IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v38y2004i7p531-550.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of bicycle use: do municipal policies matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Rietveld, Piet
  • Daniel, Vanessa

Abstract

Bicycle use varies strongly between countries, and even between municipalities within the same country substantial variations may exist. This paper analyses to what extent municipality policies matter in explaining these variations. It appears that most of the inter-municipality variation in bicycle use is related to physical aspects such as altitude differences and city size, and features of the population (share of youngsters). Differences in ethnic composition also appear to matter. Important policy-related variables are: the number of stops cyclists have to make on their routes; hindrances in road use; and safety of cyclists. In addition the relative position of bicycles with respect to cars (speed, parking costs) also appears to matter. These results shed light on various components of the cyclists' generalised costs, such as those related to accidents and physical efforts, that are not usually considered. We also conclude that cultural tradition, possibly related to ethnicity deserves a more explicit role in travel surveys and the analysis of travel behaviour than it usually receives.

Suggested Citation

  • Rietveld, Piet & Daniel, Vanessa, 2004. "Determinants of bicycle use: do municipal policies matter?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 531-550, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:38:y:2004:i:7:p:531-550
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965-8564(04)00038-2
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pucher, John & Komanoff, Charles & Schimek, Paul, 1999. "Bicycling renaissance in North America?: Recent trends and alternative policies to promote bicycling," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 625-654.
    2. Fajans, Joel & Curry, Melanie, 2001. "Why Bicyclists Hate Stop Signs," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt39h8k0x9, University of California Transportation Center.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pucher, John & Buehler, Ralph & Seinen, Mark, 2011. "Bicycling renaissance in North America? An update and re-appraisal of cycling trends and policies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 451-475, July.
    2. Vandenbulcke, Grégory & Dujardin, Claire & Thomas, Isabelle & Geus, Bas de & Degraeuwe, Bart & Meeusen, Romain & Panis, Luc Int, 2011. "Cycle commuting in Belgium: Spatial determinants and 're-cycling' strategies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 118-137, February.
    3. Echeverría, Lucía & Giménez-Nadal, J. Ignacio & Alberto Molina, José, 2022. "Who uses green mobility? Exploring profiles in developed countries," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 247-265.
    4. Jonas Larsen, 2017. "The making of a pro-cycling city: Social practices and bicycle mobilities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(4), pages 876-892, April.
    5. Spencer, Phoebe & Watts, Richard & Vivanco, Luis & Flynn, Brian, 2013. "The effect of environmental factors on bicycle commuters in Vermont: influences of a northern climate," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 11-17.
    6. Pucher, John & Buehler, Ralph, 2006. "Why Canadians cycle more than Americans: A comparative analysis of bicycling trends and policies," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 265-279, May.
    7. Vandenbulcke, Grégory & Thomas, Isabelle & de Geus, Bas & Degraeuwe, Bart & Torfs, Rudi & Meeusen, Romain & Int Panis, Luc, 2009. "Mapping bicycle use and the risk of accidents for commuters who cycle to work in Belgium," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 77-87, March.
    8. Gould, Gregory & Karner, Alex, 2010. "Modeling Bicycle Facility Operation: A Cellular Automaton Approach," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt4v04s5x4, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    9. Lundberg, Benjamin & Weber, Joe, 2014. "Non-motorized transport and university populations: an analysis of connectivity and network perceptions," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 165-178.
    10. Jessica Schoner & David Levinson, 2014. "The missing link: bicycle infrastructure networks and ridership in 74 US cities," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(6), pages 1187-1204, November.
    11. Santos, Georgina & Behrendt, Hannah & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2010. "Part II: Policy instruments for sustainable road transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 46-91.
    12. Ruiz, Tomás & Bernabé, José C., 2014. "Measuring factors influencing valuation of nonmotorized improvement measures," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 195-211.
    13. Lanzendorf, Martin & Busch-Geertsema, Annika, 2014. "The cycling boom in large German cities—Empirical evidence for successful cycling campaigns," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 26-33.
    14. Cui, Yuchen & Mishra, Sabyasachee & Welch, Timothy F., 2014. "Land use effects on bicycle ridership: a framework for state planning agencies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 220-228.
    15. Justine I Blanford & MGIS Geog 586 Students, 2020. "Pedal Power: Explorers and commuters of New York Citi Bikesharing scheme," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-15, June.
    16. Nkurunziza, Alphonse & Zuidgeest, Mark & Brussel, Mark & Van Maarseveen, Martin, 2012. "Examining the potential for modal change: Motivators and barriers for bicycle commuting in Dar-es-Salaam," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 249-259.
    17. Verma, Meghna & Rahul, T.M. & Vinayak, Pragun & Verma, Ashish, 2018. "Influence of childhood and adulthood attitudinal perceptions on bicycle usage in the Bangalore city," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 94-105.
    18. Tal, Gil & Handy, Susan L, 2008. "Children’s Bicycling to After-School Activities: The Case of the Davis AYSO Bike-to-Soccer Program," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt9rm842st, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    19. Ralph Buehler & John Pucher, 2012. "Cycling to work in 90 large American cities: new evidence on the role of bike paths and lanes," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 409-432, March.
    20. Bongiorno, Christian & Santucci, Daniele & Kon, Fabio & Santi, Paolo & Ratti, Carlo, 2019. "Comparing bicycling and pedestrian mobility: Patterns of non-motorized human mobility in Greater Boston," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:38:y:2004:i:7:p:531-550. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.