Unified, Low-Cost Analysis Framework For The Cycling Situation In Cities (original) (raw)
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Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2017
Cycling as a mode of transportation is increasingly being advocated due to the many positive effects it has on people's health, the environment and to counteract increasing congestion on the transportation infrastructure. There is a long tradition of using cycling as a mode of transportation among the Danish public and this is widespread across people with different socio-demographic characteristics. Copenhagen has an extensive network of cycling facilities and is often used as a role model for other large cities when developing cycling facilities. This setting provides a unique basis for investigating bicycle commuters' preferences for route characteristics and crowding in particular, which is not studied before, but likely to become an issue around the world's cities with increases in number of bicyclists. The study is based on a choice experiment of 3891 active cyclists in Copenhagen. The investigated attributes are cycle track, crowding, stops, environment/ road type, green surroundings, and travel distance which is used as a payment vehicle to gain more desirable route characteristics. On average people state that they are willing to cycle 1.84 km longer if the route has a designated cycle track, and 0.8 km more if there are green surroundings too. Stops and crowding, based on number of cyclists on the route, have significant negative impacts on people's utility of a given route. People were willing to cycle one kilometre longer to avoid high levels of crowding and approximately 1.3 km longer to avoid routes with many stops. The most attractive road environment is a segregated path only for cyclists closely followed by shopping street. Looking into heterogeneity, we find that people who own a car have less disutility of cycling additional distance. The results may support future decision making when creating new infrastructure for cycling in cities by addressing the perceived importance of facilities and crowding in a population where commute cycling is very widespread.
Route choices of transport bicyclists: a comparison of actually used and shortest routes
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2014
Background: Despite evidence that environmental features are related to physical activity, the association between the built environment and bicycling for transportation remains a poorly investigated subject. The aim of the study was to improve our understanding of the environmental determinants of bicycling as a means of transportation in urban European settings by comparing the spatial differences between the routes actually used by bicyclists and the shortest possible routes. Methods: In the present study we examined differences in the currently used and the shortest possible bicycling routes, with respect to distance, type of street, and environmental characteristics, in the city of Graz, Austria. The objective measurement methods of a Global Positioning System (GPS) and a Geographic Information System (GIS) were used. Results: Bicycling routes actually used were significantly longer than the shortest possible routes. Furthermore, the following attributes were also significantly different between the used route compared to the shortest possible route: Bicyclists often used bicycle lanes and pathways, flat and green areas, and they rarely used main roads and crossings. Conclusion: The results of the study support our hypothesis that bicyclists prefer bicycle pathways and lanes instead of the shortest possible routes. This underlines the importance of a well-developed bicycling infrastructure in urban communities.
Integrating Bicycle Travel Demand into a Land-Use and Transport Model of the Greater Boston Area
2020
In the last decades, travel demand models have progressed with tremendous development and are now routinely used to support planning and public policy decisions. However, active modes have often been overlooked and rarely considered as part of the solution to improve the global quality of the transportation system. This thesis is concurrent to the renaissance of active mobility in major cities and is motivated by the fact that the bicycle mode, in particular, has been scarcely documented and researched yet, even though it is a resourceful mode of transportation for the city and urban areas. This research explores the profiles of the cyclists and the elements that make an environment "cycling friendly", first by assessing the perception of urban form convenience, and second by inte- grating bicycle as an additional alternative of the choice set in a land-use and transport model of the Greater Boston Area. The estimation and test of the mode choice models show that socioecon...
BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2011
Background: Route environments can positively influence people's active commuting and thereby contribute to public health. The Active Commuting Route Environment Scale (ACRES) was developed to study active commuters' perceptions of their route environments. However, bicycle commuters represent a small portion of the population in many cities and thus are difficult to study using population-based material. Therefore, the aim of this study is to expand the state of knowledge concerning the criterion-related validity of the ACRES and the representativity using an advertisement-recruited sample. Furthermore, by comparing commuting route environment profiles of inner urban and suburban areas, we provide a novel basis for understanding the relationship between environment and bikeability. Methods: Bicycle commuters from Greater Stockholm, Sweden, advertisement-(n = 1379) and street-recruited (n = 93), responded to the ACRES. Traffic planning and environmental experts from the Municipality of Stockholm (n = 24) responded to a modified version of the ACRES. The criterion-related validity assessments were based on whether or not differences between the inner urban and the suburban route environments, as indicated by the experts and by four existing objective measurements, were reflected by differences in perceptions of these environments. Comparisons of ratings between advertisement-and street-recruited participants were used for the assessments of representativity. Finally, ratings of inner urban and suburban route environments were used to evaluate commuting route environment profiles. Results: Differences in ratings of the inner urban and suburban route environments by the advertisement-recruited participants were in accord with the existing objective measurements and corresponded reasonably well with those of the experts. Overall, there was a reasonably good correspondence between the advertisement-and streetrecruited participants' ratings. Distinct differences in commuting route environment profiles were noted between the inner urban and suburban areas. Suburban route environments were rated as safer and more stimulating for bicycle-commuting than the inner urban ones. In general, the findings applied to both men and women. Conclusions: The overall results show: considerable criterion-related validity of the ACRES; ratings of advertisement-recruited participants mirroring those of street-recruited participants; and a higher degree of bikeability in the suburban commuting route environments than in the inner urban ones.
The Gross Potential for Cycling: planning for human scale urban mobility
Transport in Human Scale Cities, 2021
The (re)turn to human scale cities is inseparable from the shift of mobility paradigms towards sustainable modes of transport. As car dominance steadily transformed what was once public space into road space (Sheller and Urry, 2003), growing congestion and pollution have decreased the quality of life and equity among citizens. Non-motorized transport, and especially cycling, is associated with higher levels of happiness and emotional wellbeing (Zhu and Fan, 2018). It has been framed as a means to democratize the city (Cox, 2019) and as a convivial tool that increases opportunities for social relationships (Illich, 1973, 1974), in addition to other widely recognized environmental and economic benefits. Cycling, therefore, establishes and ensures mobility on a human scale (Quee and Bijlsma, 2018). Nevertheless, despite the growing policy and academic interest in cycling, when compared with other modes of transport little attention has been paid to it (Heinen et al., 2010), and analysis and planning methods have not kept pace with demand (Kuzmyak et al., 2014). Promoting a modal shift towards cycling is a complex process, particularly in cities dominated by the car-centric paradigm, which cannot reproduce the path of champion cycling cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Starter cycling cities combine poor cycling conditions with low cycling rates (Dufour, 2010), where the lack of cycling culture and technical know-how limits strategies to sporadic interventions (such as hastily planned infrastructure or symbolic bike sharing systems). Long-term commitment is also weakened as cycling provision lacks the high profile of other infrastructure investments (such as, for example, the metro) and is associated with being 'cheap' (Aldred, 2013).
6. The Impact of Bicycling Facilities on Commute Mode Share
2008
A 2005 study by Barnes, Thompson, and Krizek examined how the addition of bicycling facilities during the 1990s influenced localized bicycle commuting rates in the Twin Cities. They found that new facilities had a small but consistent and statistically significant impact on increased rates of bicycle commuting in areas immediately surrounding these facilities. This study expands on these findings by applying the same methodology to six other cities that experienced new facility construction during the 1990s. The purpose is to determine whether results from the Twin Cities are consistent elsewhere and to identify possible contextual factors influencing facilities' impact on bicycle commuting rates in a given city. We conclude that the "build it and they will come" theory is not universally applicable; context factors are an important element in determining the effectiveness of new commuting facilities. Among the key factors we identified were the level of publicity surrounding new facilities, the utility of routes to commuters, and the overall connectivity of the city's bicycling network. This evidence will aid in the evaluation of bicycle facility investment as a congestion reduction strategy.
The economic value for cycling – a methodological assessment for Starter Cities
2020
The concerns about climate change, the effects of congestion and pollution in urban areas have led to the debate about the need for alternative mobility patterns in order to reduce the negative impacts of transport. At the same time, research on sustainable urban mobility highlights the value of cycling as a mean of transport and its economic, social and environmental benefits. Despite the proven benefits, investments in cycling are not always considered a priority, especially in contexts where cycling is residual, such as Portuguese cities, with an average modal share of 0.5%. In this context, the Boost project is developing a Starter Cities Roadmap to support planners and local authorities to promote bicycle use. This paper discusses Economic Value for Cycling (EVC) assessment model, developed to analyze the impacts of cycling or the promotion of cycling in the Portuguese economy, namely through the calculation of the bicycle industry value chain; economic impacts of reduced fuel ...
Journal of Transport & Health
While the annual number of trips of the average urban inhabitant has grown steadily in recent years, people are becoming less active while doing so. This lack of physical activity causes major health problems for individuals and great economic costs for society as a whole. Replacing short motorized trips by walking and cycling has been shown to increase physical activity in everyday life. The PASTA "Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches" project collected data in a longitudinal web-based survey with a cohort design to study the effects of active mobility on overall physical activity and health. An opportunistic sampling approach focusing on cyclists was applied to recruit more than 10000 participants in seven European cities, with half of them completing valid 1-day travel diaries at various time points. For this study, we compared 'cyclists' and 'non-cyclists' in terms of their overall travel behavior, physical activity and health. More than 2400 participants were identified as regular cyclists, 90% of which reached at least 30 min of active travel per day (the WHO´s recommended level) only by routine trips. When compared to non-cyclists, the share of women cycling regularly was lower; however, the share of people who had a driver's license and had at least sometimes access to a car was higher for regular cyclists. There were significant differences between cities in terms of cycling mode share, trip rates, trip duration and length, trip purpose and total physical activity, reflecting different geographical, economic, climatic and socio-cultural contexts.
Urban Cycling Tourism. How Can Bikes and Public Transport Ride Together for Sustainability?
Social Science Research Network, 2022
In the last years, sustainable travels have included bike tourists visiting cities to enjoy cultural and urban environments. Yet, when considering cycling tourists' intra-destination trips by motorized vehicles, the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could reduce the sustainability of those tourism experiences. In this paper we study the bike tourists' choice of visiting urban places and of using greener transport means, such as public transportation. By using 858 observations from an on-line survey on bike tourism in 2020 in Italy, we develop a bivariate probit model, considering socio-demographics, bike-related factors, travel characteristics, and the evaluation of cycling and accommodation features at destination. The odds of visiting cities are positively affected by travel features, e.g., picking foreign countries, travel groups, the length of stays, the availability of commercial and bike recovery services, but also negatively by road traffic. Notably, using public transportation is more likely for longer daily trips by bike, for low-cost tourists lodging in B&Bs, and for those having a higher sensitivity to bike-related services. Since we statistically found a linkage between the two choices, from a destination management perspective, our results support the sustainability claim for policies affecting them simultaneously.