

Background There is a need to better understand the causal impact of building urban bicycle paths for transport on travel and physical activity behaviour as this is likely to differ to recreational paths and associated behaviours. A new 2.4km bi-directional cycleway, separated from road traffic, was built in residential inner-city Sydney, Australia in 2014 and provided an opportunity to explore these questions. Methods As a natural experiment, a longitudinal online survey and seven-day travel diary were used to collect health and travel data from residents within the intervention and control area of similar demographics and distance from city, at baseline (n=846), four (wave 2; n=512) and 16 months (wave 3; n=418) post-construction. Multilevel regression modelling was used to compare changes in travel, physical activity, quality of life and social outcomes over time with distance from the cycleway. Results Over half (60%) of the intervention sample were aware of the cycleway wave 2 and one fifth reported using it (n=55). By wave 3, 24.5% of the intervention sample and 7% of the comparison group had used it. Study participants who started using the new cycleway predominantly lived within the intervention area [OR:3.93 (95%CI:1.51-10.23), p Frequent cycling (weekly) was strongly associated with use of the cycleway (AOR(95%CI): 47.01 (8.66-255.19); p 0.1). Conclusions Cycling participation has been decreasing in Sydney and Australia in recent years; however, urban bicycle transport infrastructure can have a positive impact on cycling. While changes in health outcomes were not observed in the intervention sample, there is potential for change as communities learn to interact with the new infrastructure.

Development Status and Suggestion of China Urban Bicycle Transport

Development Status and Suggestion of China Urban Bicycle Transport

Variability of Black Carbon and Ultrafine Particle Concentration on Urban Bike Routes in a Mid-Sized City in the Po Valley (Northern Italy)

Cyclists might experience increased air pollution exposure, due to the proximity to traffic, and higher intake, due to their active travel mode and higher ventilation. Several local factors, like meteorology, road and traffic features, and bike lanes features, affect cyclists’ exposure to traffic-related pollutants. This paper investigates the concentration levels and the effect of the features of the bike lanes on cyclists’ exposure to airborne ultrafine particulate matter (UFP) and black carbon (BC) in the mid-sized city of Piacenza, located in the middle of the Po Valley, Northern Italy. Monitoring campaigns were performed by means of portable instruments along different urban bike routes with bike lanes, characterized by different distances from the traffic source (on-road cycle lane, separated cycle lane, green cycle path), during morning (9:00 am–10:00 am) and evening (17:30 pm–18:30 pm) workday rush hours in both cold and warm seasons. The proximity to traffic significantly affected cyclists’ exposure to UFP and BC: exposure concentrations measured for the separated lane and for the green path were 1–2 times and 2–4 times lower than for the on-road lane. Concurrent measurements showed that exposure concentrations to PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 were not influenced by traffic proximity, without any significant variation between on-road cycle lane, separated lane, or green cycle path. Thus, for the location of this study PM mass-based metrics were not able to capture local scale concentration gradients in the urban area as a consequence of the rather high urban and regional background that hides the contribution of local scale sources, such as road traffic. The impact of route choice on cyclists’ exposure to UFPs and BC during commuting trips back and forth from a residential area to the train station has been also estimated through a probabilistic approach through an iterative Monte Carlo technique, based on the measured data. Compared to the best choice, a worst-route choice can result in an increased cumulative exposure up to about 50% for UFPs, without any relevant difference between cold and warm season, and from 20% in the cold season up to 90% in the warm season for equivalent black carbon concentration (EBC).

Bicycle network design: model and solution algorithm

Abstract We propose an optimization framework for urban bicycle network design. The model takes into account interests of the users (who travel along shortest paths) and the planners (available budget). An underlying network composed by street segments suitable to build cycling infrastructure is taken as input. Each network link has construction and user cost, both proportional to the distance. A network link without cycling infrastructure which is part of a path followed by users, has a larger user cost. A multi-commodity network flow mixed-integer mathematical program is proposed and applied to small-sized problem instances to validate the model. The formulation considers the discontinuities of the bicycle network, i.e. the users’ paths which include segments without cycling infrastructure. Sensitivity analysis are performed with respect to budget levels and to penalization of user’s cost in links without cycling infrastructure. A metaheuristic is proposed to handle large-sized instances. As an additional feature (difficult to formulate in the exact model), the metaheuristic also minimizes the total number of discontinuities by including them into the objective function. The accuracy of the metaheuristic is estimated by comparing with exact results when possible. The methodology is tested using data from the city of Montevideo, Uruguay, including a large-sized underlying street network and origin-destination trips estimated from a household survey. Computational results are obtained with and without minimization of discontinuities, and they are compared with the current bicycle network of the city.

Construction sociospatiale de capabilités sexuées aux pratiques urbaines du vélo

Teenage girls are significantly fewer than boys to not practice and not master basic urban bicycle skills. This can be partly explained by the fact that girls are generally very early socialized to avoid physical risk-taking and to invest in confined spaces. Then educated throw more supervised outings than boys, they are additionally rarely equipped with bicycles that facilitate turbulent practices. In parallel, they incorporate ways of thinking affecting their urban physical activities alternatives (capabilities) - particularly gendered in priority neighborhoods. Thus, although bicycle symbolizes for the most regular teenage practicing girls, an “access liberator” to the town, it represents a support of the public space male domination by body.