This article focuses on the relationship between the physical structures which enable cycling in a city, and the modern digital services supporting this type of transport. The contemporary urban ...context is conditioned not only by global technological trends, but also by the growing environmental awareness. The case of Banjaluka provides the background for the analysis of this ongoing urban process, emphasizing the importance of cycling, as well as the efficiency and functionality of its networks. After presenting the general condition and physical features of the cycling infrastructure in Banjaluka, the article analyzes both the potential of digital upgrading through the use of bicycle applications and the possible benefits of a dockless cycling system. As a result, suggestions and recommendations for the overall improvement of the cycling network are provided, on the level of both the physical and digital infrastructure. By introducing these emerging global concepts to the local level, the article also contributes to the popularization of cycling as a sustainable mode of transport.
Sociological studies of sustainable transformation have highlighted the relevance of ‘unequal’ and ‘uneven’ transformation dynamics. We argue that a practice-based approach provides far more insight ...into such unequal dynamics than currently recognized. We re-interpret the political concepts of agonism, antagonism and historic bloc that Gramsci used to analyse domination in order to theorize practice constellations and dynamics that are responsible for the perpetuation of unsustainable practices and the suppression of sustainable ones. Based on empirical findings, we also expand his vocabulary by introducing the concept of synergy. Using the example of urban cycling in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, we propose a Gramscian-inspired account of power and domination in practices as a way of understanding inequality in transformation efforts.
The use of the bicycle as an active means of transport is a way of increasing people’s time for physical activity and should therefore be promoted in educational and work contexts. The aim of this ...research was to evaluate the effectiveness of the urban cycling programme in a sample of 63 university subjects (n=63), 31 women and 32 men, using standardised instruments with pre- and post-intervention measures of a theoretical-practical nature. The instruments considered conceptual and attitudinal aspects, self-perception of skills, and self-assessment of physical condition. The results showed statistically significant differences (p > 0,05) in all the measurements made. In test 1 (traffic rules and cycling behaviour; in test 2 (BPNES), 0.0057; and in test 3 (IFIS), 0.0113 which means that the urban intervention programme is an effective method to increase knowledge, skills and improve physical condition in the university students who participated in the experience.
El uso de la bicicleta como medio de transporte activo es una forma de incrementar el tiempo de actividad física en las personas, por lo que se debe promover en los contextos educativos y laborales. El objetivo de la presente investigación fue evaluar la efectividad del programa de ciclismo urbano en una muestra 63 sujetos universitarios (n=63), 31 mujeres y 32 hombres, a partir de instrumentos estandarizados con medidas pre y post a una intervención de carácter teórico-práctica. Los instrumentos consideraron aspectos conceptuales, actitudinales, autopercepción de habilidades, y autoevaluación de la condición física. Los resultados evidenciaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas (p > 0,05) en todas las mediciones realizadas. En el test 1 (normas de circulación y comportamiento ciclista; en el 2 (BPNES), 0,0057; y en el 3 (IFIS), 0,0113 lo que se traduce en que el programa de intervención urbano es un método efectivo para aumentar los conocimientos, las habilidades y mejorar la condición física en los estudiantes universitarios que participaron en la experiencia.
•Cycling behaviour remains a key issue to understanding riders’ safety outcomes.•The CBQ has been widely used as a behavioural questionnaire for this purpose, although never cross-culturally ...validated.•This study examines its psychometric features, reliability indexes, validity insights and descriptive scores in five regions.•The questionnaire has shown good psychometric properties and validity indicators across regions.•The CBQ could be a valuable tool for targeting road behaviours among cyclists from all these regions.
Given different advances in applied literature, risky and positive behaviours keep gaining ground as key contributors for riding safety outcomes. In this regard, the Cycling Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ) represents one of the tools available to assess the core dimensions of cycling behaviour and their relationship with road safety outcomes from a behavioural perspective. Nevertheless, it has never been psychometrically approached through a cross-cultural perspective. Therefore, this study aimed to perform the cross-cultural validation of the CBQ, examining its psychometric properties, reliability indexes, validity insights and descriptive scores in 19 countries distributed across five regions: Europe, America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. For this purpose, it was used the data retrieved from a full sample of 7,001 urban cyclists responding to a large-scale electronic survey. Participants had a mean age of M = 36.15 (SD = 14.71), ranging between 16 and 83 years. The results of this large-scale study empirically support the assumption that the 29-item version of the CBQ has a fair dimensional structure and item composition, good internal consistency, reliability indexes, and an interesting set of validity insights. Among these results, there can be highlighted that: (i) Structurally speaking, the questionnaire works better under a three-factor dimensionality, keeping all its 29 items, whose factor loadings are >0.400 in all cases; (ii) The CBQ shows greater reliability indexes than in previous applications using smaller samples, with good Cronbach’s alphas 0.768 - 0.915, McDonald’s omegas 0.770 - 0.913 and Composite Reliability Indexes 981 - 0.994; and (iii) Robust tests comparing riding behaviours of riders with different levels of risk perception and crash involvement support the concurrent validity of the Cycling Behaviour Questionnaire. These outcomes endorse the usefulness of the CBQ to assess both risky and positive riding behaviours of cyclists in different countries, contributing to assess and improve cycling safety from the human factors approach.
•We investigate a large survey concerned with subjective safety during urban cycling.•On narrow cycling lanes, wide boards at the cost of lane width are not appreciated.•The subjective safety on wide ...cycling lanes benefits from additional buffers.•Physical demarcations enhance the subjective safety of cycling lanes significantly.•These implications are limited to the subjective safety of cyclists.
There is ample evidence that adequate cycling infrastructure increases cyclists’ safety. There is less research to what extent the specific design of cycling lanes affects subjective safety. We address this question by analysing data from a large-scale online survey, where participants rated images illustrating a wide range of cycling infrastructure designs for the anticipated level of subjective safety when imagining to cycle at the displayed location. Cycling tracks are perceived as safer than cycling lanes, which in turn are preferred over cycling on the street. Physical separations from the car lane, a greater lane width, and a coloured surface contribute most to a high subjective safety of cycling lanes. Additional buffers on the left- and right side of cycling lanes can have varying effects. On narrower cycling lanes, people experience extensive buffer designs as rather constraining and as impairing their safety. Combining several safety features (i.e. a sufficient demarcation of the left buffer and a coloured surface) is not necessarily beneficial for subjective safety. Our findings are mostly in line with findings on the factors benefitting or impairing objective safety. However, the relation of subjective and objective safety requires further attention.
Cities with low cycling maturity (LCM) are cities with a small cycling modal share and little cycling infrastructure. Despite the increasing public interest in cycling as travel mode, LCM cities are ...still prevalent in the western world, and few research has been developed on which are the barriers and what lead people to bicycle in this type of cities, that still are changing. This research explores the motivators and deterrents to bicycle in Lisbon (Portugal), a city with a cycling modal share below 1%, and compares the perceived barriers to cycling between cyclists and non-cyclists, as well as the triggers and motivators to start cycling between the same groups.
Results from a survey (n = 1079) showed that both groups considered the issues related to the perception of safety, physical effort, the lack of a safe cycling network, and bicycle ownership as important barriers to take up cycling in Lisbon. We conclude that non-cyclists’ perceived barriers are similar to the barriers cyclists had before they changed behavior. In contrast, the self-reported triggers that induced cyclists to take up cycling are not similar to the expectations that non-cyclists have of what would, or could, change their behavior. Nevertheless, the expected motivators stated by non-cyclists are consistent with their perceived barriers, which are more community-oriented and not so much related to personal interests or needs. We analyzed the triggers for cycling for different generations of cyclists, taking into consideration specific public policies and infrastructure investments that promote bicycling. Triggers vary over time, and they should also change as cities transition to higher cycling maturity levels.
This research and conclusions may support the design of policies in order to increase cycling levels in LCM cities by acknowledging the barriers and motivations of potential new cyclists and learn from current cyclists.
•Cyclists' and Non-Cyclists’ barriers and motivators to bicycle were compared in a low cycling maturity environment context.•Cyclists' and Non-Cyclists’ barriers to bicycle were very similar, however the motivators to bicycle were not similar.•Non-Cyclists' motivators to bicycle are related to their perveived barriers.•Personal concerns and health related interests were relevant triggers for Cyclists.•Infrastructure and facilities were more relevant motivators for Non-Cyclists.•Cyclists' triggers change over time and are expected to change with cycling maturity levels of cities.
In recent years, the volume of studies in the fields of transport and urban planning seeking to identify environmental determinants or correlates of cycling has expanded dramatically. This viewpoint ...wishes to put forward a provocative argument: namely, that while further research in this area might refine our theoretical understanding of certain issues, it is unlikely to deliver any fundamentally new policy-relevant insights as to what measures need to be taken in order to increase urban cycling rates. At present, the difficulties faced by the vast majority of cities across the world in encouraging cycling are not derived from a lack of theoretical knowledge, but are fundamentally practical and political in nature. From a practical perspective, I argue that we already know enough about what needs to be done in order to encourage cycling in the vast majority of urban contexts. The problem with the seemingly endless proliferation of research on the relationship between cycling and environmental characteristics, I suggest, is that it risks giving the impression that there is some fundamental unresolved uncertainty about what is needed to make a city more cycling-friendly, when this is simply not the case. Instead of focusing on cycling itself, I suggest that exploring the phenomenon of traffic evaporation may be a more fruitful way for researchers to advance the cause of urban cycling.
The development of velonomy is a complex process of getting at ease with the various components of cycling practices: moving, using, repairing, etc. Communities of practices enable the circulation of ...knowledge et resources needed for the development of practices. Three communities of practices were studied in the metropolis of Lyon: networks of relatives, community repair workshops and online social networks. These three communities of practices are physical and virtual spaces that enable the socialization to urban cycling. They facilitate the process of learning velonomy, and contribute to defining cycling identities, thus enabling civic commitment from cyclists. Communities of practice thus appear to be necessary for the development and sustaining of urban cycling practices.
•Most of the cycling in Warsaw is recreational.•Lack of proper infrastructure and safety on roads prevent more cycling.•Weather is a more important barrier for recreational than utilitarian ...cyclists.•A comprehensive set of policies is needed to make Warsaw “bike-friendly”.
Cycling in urban environments provides many benefits to people. However, planning of cycling infrastructures in large cities faces numerous challenges and requires better understanding of both the factors enabling cycling as well as barriers to it, determined by particular local context. While there is a growing body of research that tackle the bike transport related questions in Western Europe and the USA, there is relatively little research on that in Central Eastern Europe (CEE), in post-communist countries. In this study we used qualitative and quantitative methods to explore urban cyclists and non-cyclists opinions about the cycling, the perceived problems and obstacles, and perception of the on-going changes in bicycle transportation system in Warsaw, Poland. Although many people see potential advantages of cycling, it is mostly perceived as a leisure time activity. Those who do utilitarian cycling are more acutely aware of the benefits, such as rapidity and flexibility of this mean of transport. The main perceived barriers are linked to lack of good cycling infrastructure in the city, the feeling of insecurity linked to the behaviour of drivers, and to maintenance during winter. In conclusion, our research highlights both the opportunities and challenges linked to the development of improved cycle transportation system, suggesting the need for a range of policies, from the infrastructure improvements and comprehensive planning of the whole transportation system, to improving the driving culture that would support feeling of security of the cyclists.
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