Infrastructure, programs, and policies to increase bicycling: an international review

Supporting children's participation in active travel: developing an online road safety intervention through a collaborative integrated knowledge translation approach

Even though regular engagement in physical activity (PA) among children can support their development and encourage the adoption of healthy lifelong habits, most do not achieve their recommended guidelines. Active travel (AT), or any form of human-powered travel (e.g., walking), can be a relatively accessible, manageable, and sustainable way to promote children's PA. One common barrier to children's engagement in AT, however, is a reported lack of education and training. To support children's participation in AT, this paper presents the development of a comprehensive 4-module online road safety education intervention designed to improve children's knowledge and confidence regarding AT. Using a qualitative integrated knowledge translation (iKT) approach undertaken with community collaborators (n = 50) containing expertise in health promotion, public safety, school administration, and transportation planning, our inductive thematic analysis generated fourth themes which constituted the foundation of the intervention modules: Active Travel Knowledge: Awareness of Benefits and Participation; Pedestrian Safety and Skills: Roles, Responsibilities, and Rules; Signs and Infrastructure: Identification, Literacy, and Behaviour; Wheeling Safety and Skills: Technical Training and Personal Maneuvers. Each theme/module was then linked to an explicit learning objective and connected to complementary knowledge activities, resources, and skill development exercises. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Unpacking the perceived cycling safety of road environment using street view imagery and cycle accident data

Cycling, as a routine mode of travel, offers significant benefits in promoting health, eliminating emissions, and alleviating traffic congestion. Many cities, including London, have introduced various policies and measures to promote 'active travel' in view of its manifold advantages. Nevertheless, the reality is not as desirable as expected. Existing studies suggest that cyclists' perceptions of cycling safety significantly hinder the broader adoption of cycling. Our study investigates the perceived cycling safety and unpacks the association between the cycling safety level and the road environment, taking London as a case study. First, we proposed novel cycling safety level indicators that incorporate both collision and injury risks, based on which a tri-tiered cycling safety level prediction spanning the entirety of London's road network has been generated with good accuracy. Second, we assessed the road environment by harnessing imagery features of street view reflecting the cyclist's perception of space and combined it with road features of cycle accident sites. Finally, associations between road environment features and cycling safety levels have been explained using SHAP values, leading to tailored policy recommendations. Our research has identified several key factors that contribute to a risky environment for cycling. Among these, the "second road effects," which refers to roads intersecting with the road where the accident occurred, is the most critical to cycling safety levels. This would also support and further contribute to the literature on road safety. Other results related to road greenery, speed limits, etc, are also discussed in detail. In summary, our study offers insights into urban design and transport planning, emphasising the perceived cycling safety of road environment.

Built for movement: Neighborhoods and adolescent physical activity behaviors, and the moderating role of socioeconomic position and gender

This study examined whether the built environment was associated with physical activity among adolescents in Oslo, Norway, and the role of socioeconomic position and gender as potential moderators of this association. We used data from 897 adolescents who participated in the TACKLE cross-sectional study conducted in 2020. Built environment features (recreational facilities, parks, forest, public transport, traffic calming devices, and schools) were assessed objectively using Geographical Information Systems. Physical activity data included device-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, total physical activity, and self-reported active transportation to school. Using general linear models and logistic regression, we found that most built environment features were unrelated to the participants' device-measured physical activity. Longer distances to school and to traffic calming devices were associated with decreased likelihood of participants reporting active transportation to school. Our moderated regression analysis showed that adolescents with low socioeconomic backgrounds seemed less affected by longer distances to school compared with their high socioeconomic counterparts. Furthermore, boys appeared to be more sensitive to traffic safety relative to girls. Implementing traffic calming devices may enhance active transportation to school and improve traffic safety for Norwegian adolescents.

Multi-dimensional impact of COVID-19 on active mobility in urban China: a scoping review of empirical knowledge

Active mobility, such as cycling and walking, is assuming a growing significance in the daily lives of urban residents in China due to its positive impact on health and the environment. The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic has elicited significant changes in behaviors, perceptions, and intellectual viewpoints in this domain, potentially altering residents' physical activities in the long-term. This scoping review seeks to delve into the multi-dimensional influence of the epidemic on active mobility in urban China. A thorough investigation of English and Chinese studies up to January 2024 was conducted, drawing from articles in Web of Science and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure. Only empirical studies providing knowledge into this subject were selected in the review, which comprised 20 studies in total. This review indicates that the influence of COVID-19 on active urban mobility in China has exhibited contradictory outcomes in terms of behavior. Besides, the experiences during the epidemic have significantly shaped citizens' attitudes and understanding of active mobility. The repercussions of the epidemic and the ensuing restrictions exacerbate the existing challenges faced by women, particularly those who are married, the older adult, and individuals with low incomes. The results exhibit both resemblances and idiosyncrasies when juxtaposed with prior research conducted in different nations. This analysis also offers valuable insights for improving active mobility across individual, organizational, and socio-political realms. The current state of empirical understanding in this field underscores the need for further research endeavors employing diverse methodological approaches and increased emphasis on the transformations anticipated in the post-epidemic era.

The ABC of mobility

The use of cars in cities has many negative impacts, including pollution, noise and the use of space. Yet, detecting factors that reduce the use of cars is a serious challenge, particularly across different regions. Here, we model the use of various modes of transport in a city by aggregating Active mobility (A), Public Transport (B) and Cars (C), expressing the modal share of a city by its ABC triplet. Data for nearly 800 cities across 61 countries is used to model car use and its relationship with city size and income. Our findings suggest that with longer distances and the congestion experienced in large cities, Active mobility and journeys by Car are less frequent, but Public Transport is more prominent. Further, income is strongly related to the use of cars. Results show that a city with twice the income has 37% more journeys by Car. Yet, there are significant differences across regions. For cities in Asia, Public Transport contributes to a substantial share of their journeys. For cities in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, most of their mobility depends on Cars, regardless of city size. In Europe, there are vast heterogeneities in their modal share, from cities with mostly Active mobility (like Utrecht) to cities where Public Transport is crucial (like Paris or London) and cities where more than two out of three of their journeys are by Car (like Rome and Manchester).

Does the Installation or the Improvement of Existing Outdoor Parks Increase Physical Activity Levels? A Systematic Review

Investment in outdoor parks is proposed as a promising large-scale strategy to promote physical activity (PA). This study aimed to systematically review the impact of park renovations or installing new ones in increasing PA. Searches were conducted using predefined terms in three databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) in March 2022. Studies examining the effectiveness of park renovations or developing new ones in increasing PA and having control or comparison were eligible for inclusion. Study quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Data were extracted from the included records using a predefined extraction table. The database search yielded 959 records, and 26 were included. For park renovations (n = 17), 11 (65%) studies presented findings supporting a positive effect on PA. The other six (35%) studies found no PA benefits when compared to control or pre-renovations/improvement levels. Regarding new installations (n = 9), five (56%) studies presented improvements in PA, and four (44%) did not. A promising positive impact of park renovations and new installations on park use and PA was observed. The review findings reflect the need to understand the context, daily routines, and interests of the surrounding population before renovating or installing new outdoor parks.

Benefits, risks, barriers, and facilitators to cycling: a narrative review

There is large potential to increase cycling participation worldwide. Participation in cycling is associated with lower risk of mortality from any cause, and incidence of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, as well as positive mental health and well-being. The largest potential for health gains likely to come from increasing participation amongst those who do not currently cycle regularly, rather than encouraging those who already cycle regularly to cycle more. Replacing car journeys with cycling can lead to reductions in air pollution emissions and lower pollutant exposure to the general population. Important gaps and uncertainties in the existing evidence base include: the extent to which the health benefits associated with cycling participation are fully causal due to the observational nature of much of the existing evidence base; the real-world economic cost-benefits of pragmatic interventions to increase cycling participation; and the most effective (combination of) approaches to increase cycling participation. To address these uncertainties, large-scale, long-term randomised controlled trials are needed to: evaluate the effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness, of (combinations of) intervention approaches to induce sustained long-term increases in cycling participation in terms of increases in numbers of people cycling regularly and number of cycling journeys undertaken, across a range of population demographic groups; establish the effects of such interventions on relevant outcomes related to health and wellbeing, economic productivity and wider societal impacts; and provide more robust quantification of potential harms of increasing cycling participation, such as collision risks.

Individual and environmental bicycling determinants during a pandemic

Introduction

Research has identified many factors associated with bicycling, but little is known on their relative influence for an individual's decision to bicycle or what led to the surge in bicycling during the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.

Methods

Our research leverages a sample of 6735 U.S. adults to identify key predictors and their relative influence on both increased bicycling during the pandemic and on whether an individual commutes by bicycle. LASSO regression models identified a reduced set of predictors for the outcomes of interest from 55 determinants included in the modeling.

Results

We find individual and environmental factors have a role in explaining the shift towards bicycling-with key differences in predictors for increased overall cycling during the pandemic compared to bicycle commuting.

Conclusions

Our findings add to the evidence base that policies can impact bicycling behavior. Specifically, increasing e-bike accessibility and limiting residential streets to local traffic are two policies that show promise for encouraging bicycling.

Ancestral and environmental patterns in the association between triglycerides and other cardiometabolic risk factors

BACKGROUND

West Africans and African Americans with substantial (∼80%) West African ancestry are characterized by low levels of triglycerides (TG) compared to East Africans and Europeans. The impact of these varying TG levels on other cardiometabolic risk factors is unclear. We compared the strength of association between TG with hypertension, blood pressure, BMI, waist circumference, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and fasting glucose across West African (WA), East African (EA), and European (EU) ancestry populations residing in three vastly different environmental settings: sub-Saharan Africa, United States, and Europe.

METHODS

We analysed data from four cross-sectional studies that included WA in sub-Saharan Africa (n = 7201), the U.S. (n = 4390), and Europe (n = 6436), EA in sub-Saharan Africa (n = 781), and EU in the U.S. (n = 8670) and Europe (n = 4541). Linear regression analyses were used to test the association between TG and cardiometabolic risk factors.

FINDINGS

Higher adjusted regression coefficients were observed in EU compared with WA ancestry for TG on hypertension (EU β [95% CI]: 0.179 [0.156, 0.203], WA β [95% CI]: 0.102 [0.086, 0.118]), BMI (EU β [95% CI]: 0.028 [0.027, 0.030], WA β [95% CI]: 0.015 [0.014, 0.016]), and waist circumference (EU β [95% CI]: 0.013 [0.013, 0.014], WA β [95% CI]: 0.009 [0.008, 0.009) (all ancestry × trait interaction P-values <0.05), irrespective of environmental differences within ancestry groups. Less consistency was observed among EA. Associations of TG with T2D did not follow ancestry patterns, with substantial variation observed between environments.

INTERPRETATION

TG may not be an equally strong associated with other established cardiometabolic risk factors in West and East Africans in contrast to European ancestry populations. The value of TG for identifying individuals at high risk for developing metabolic disorders needs to be re-evaluated for African ancestry populations.

FUNDING

National Institutes of Health, European Commission, Dutch Heart Foundation, Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Equity implications of electric bikesharing in Philadelphia

Bikesharing is an affordable mode of transportation and a potential tool to reduce car usage in cities. However, in many cities, bikesharing seems to be used mostly by affluent populations. Indego, Philadelphia's bikeshare, embraced the promotion of equity as part of its primary goals. While previous measures were not adequate for that cause, Indego decided to integrate e-bikes into its system to promote usage among current non-users. In this study, I examine how the integration of e-bikes influences Indego's usage in disadvantaged areas. For that purpose, I combined official publicly available data using spatial analysis methods. Furthermore, I used random forest and spatial negative binomial regression to examine factors associated with shared bicycle and e-bike usage in Philadelphia. The findings show that e-bikes increase the overall usage of Indego, specifically in disadvantaged areas. In these regions, the users use shared e-bikes for commute, leisure, and other utilitarian purposes, while in the rest of the city, users use e-bikes mainly for commuting. I conclude that the integration of e-bikes was successful in promoting bikesharing usage in disadvantaged areas.

A Naturalistic Study Assessing the Impact of Daytime Running Lights and Vehicle Passing events on Cyclist's Physiological Stress

Bicyclists are vulnerable road users who are at a greater risk for injury and fatality during crashes. Additionally, the "near-miss" incidents they experience during regular trips can increase the perceived risk and deter them from riding again. This paper aims to use naturalistic bicycling data collected in Johnson County, Iowa to: 1) study the effect of factors such as road surface type, parked vehicles, pavement markings and car passing events on cyclists' physiological stress and 2) understand the effect of daytime running lights (DRL) as an on-bicycle safety system in providing comfort to cyclists and highlight of their presence on the road to other vehicles. A total of 37 participants were recruited to complete trips over two weekends, one weekend with DRL and the other without DRL. Recruitment was specifically targeted toward cyclists who expressed discomfort riding in traffic. Data were collected using a front forward facing camera, GPS, and a vehicle lateral passing distance sensor mounted on the bicycle and a Empatica E4 wrist band (providing physiological data such as electrodermal activity; EDA) worn by the cyclist. Data from those sources were cleaned, processed, merged, and aggregated into time windows depicting car passing and no car passing events. Mixed effects models were used to study the cyclists' skin conductance response (phasic EDA) and baseline skin conductance level (tonic EDA). Car passing, parked vehicles, and roads with dashed centerline markings were observed to increase the cyclists stress. The use of DRL had negligible impact on cyclist stress on roads.

United States' universities are forgetting about equitable bicycle programming on campus

PURPOSE

Regular participation in bicycling offers many health benefits. Universities throughout the U.S. have a large proportion of underrepresented populations among students/employees (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, disabled) who participate in cycling at lower rates. The purpose of this study was to understand the current practices of universities for implementing equitable bicycling programming to their students/faculty/staff.

METHODS

A volunteer sample of U.S. university bicycle representatives (n = 19) were interviewed to analyze current practices, barriers, motivators, and future tools for equitable programming.

RESULTS

Multiple themes emerged from the interview, including barriers to programming such as lack of personnel and finances, as well as motivators such as partnering with off-campus organizations and connecting community/university infrastructures.

CONCLUSIONS

Although various barriers exist for universities which may present decreased equitable programming, university bicycle/alternative transportation departments should consider partnering with on and off-campus organizations rooted into underrepresented populations to better provide equitable programming to these populations.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and government intervention on active mobility

With data from automated counting stations and controlling for weather and calendar effects, we estimate the isolated impacts of the "first wave" of Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent government intervention (contact restrictions and closures of public spaces) on walking and cycling in 10 German cities. Pedestrian traffic in pedestrian zones decreases with higher local incidence values, and with stricter government intervention. There are ambiguous effects for cycling, which decreases in cities with a higher modal share of cycling, and increases in others. Moreover, we find impact heterogeneity with respect to different weekdays and hours of the day, both for cycling and walking. Additionally, we use data on overall mobility changes, which were derived from mobile phone data, in order to estimate the modal share changes of cycling. In almost all cities, the modal share of cycling increases during the pandemic, with higher increases in non-bicycle cities and during stronger lockdown interventions.

Shifting towards healthier transport: carrots or sticks? Systematic review and meta-analysis of population-level interventions

BACKGROUND

Promoting active travel can be beneficial for both health and the environment. However, evidence about the most effective strategies is inconsistent. We aimed to compare the effectiveness of interventions with positive (ie, carrot), negative (ie, stick), or a combination of strategies on changing population-level travel behaviour. We also aimed to identify which intervention functions, or mechanisms of how interventions seek to alter behaviour (eg, by addressing safety or accessibility), affect transport outcomes.

METHODS

For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched eight online databases for studies published before March 28, 2022: Web of Science, MEDLINE, Scopus, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, Global Health, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Transport Research International Documentation. We did not restrict searches by language or publication date. We included controlled before-and-after studies of population-level interventions and travel behaviours (ie, driving, public transport, walking, and cycling) from adults in the general population. We categorised interventions according to their function. Depending on whether gains or losses due to intervention function could occur, we classified interventions as carrot (eg, new bike-share programmes), stick (eg, congestion charging), or combined carrot-and-stick interventions (eg, pedestrianising areas by use of reallocated parking space). We used harvest plots to summarise the findings and guide narrative synthesis. Where possible, we converted outcomes into standardised mean differences and did random-effects meta-analyses.

FINDINGS

From 38 916 records screened, 102 reports describing 121 interventions met the inclusion criteria. 79 interventions were carrots, 22 were carrot-and-sticks, and 20 were sticks. Results for carrot interventions were less consistent than for stick or combined interventions. Findings from the meta-analysis (64 reports describing 67 interventions) agreed with those in the narrative synthesis; although effects were statistically non-significant, for driving outcomes, interventions with stick strategies (standardised mean difference [SMD] -0·17, 95% CI -0·36 to 0·02) and combined carrot-and-stick strategies (-0·13, -0·47 to 0·20) had point estimates of greater magnitude than those for interventions with carrot strategies (-0·10, -0·23 to 0·03). Likewise, for active travel outcomes, combined carrot-and-stick strategies had a higher point estimate (0·33, -0·01 to 0·68) compared with carrot interventions (0·08, -0·05 to 0·21). Functions thought to change behaviour using financial means were effective at decreasing driving behaviour, whereas those improving access, safety, and space were effective for increasing active travel outcomes.

INTERPRETATION

This Article found that, although transport interventions with only positive strategies are more commonly evaluated, interventions that combine both positive and negative strategies might be more effective at encouraging alternatives to driving at the population level. Further research is needed for interventions involving a stick strategy, which remain less widely implemented or well studied than those with only carrot strategies.

FUNDING

Medical Research Council, Cambridge Trust.

Protected and unprotected cycle lanes' effects on cyclists' behaviour

Previous research has suggested that in countries with low cycling rates, a barrier to cycling is the perception that cycling is unsafe. Unfortunately, this perception is accurate in many places, and protected cycle lanes have been advocated as a possible solution. Although some research shows that people tend to feel safer in them, there have been conflicting results regarding protected cycle lanes' safety benefits. Understanding the reasons protected cycle lanes may actually reduce safety is key to promoting active transport modes. One possible reason crash rates may increase is that cyclists may cycle faster in them due to either a decreased mental workload or from reduced perceptions of risk. In the present research, two studies were conducted to examine cyclists' speeds and perceptions of difficulty and safety in both protected and unprotected cycle lanes, as well as streets with no cycle lanes. The first study was an online questionnaire using short video clips from a cyclist's perspective, and the second study was an on-road experiment with a post-ride questionnaire. The studies found that cyclists felt safer with protected cycle lanes, were more willing to allow their children to bike on them and showed less concern towards hazards. There was no evidence of decreased attentional demand while using the protected cycle lanes, but there was some evidence of higher maximum cycling speeds.

The relationship between perceived built environment and cycling or e-biking for transport among older adults–a cross-sectional study

The built environment plays a key role in promoting active mobility for healthy aging. Encouraging active mobility among older adults, however, can be especially challenging in more rural areas where distances tend to be longer and infrastructure is favoring car traffic. The association of older adults’ perception of attributes of the built environment with cycling and e-biking for transport was investigated. The potential moderating effects of age, sex, and mobility impairments were explored. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in towns and communities of <100,000 inhabitants, including 2,144 participants (mean age: 74; 53% men). Three different cycling outcomes (any cycling/e-biking, frequency (≥3 days/week) and amount (minutes/week)) were analyzed among all cyclists and e-bike users separately, resulting in six dependent variables. The impact of ten environmental attributes on these outcomes was analyzed in separate models. Overall, street connectivity, and the proximity and number of destinations were most important. Only street connectivity and traffic safety were related to minutes cycling or e-biking per week. Cycling amount was higher overall for e-biking but fewer environmental attributes showed an association compared to any cycling, regardless of bicycle type. Traffic safety was not associated with four out of the six cycling outcomes and was inversely associated with minutes cycling or e-biking. Density was not related to any of the variables investigated. Several interaction effects of sex, age, and mobility impairments were found. Further research is needed on environmental attributes influencing e-bike use, the most important types of destinations, and a more differentiated assessment of perceived traffic safety in older adults.

Estimating the Health Effects of Adding Bicycle & Pedestrian Paths: Modeling At The Census Tract-Level (Preprint)

Background

Adding additional bicycle and pedestrian paths to an area can lead to improved health outcomes for residents over time. However, quantitatively determining which areas benefit more from bicycle and pedestrian paths, how many miles of bicycle and pedestrian paths are needed, and the health outcomes that may be most improved remain open questions.

Objective

Our work provides and evaluates a methodology that offers actionable insight for city-level planners, public health officials, and decision makers tasked with the question “To what extent will adding specified bicycle and pedestrian path mileage to a census tract improve residents’ health outcomes over time?”

Methods

We conducted a factor analysis of data from the American Community Survey, Center for Disease Control 500 Cities project, Strava, and bicycle and pedestrian path location and use data from two different cities (Norfolk, Virginia, and San Francisco, California). We constructed 2 city-specific factor models and used an algorithm to predict the expected mean improvement that a specified number of bicycle and pedestrian path miles contributes to the identified health outcomes.

Results

We show that given a factor model constructed from data from 2011 to 2015, the number of additional bicycle and pedestrian path miles in 2016, and a specific census tract, our models forecast health outcome improvements in 2020 more accurately than 2 alternative approaches for both Norfolk, Virginia, and San Francisco, California. Furthermore, for each city, we show that the additional accuracy is a statistically significant improvement (P<.001 in every case) when compared with the alternate approaches. For Norfolk, Virginia (n=31 census tracts), our approach estimated, on average, the percentage of individuals with high blood pressure in the census tract within 1.49% (SD 0.85%), the percentage of individuals with diabetes in the census tract within 1.63% (SD 0.59%), and the percentage of individuals who had >2 weeks of poor physical health days in the census tract within 1.83% (SD 0.57%). For San Francisco (n=49 census tracts), our approach estimates, on average, that the percentage of individuals who had a stroke in the census tract is within 1.81% (SD 0.52%), and the percentage of individuals with diabetes in the census tract is within 1.26% (SD 0.91%).

Conclusions

We propose and evaluate a methodology to enable decision makers to weigh the extent to which 2 bicycle and pedestrian paths of equal cost, which were proposed in different census tracts, improve residents’ health outcomes; identify areas where bicycle and pedestrian paths are unlikely to be effective interventions and other strategies should be used; and quantify the minimum amount of additional bicycle path miles needed to maximize health outcome improvements. Our methodology shows statistically significant improvements, compared with alternative approaches, in historical accuracy for 2 large cities (for 2016) within different geographic areas and with different demographics.

Is walking or riding your bike when a tourist different? Applying VAB theory to better understand active transport behavior

Active transport (walking and biking) has significant environmental, health, and social benefits. Despite the importance of active transport, theoretically framed research has not sufficiently considered what makes consumers walk or bike based on activity types, particularly in an Asian context. This is an important topic as it helps provides a basis for better targeted marketing and promotion to encourage greater public engagement with active transport. To fill this knowledge gap, this work applied the value-attitude-behavior (VAB) theory to understand walkers and bikers' behaviors in comparing tourism, leisure, and work activity. Results indicate that value on attitude has the greatest influence, followed by personal, and then social norm. Behavior for active transport is significantly influenced by personal norm, followed by attitude and social norm. Interestingly, from the three types of activities, the tourism group has the strongest relationship of value and attitude and the highest prediction for attitude and behavior.

Healthy Behavior and Environmental Behavior Correlate with Bicycle Commuting

Previous studies have identified that environmental awareness correlates with the choice of bicycle travel. However, few studies have considered the relationships with different types of healthy behaviors and environmental behaviors. This study examined the relationships between several healthy and environmental behaviors and the choice of bicycle commute using survey data. A total of 803 residents participated in this questionnaire survey. Using factor analysis, we constructed latent factors of healthy behaviors and environmental behaviors. Using a binary logistic regression model, we examined the relationship between latent factors and cycling usage, controlling for demographic characteristics. Factor analysis revealed three latent factors of healthy behaviors: “healthy diet”, “avoiding tobacco or overdrinking”, and “physical activity”. The latent factors of environmental behaviors were as follows: “household behavior” and “purchasing behavior”. The results showed that “avoiding tobacco or overdrinking”, “physical activity” and “purchasing behavior” correlated positively with bicycle commuting. Differences were also observed in relation to demographic characteristics.

COVID-19 as a window of opportunity for cycling: Evidence from the first wave

Across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to reconsider their habits in terms of how they work, how they interact with each other, and of their mobility. During lockdowns, mobility was in general significantly reduced. Means of collective transportation were used much less, and people preferred means of individual transport. Evidence from some cities suggests that people turned to cycling as a resilient and reliable option with a small risk of contagiousness. This spike in demand led some governments to respond by opening additional bike lanes, reducing the fees of bike-sharing systems, banning cars on selected streets, or giving monetary incentives for the purchase of new bikes. We analyze the bike traffic in Basel and Zurich, two major Swiss cities. Throughout the pandemic, no specific measure to promote cycling was implemented in any of the two cities; we can thus see latent demand patterns exposed when conditions change. As cycling depends on the season and weather, we incorporate these data and correct the traffic counts hereby. We can identify a distinct change in cycling traffic over the course of the day. During the lockdown period, relatively more traffic is observed in the afternoon, possibly associated with leisure activities. Furthermore, there is a short-term drop in the corrected cycling traffic and a fast recovery, demonstrating cycling as a resilient transport mode. Soon bike traffic reached pre-lockdown levels, but no significant increase could be identified, possibly attributed to the absence of explicit policy measures. We furthermore survey a panel of bike policy experts to identify policy actions that could be taken in Basel and Zurich to increase bike usage. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupts life as we know it, leading people to reconsider their travel choices. Given authorities' desire to increase bike usage, it represents a window of opportunity to test new policy measures, increase bike trips of active cyclists, and attract new cyclists. As long as this window is open, people are susceptible to policy measures to reconsidering past choices. However, if no policy measures are conducted during the pandemic, as in the case study, it is likely that bike usage is not increased in the long run. Authorities are well-advised to take this opportunity to strengthen cycling and to lead to a more resilient, accessible, safe, and sustainable urban transport system.

Uncertainty matters: Bayesian modeling of bicycle crashes with incomplete exposure data

BACKGROUND

One major challenge faced by neighborhood-level bicycle safety analysis is the lack of complete and reliable exposure data for the entire area under investigation. Although the conventional travel-diary surveys, together with the emerging smartphone fitness applications and bike-sharing systems, provide straightforward and valuable opportunities to estimate territory-wide bicycle activities, the obtained ridership suffers inherently from underreporting.

METHODS

We introduced the Bayesian simultaneous-equation model as a sound methodological alternative here to address the uncertainty arising from incomplete exposure data when modeling bicycle crashes. The proposed method was successfully fitted to a crowdsourced dataset of 792 bicycle-motor vehicle (BMV) crashes aggregated from 209 neighborhoods over a 3-year period in Hong Kong.

RESULTS

Our analysis empirically demonstrated the bias due to omission of activity-based exposure measures or to the direct use of cycling distance extracted from the travel-diary survey without correcting for incompleteness. By modeling bicycle activities and the frequency of BMV crashes simultaneously, we also provided new evidence that an expansion of bicycle infrastructure was likely associated with a significant increase in cycling levels and a substantial reduction in the risk of BMV crashes, despite a slight increase in the absolute number of BMV crashes.

CONCLUSIONS

Our approach is promising in adjusting for the uncertainty in raw exposure data, extrapolating the missing exposure values, and untangling the linkage among built environment, bicycle activities, and the frequency of BMV crashes within a unified framework. To promote safer cycling, designated facilities should be provided to consecutively separate cyclists from motor vehicles.

Structural, Psychological and Contextual Predictors of Car Use

Besides its undeniable advantages, personal car use generates a wide array of problems, among which its contribution to global warming is probably the most severe. To implement sound policies that are effective in reducing private car use, it is essential to first understand its important antecedents. Structural, psychological and contextual predictors were extensively studied independently, yet integrative approaches that investigate all these factors in a single theoretical model are lacking. The present study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of car use behavior by proposing a model that includes structural, psychological and contextual determinants and tests this model on an international sample of drivers (N = 414). Responses were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach. Results show that car use habits, perceived behavioral control, policy measures, fuel cost, infrastructure, temperature and level of precipitations significantly influence car use behavior. Such results support the inclusion of both structural (i.e., hard) and psychological (i.e., soft) factors in the design of policy interventions, while also considering contextual situations. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on bike-sharing demand and hire time: Evidence from Santander Cycles in London

The COVID-19 pandemic has been influencing travel behaviour in many urban areas around the world since the beginning of 2020. As a consequence, bike-sharing schemes have been affected-partly due to the change in travel demand and behaviour as well as a shift from public transit. This study estimates the varying effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the London bike-sharing system (Santander Cycles) over the period March-December 2020. We employed a Bayesian second-order random walk time-series model to account for temporal correlation in the data. We compared the observed number of cycle hires and hire time with their respective counterfactuals (what would have been if the pandemic had not happened) to estimate the magnitude of the change caused by the pandemic. The results indicated that following a reduction in cycle hires in March and April 2020, the demand rebounded from May 2020, remaining in the expected range of what would have been if the pandemic had not occurred. This could indicate the resiliency of Santander Cycles. With respect to hire time, an important increase occurred in April, May, and June 2020, indicating that bikes were hired for longer trips, perhaps partly due to a shift from public transit.

Transport changes and COVID-19: From present impacts to future possibilities

Changes in people's movement and travel behaviour have been apparent in many places during the COVID-19 pandemic, with differences seen at a range of spatial scales. These changes, occurring as a result of the COVID-19 'natural experiment', have afforded us an opportunity to reimagine how we might move in our day-to-day travels, offering a hopeful glimpse of possibilities for future policy and planning around transport. The nature and scale of changes in movement and transport resulting from the pandemic have shown we can shift travel behaviour with strong policy responses, which is especially important in the concurrent climate change crisis.

The effects of the built environment on the general health, physical activity and obesity of adults in Queensland, Australia

The built environment has been identified as a key factor for health intervention and obesity prevention. However, it is still unclear to what extent the built environment is associated with obesity and general health and to what extent such an association is mediated through variation in physical activity. This study aims to examine the associations between individual characteristics, the built environment, physical activity, general health and body mass index to reveal the pathways through which the built environment is associated with the prevalence of obesity. Using data from 1,788 adults aged 18 to 65 in Queensland from Wave 16 of the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, we use geographic information system-based methods to quantify built environment factors in 5D dimensions: Density, Diversity, Design, Distance and Destination accessibility. We then employ multi-level mixed-effect models to test the hypothesised relationships between individual characteristics, the built environment, physical activity, general health and body mass index. The results indicate that physical activity is positively associated with general health and negatively associated with the prevalence of obesity. Adjusting for individual characteristics, we find that built-environment factors have direct effects on physical activity but indirect effects on general health and obesity. Among these factors, greater green space exposure plays a key role in enhancing general health and reducing obesity. Low-density and car-dependent neighbourhoods can be activity-friendly and mitigate obesity if these neighbourhoods are also equipped with easy access to green space.

Citizens’ Perceptions in Relation to Transport Systems and Infrastructures: A Nationwide Study in the Dominican Republic

One of the challenges currently faced by emerging countries is to get their citizens to decide to use sustainable transport for their regular trips, in order to reduce the current vehicular pollution rates. The objective of this descriptive research is to examine the perceptions of Dominicans regarding the state of the country’s transport systems and road infrastructure. For this purpose, a nationwide survey procedure was performed. This cross-sectional research used the data retrieved from a sample of 1260 citizens aged over 18, proportional in gender, age, habitat, and province of the Dominican Republic. The results showed how Dominicans believe that, compared to other road features, pedestrian roads and public transport vehicles remain in a very poor condition. Further, citizens report to be more interested about the improvement of road infrastructures than in the implementation of any other set of measures performed to promote sustainable road mobility, including those related with alternative transport means. Finally, this study claims for the need of fostering educational, communicative and participative actions and measures aimed at increasing the value given to sustainable transportation, and the relevance of integrate potential structural and vehicular improvements with those related to human behavior in mobility.

An Integrative Review of Socio-Technical Factors Influencing Travel Decision-Making and Urban Transport Performance

Socio-technical systems have a very complex structure presenting multidimensional co-evolutionary dynamics between people and technical factors. Each urban area has a different sociocultural structure, where the built environment and user choices vary. Understanding how urban transportation is shaped by socio-technical factors as well as how these factors affect transportation users and system performance is important to support sustainable transportation planning. This paper aims to provide a holistic view of socio-technical factors shaping urban transportation for the use of transport planners and decision-makers. The current review focuses on understanding which alternative transport modes can be sustainable under specific socio-technical conditions and how to attract travelers toward these sustainable modes. Moreover, under which socio-technical conditions an urban transport system can minimize its socio-economic costs and environmental impacts are investigated. Furthermore, the interrelations among system dynamics, their influence on transport users as well as on system externalities are identified and integrated as a system model perspective for a holistic view.

Analysis of Bicycle-Motor Vehicle Crashes in San Antonio, Texas

Bicycling is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and healthful; however, bicyclist safety is a rising concern. This study investigates bicycle crash-related key variables that might substantially differ in terms of the party at fault and bicycle facility presence. Employing 5 year (2014-2018) data from the Texas Crash Record and Information System database, the effect of these variables on bicyclist injury severity was assessed for San Antonio, Texas, using bivariate analysis and binary logistic regression. Severe injury risk based on the party at fault and bicycle facility presence varied significantly for different crash-related variables. The strongest predictors of severe bicycle injury include bicyclist age and ethnicity, lighting condition, road class, time of occurrence, and period of week. Driver inattention and disregard of stop sign/light were the primary contributing factors to bicycle-vehicle crashes. Crash density heatmap and hotspot analyses were used to identify high-risk locations. The downtown area experienced the highest crash density, while severity hotspots were located at intersections outside of the downtown area. This study recommends the introduction of more dedicated/protected bicycle lanes, separation of bicycle lanes from the roadway, mandatory helmet use ordinance, reduction in speed limit, prioritization of resources at high-risk locations, and implementation of bike-activated signal detection at signalized intersections.

Sharing believable stories: A qualitative study exploring the relevance of case studies for influencing the creation of healthy environments

Case study examples can inform policy recommendations and action to create healthy environments. This qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews with nine cross-sectoral stakeholders in England, explored the role of context in case study examples. We found that case studies can not only be a 'practical example' but also used as a 'believable story' with the power to influence decision-making. Case studies may be deemed believable if similar and locally relevant, but judgements can be inherently political and politicised. Metrics used to measure case study outcomes can differ in believability. Storytellers who understand different audiences can be used to build support.

Promoting Bicycling in Car-Oriented Cities: Lessons from Washington, DC and Frankfurt Am Main, Germany

This paper compares bicycling in Washington, DC and Frankfurt am Main, Germany, two car-oriented cities that had adapted their urban transport system to car travel during the 20th century. Our comparative case study shows that both cities have been successful in increasing the percentage of trips made by bicycle between the late 1990s and 2018: Washington, DC from 1% to 5% and Frankfurt from 6% to 20% of trips. Both cities had detailed bike plans and specific mode share goals for bicycling. However, those plans were only used as guideposts for a step-by-step approach to bicycle promotion that focused on integrating bicycling into everyday decision making in transport, traffic engineering, and urban development. This step-by-step approach successfully garnered political, public, and administrative support over time. The downside of this incrementalist approach is that bike route networks in both cities still have many gaps because bikeway infrastructure was built when individual opportunities arose and not as part of an integrated network. Bicycle promotion in both cities used a combination of bikeway infrastructure and soft policy, including marketing measures. In both cities, the quality of newly installed bikeway infrastructure increased over time from simple bike lanes to protected bike lanes separating cyclists from traffic. In contrast to Washington, DC, Frankfurt has a longer history of car-restrictive policies and overall has been more strict in limiting car use.

Measuring changes in travel behavior pattern due to COVID-19 in a developing country: A case study of Pakistan

Travel behavior has been affected around the world since the eruption of corona virus disease (COVID-19). Several industries including transportation industry have been hard hit by the pandemic. As the virus is transmitted through close contact with infected people, number of outdoor trips has reduced causing roads and public transport to be less crowded than before. In order to develop transport-related policies for the post COVID-19 world, it is necessary to explore how the pandemic has affected the travel behavior pattern. This study explored the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel pattern and mode preferences in Pakistan using a questionnaire survey. The results showed significant shift in primary traveling purpose from work and studying to shopping during the pandemic. Number of trips performed for non-commuting purposes were also significantly different before and during the pandemic. A significant modal shift from motorbike to non-motorized modes of travel was found for distances less than 5 km. For longer distances, people shifted from public transport to private car. These findings suggest that past policies regarding different modes may be revisited in the post COVID-19 world. The statistical tests performed on the factors affecting mode choices indicated that the respondents put more priority on pandemic-related items such as infection concern, social distance, hand sanitizers' availability, and cleanliness, etc., during the pandemic. The findings of this study will certainly help in shaping up the policies for the post COVID-19 world especially in the developing countries.

Integrating health indicators into urban and transport planning: A narrative literature review and participatory process

Today, urban and transport planners face considerable challenges in designing and retrofitting cities that are prepared for increasing urban populations, and their service and mobility needs. When it comes to health-promoting urban and transport developments, there is also a lack of standardized, quantitative indicators to guide the integration of health components right from the outset, i.e. in the formal planning or zoning phase. We narratively reviewed the literature and organized stakeholder workshops to identify and tailor planning principles and indicators that can be linked to health outcomes. We defined four core planning objectives that previous authoritative studies have suggested to result in positive health outcomes among city dwellers, which are: I) development of compact cities, II) reduction of private motorized transport, III) promotion of active (i.e. walking and cycling) and public transport, IV) development of green and public open space. Built on the review and stakeholder consensus, we identified 10 urban and transport planning principles that work towards achieving the four core objectives thought to provide health benefits for European city dwellers. These 10 planning principles are: 1) land use mix, 2) street connectivity, 3) density, 4) motorized transport reductions, 5) walking, 6) cycling, 7) public transport, 8) multi-modality, 9) green and public open space, and 10) integration of all planning principles. A set of indicators was developed and tailored for each planning principle. The final output of this work is a checklist ready to be applied by urban and transport professionals to integrate health into urban and transport developments in urban environments right from the outset.

Is the built-environment at origin, on route, and at destination associated with bicycle commuting? A gender-informed approach

There is limited evidence on the gender differences and location-specific built-environment factors associated with bicycling in Latin American cities. This study aimed to assess commuting in Bogotá by (1) analyzing the gender-specific trend of the standardized number of bicycle commuters during 2005-2017; and (2) assessing the socio-demographic, community, built-environment and natural factors associated with bicycle commuting stratified by gender. This secondary-data analysis included data from the Household Travel Surveys and Multipurpose Surveys to calculate the number of bicycle commuters per habitant from 2005 to 2017 by gender. We assessed the socio-demographic and built-environment factors fitting generalized additive models stratified by gender using the 2015 Household Travel Survey. Although both women and men increased the standardized number of bicycle commuters, male commuters show a steeper trend than women, evidencing the widening gender gap in bicycle commuting over time. Bicycle commuting was negatively associated with household motor vehicle ownership, steeper terrain slope, longer commute distance, and scarce low-stress roads at trip origin and route. Among women, the availability of bike paths at the trip destination was positively associated with bicycling, while age and being a student were negatively associated with bicycling. Among men, living in areas with the lowest socio-economic status was positively associated with bicycling, while having a driver's license and living close to bus rapid transit stations were negatively associated with bicycling. In conclusion, bicycle and transport infrastructure play different roles in commuting by bicycle by gender and trip stages (origin - route - destination).

Determinants of bicycle commuting and the effect of bicycle infrastructure investment in London: Evidence from UK census microdata

Worldwide, concern about physical inactivity and excessive car dependence has encouraged ambitious targets and policies to promote cycling. But policy making is hindered by limited knowledge about why cycling prevalence and trends vary greatly between different geographic areas (e.g. in London (UK) <1% cycle to work in Harrow compared to>15 % in Hackney) and individuals (e.g. by age or gender). The role of cycle infrastructure investment in explaining part of these patterns and trends is also unknown. We linked individual-level data on 317,117 London commuters (including 11,199 cyclists) in the 2001 and 2011 UK census to relevant geographic data, including on area-level cycling infrastructure investment during the period. Whilst cycle commuting increased over time on average, concentration curves and indices demonstrated that in contrast with England as a whole, cycling in London shifted from being dominated by commuters with lower socioeconomic status to commuters with higher socioeconomic status. In our first set of regression analyses, we showed that observed differences and time trends in cycling prevalence were partially explained by area-level differences in topography, greenspace, footpaths and crime levels and by differences and changes in population structures. In the second, we conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis which showed that expenditure on cycling infrastructure was associated with increased cycling at a marginal rate of £4915 per additional commuter cyclist, with some variation between groups: ethnic minorities were more responsive, and females, older people and those with lower socioeconomic status appeared less responsive. If planned increases in expenditure in England for the period 2020-25 were as cost-effective, and were sustained for the whole decade, our study suggests that commuter cycling prevalence could increase in England by 0.5 to 1.1 percentage points (this equates to a 16% to 34% increase in commuter cycling prevalence if compared to 2011 levels). More research is necessary to assess the impact on broader measures of cycling, active travel and overall physical activity, and to determine whether such expenditure constitutes good or equitable value for money.

Provisional COVID-19 infrastructure induces large, rapid increases in cycling

The bicycle is a low-cost means of transport linked to low risk of transmission of infectious disease. During the COVID-19 crisis, governments have therefore incentivized cycling by provisionally redistributing street space. We evaluate the impact of this new bicycle infrastructure on cycling traffic using a generalized difference in differences design. We scrape daily bicycle counts from 736 bicycle counters in 106 European cities. We combine these with data on announced and completed pop-up bike lane road work projects. Within 4 mo, an average of 11.5 km of provisional pop-up bike lanes have been built per city and the policy has increased cycling between 11 and 48% on average. We calculate that the new infrastructure will generate between $1 and $7 billion in health benefits per year if cycling habits are sticky.

Evaluation of a New Urban Cycling Infrastructure in Caceres (Spain)

The purpose of the research is the evaluation of the impact of a new bike lane network built in Cáceres (Spain) in October 2019, a city with a weak tradition in the use of bicycles. Prior to the new project, the percentage of displacement by bicycle was under 0.2% (by contrast, private cars was 56%). The project has introduced a real network in 33 new streets and avenues, and 250 new parking places for bicycles. The impact has been evaluated by two online surveys, one conducted in November–December 2019 just after the inauguration, and the other conducted in January–February 2020. For that, the impact evolution after the first 3 months has also been evaluated. The result allows to analyze the citizens’ response to the new infrastructure; the main conclusion is that the effect of the built infrastructure is clearly positive in terms of new users, new potential users, and bike general image for the citizens. Moreover, this positive effect has grown after the first 3 months.

Public Policies to Promote Sustainable Transports: Lessons from Valencia

Bicycling appears in the literature on urban mobility as a more sustainable transportation mode for future transportation, based on empirical evidence of the potential benefits of bicycling on the environment, society, and health. In this context, public interventions to promote and maintain bicycling as a sustainable practice and its positive effects are salient. This article reviews different cycling policies with respect to cycling facilities present in the literature and compares them with a case study in Valencia (Spain). We collected information on the public policies implemented in Valencia and the traffic intensity in bike lanes over detecting loops distributed around the city. The results show a strong increase in bicycle use accompanying the implementation of public policies that promote bicycling. The effectiveness of public policies and their impact on bicycling and sustainability are discussed.

Appraisal of cycling and pedestrian projects

Cycling and walking have gained a prominent role in the mobility policy agenda as awareness has risen over the growing unsustainability of the current transport system and the multiple co-benefits of active mobility. As interest and investments for cycling and walking increase, how active mobility can be appraised becomes a crucial question, which has been tackled over the years through different methods and tools. The aim of this chapter is to provide a structured review of the methods and the practices of appraisal of walking and cycling policies and projects, focusing on both traditional and emerging assessment techniques. At present, much attention has been paid to the application of four main traditional methods: Balance Sheet Calculations, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and Multi-Criteria Analysis. We compare and discuss these methods to identify strengths and weaknesses for each of them, as well as their main limitations and knowledge gaps in their application. We conclude that over the last decades much effort has been undertaken to further expand and develop these tools thanks to an increased attention to walking and cycling. However, much research is still needed, particularly in the quantification and valuation of specific effects within Cost-Benefit Analysis and in better integrating different appraisal techniques. Finally, the impact of appraisals on decision-making outcomes is still underexplored.

Increasing physical activity in the community setting

Physical activity (PA) is beneficial for both mental and physical health, yet many individuals do not meet PA recommendations. There are a multitude of approaches to increase levels of PA and the role of the community is one area of growing interest. This review discusses the community environment as well as programs within the community and their influence on PA levels. Despite some research limitations, there are clear factors associated with community-based PA. Strategies that improve the built environment along with community-based programs have shown success, although differences between the characteristics of communities can mean strategies to promote PA are not universally effective. Additional research is needed on effective strategies that can be tailored to the characteristics of the community to increase PA. Further, public health interventions and policies should consider the role of the community when aiming to increase PA levels.

Creating Built Environments That Expand Active Transportation and Active Living Across the United States: A Policy Statement From the American Heart Association

Physical activity is vital for the health and well-being of youth and adults, although the prevalence of physical activity continues to be low. Promoting active transportation or human-powered transportation through policy, systems, and environmental change is one of the leading evidence-based strategies to increase physical activity regardless of age, income, racial/ethnic background, ability, or disability. Initiatives often require coordination across federal, state, and local agencies. To maximize the effectiveness of all types of interventions, it is imperative to establish strong and broad partnerships across professional disciplines, community members, and advocacy groups. Health organizations can play important roles in facilitating these partnerships. This policy statement provides recommendations and resources that can improve transportation systems, enhance land use design, and provide education to support policies and environments to promote active travel. The American Heart Association supports safe, equitable active transportation policies in communities across the country that incorporate consistent implementation evaluation. Ultimately, to promote large increases in active transportation, policies need to be created, enforced, and funded across multiple sectors in a coordinated and equitable fashion. Active transportation policies should operate at 3 levels: the macroscale of land use, the mesoscale of pedestrian and bicycle networks and infrastructure such as Complete Streets policies and Safe Routes to School initiatives, and the microscale of design interventions and placemaking such as building orientation and access, street furnishings, and safety and traffic calming measures. Health professionals and organizations are encouraged to become involved in advocating for active transportation policies at all levels of government.

Active design of built environments for increasing levels of physical activity in adults: the ENABLE London natural experiment study

Background

Low physical activity is widespread and poses a serious public health challenge both globally and in the UK. The need to increase population levels of physical activity is recognised in current health policy recommendations. There is considerable interest in whether or not the built environment influences health behaviours, particularly physical activity levels, but longitudinal evidence is limited.

Objectives

The effect of moving into East Village (the former London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Athletes’ Village, repurposed on active design principles) on the levels of physical activity and adiposity, as well as other health-related and well-being outcomes among adults, was examined.

Design

The Examining Neighbourhood Activities in Built Environments in London (ENABLE London) study was a longitudinal cohort study based on a natural experiment.

Setting

East Village, London, UK.

Participants

A cohort of 1278 adults (aged ≥ 16 years) and 219 children seeking to move into social, intermediate and market-rent East Village accommodation were recruited in 2013–15 and followed up after 2 years.

Intervention

The East Village neighbourhood, the former London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Athletes’ Village, is a purpose-built, mixed-use residential development specifically designed to encourage healthy active living by improving walkability and access to public transport.

Main outcome measure

Change in objectively measured daily steps from baseline to follow-up.

Methods

Change in environmental exposures associated with physical activity was assessed using Geographic Information System-derived measures. Individual objective measures of physical activity using accelerometry, body mass index and bioelectrical impedance (per cent of fat mass) were obtained, as were perceptions of change in crime and quality of the built environment. We examined changes in levels of physical activity and adiposity using multilevel models adjusting for sex, age group, ethnic group, housing sector (fixed effects) and baseline household (random effect), comparing the change in those who moved to East Village (intervention group) with the change in those who did not move to East Village (control group). Effects of housing sector (i.e. social, intermediate/affordable, market-rent) as an effect modifier were also examined. Qualitative work was carried out to provide contextual information about the perceived effects of moving to East Village.

Results

A total of 877 adults (69%) were followed up after 2 years (mean 24 months, range 19–34 months, postponed from 1 year owing to the delayed opening of East Village), of whom 50% had moved to East Village; insufficient numbers of children moved to East Village to be considered further. In adults, moving to East Village was associated with only a small, non-significant, increase in mean daily steps (154 steps, 95% confidence interval –231 to 539 steps), more so in the intermediate sector (433 steps, 95% confidence interval –175 to 1042 steps) than in the social and market-rent sectors (although differences between housing sectors were not statistically significant), despite sizeable improvements in walkability, access to public transport and neighbourhood perceptions of crime and quality of the built environment. There were no appreciable effects on time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity or sedentary time, body mass index or percentage fat mass, either overall or by housing sector. Qualitative findings indicated that, although participants enjoyed their new homes, certain design features might actually serve to reduce levels of activity.

Conclusions

Despite strong evidence of large positive changes in neighbourhood perceptions and walkability, there was only weak evidence that moving to East Village was associated with increased physical activity. There was no evidence of an effect on markers of adiposity. Hence, improving the physical activity environment on its own may not be sufficient to increase population physical activity or other health behaviours.

Funding

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme and will be published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 8, No. 12. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information. This research was also supported by project grants from the Medical Research Council National Prevention Research Initiative (MR/J000345/1).

Incentivizing Commuter Cycling by Financial and Non-Financial Rewards

Current mobility patterns over-rely on transport modes that do not benefit sustainable and healthy lifestyles. To explore the potential for active mobility, we conducted a randomized experiment aimed at increasing regular commuter cycling in cities. In designing the experiment, we teamed up with developers of the “Cyclers” smartphone app to improve the effectiveness of the app by evaluating financial and non-financial motivational features. Participants in the experiment were recruited among new users of the app, and were randomly assigned to one of four different motivational treatments (smart gamification, two variants of a financial reward, and a combination of smart gamification and a financial reward) or a control group (no specific motivation). Our analysis suggests that people can be effectively motivated to engage in more frequent commuter cycling with incentives via a smartphone app. Offering small financial rewards seems to be more effective than smart gamification. A combination of both motivational treatments—smart gamification and financial rewards—may work the same or slightly better than financial rewards alone. We demonstrate that small financial rewards embedded in smartphone apps such as “Cyclers” can be effective in nudging people to commute by bike more often.

The perils of perfect performance; considering the effects of introducing autonomous vehicles on rates of car vs cyclist conflict

How humans will adapt and respond to the introduction of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is uncertain. This study used an agent-based model to explore how AVs, human-operated vehicles, and cyclists might interact based on the introduction of flawlessly performing AVs. Under two separate experimental conditions, results of experiment 1 showed that, despite no conflicts occurring between cyclists and AVs, modelled conflicts among human-operated cars and cyclists increased with the introduction of AVs due to cyclists' adjusted expectations of the behaviour and capability of human-operated and autonomous cars. Similarly, when human-operated cars were replaced with AVs over time in experiment 2, cyclist conflict rates did not follow a linear reduction consistent with the replacement rate but decreased more slowly in the early stages of replacement before 50% substitution. It is concluded that, although flawlessly performing AVs might reduce total conflicts, the introduction of AVs into a transport system where humans adjust to the behaviour and risk presented by AVs could create new sources of error that offset some of AVs assumed safety benefits. Practitioner summary: Ergonomics is an applied science that studies interactions between humans and other elements of a system, including non-human agents. Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) provides an approach for exploring dynamic and emergent interactions between agents. In this article, we demonstrate ABM through an analysis of how cyclists and pedestrians might interact with Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) in future road transport systems. Abbreviations: ABM: agent-based model; AV: autonomous vehicle; ODD; overview, design concepts and details; RW: rescorla-wagner.

A systematic review of empirical and simulation studies evaluating the health impact of transportation interventions

Urban transportation is an important determinant of health and environmental outcomes, and therefore essential to achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. To better understand the health impacts of transportation initiatives, we conducted a systematic review of longitudinal health evaluations involving: a) bus rapid transit (BRT); b) bicycle lanes; c) Open Streets programs; and d) aerial trams/cable cars. We also synthesized systems-based simulation studies of the health-related consequences of walking, bicycling, aerial tram, bus and BRT use. Two reviewers screened 3302 unique titles and abstracts identified through a systematic search of MEDLINE (Ovid), Scopus, TRID and LILACS databases. We included 39 studies: 29 longitudinal evaluations and 10 simulation studies. Five studies focused on low- and middle-income contexts. Of the 29 evaluation studies, 19 focused on single component bicycle lane interventions; the rest evaluated multi-component interventions involving: bicycle lanes (n = 5), aerial trams (n = 1), and combined bicycle lane/BRT systems (n = 4). Bicycle lanes and BRT systems appeared effective at increasing bicycle and BRT mode share, active transport duration, and number of trips using these modes. Of the 10 simulation studies, there were 9 agent-based models and one system dynamics model. Five studies focused on bus/BRT expansions and incentives, three on interventions for active travel, and the rest investigated combinations of public transport and active travel policies. Synergistic effects were observed when multiple policies were implemented, with several studies showing that sizable interventions are required to significantly shift travel mode choices. Our review indicates that bicycle lanes and BRT systems represent promising initiatives for promoting population health. There is also evidence to suggest that synergistic effects might be achieved through the combined implementation of multiple transportation policies. However, more rigorous evaluation and simulation studies focusing on low- and middle-income countries, aerial trams and Open Streets programs, and a more diverse set of health and health equity outcomes is required.

A Scoping Review of Bikeability Assessment Methods

Bicycling holds promise as a healthy and sustainable means of transportation and physical activity. Despite the growing interest in community-based environmental approaches to promoting physical activity, bikeability has received relatively little attention. This paper provides a scoping review of the instruments developed to measure bikeability along with practice-based analyses of the tools related to user expertise, estimated cost, and required time to implement. The review summarizes the literature, identifies research gaps, and informs stakeholders with articles from EBSCO and transportation databases published after 2003 when the previous bikeability instrument review paper was published. Data extraction included the tool name, data collection method, study location, data collection scale, type of measure, and description. Two reviewers independently reviewed articles included in the full text review, and the inter-rater agreement exceeded 90%. The database search yielded 388 unique articles, and 17 met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Most of the studies, 11 of 17, were applied to settings outside of the U.S. Five studies employed a self-report survey, and five studies examined bikeability using geospatial data, like GIS. Seven studies used a direct observation audit tool-one specifically using a mobile app and another using virtual observation techniques with Google Street View. Bikeability tools are useful for assessing communities and their supports for bicycling. Our primary finding is that advances in technology over the past two decades have driven innovative and useful methodologies, in a variety of disciplines, for assessing the environment, but more consensus is needed to provide a universal definition of bikeability.

The Injuries and Helmet Use in Bike Share Programs: A Systematic Review

To investigate the injury effects of bike share programs and the helmet usage status in bike share programs. We conducted a systematic review of peer reviewed scientific literature. Searches were conducted in three databases (Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science) on March 1 2020 to identify all articles on the injury incidence related to bike share programs and the helmet usage status in bike share programs. Titles, abstracts, and full-text articles were screened to identify all articles relevant to the themes by two authors independently, and discrepancies were resolved after discussion with the third author. Standardised data extraction and quality assessment (The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale) were implemented. A sum of 491 records after removing duplicates was identified, 181 fulltext articles were screened, and 13 studies were included in the review. The primary outcome are injuries of bike share users and unhelmeted rate among bike share users as well as the unhelmeted rate among personal bike users. Two studies evaluated the injuries related to bike share users, but have inconclusive results. A total of 11 studies reported the unhelmeted rates in bike share programs ranging from 36.0 to 88.9%. There is a significant change in bike injuries with the implementation of bike share programs. Moreover, the unhelmeted rate of bike share users was generally higher than that of personal bike users, which may result from helmets' accessibility and users' safety perception.

The atmospheric impacts of initiatives advancing shifts towards low-emission mobility: A scoping review

In an urban environment, people's daily traffic choices are reflected in emissions and the resulting local air composition, or air quality. Traffic contributes to the emissions of both carbon dioxide (CO₂), affecting climate, and particulate matter (PM), affecting atmospheric chemistry and human health. While the development of city infrastructure is not in the hands of individuals, it is their transport mode choices that constitute traffic. In this scoping review we analyse 108 initiatives from around the world potentially influencing individual travel behaviour and producing changes in the shares of different transport modes (modal shifts). The targets, types and techniques of initiatives are identified. Examples of economic, regulative, structural and persuasive initiatives are included. Special focus is on whether the impacts on CO₂ emissions, PM emissions and/or PM concentrations have been quantitatively evaluated, and on the quality and results of the evaluations. We observe that a variety of targets can motivate actions that lead to modal shifts and emission reductions. The results indicate that the level of atmospheric evaluations is low: absolute or relative changes in emissions and/or concentrations had been evaluated for only 31% (N = 34) of the reviewed initiatives, with substantial heterogeneity in quality. Sanctions, such as congestion charge and restrictions, have more likely been evaluated in peer reviewed analyses than incentives. Scientific evaluations of impacts on ambient PM concentrations are especially scarce (N = 4), although Air Quality is the primary target of 13% of actions and secondary target for at least 12%. We discuss the determinants of success and failure, when it comes to different types of initiatives, emission reductions and evaluations. A high-quality evaluation of atmospheric impacts captures the following: correct data about the modal shift (rate and direction), exclusion of external factors affecting the shift and emissions, and possible indirect impacts of the shift.

Expanding the Scope of the Bicycle Level-of-Service Concept: A Review of the Literature

Research into the bicycle level-of-service (BLOS) has been extensively conducted over the last three decades. This research has mostly focused on user perceptions of comfort to provide guidance for decision-makers and planners. Segments and nodes were studied first, followed by a network evaluation. Besides these investigations, several variables have also been utilized to depict the users’ perspectives within the BLOS field, along with other cycling research domains that simultaneously scrutinized the users’ preferences. This review investigates the variables and indices employed in the BLOS area in relation to the field of bicycle flow and comfort research. Despite general agreement among existing BLOS variables and the adopted indices, several important research gaps remain to be filled. First, BLOS indices are often categorized based on transport components, while scarce attention has been paid to BLOS studies in trip-end facilities such as bicycle parking facilities. The importance of these facilities has been highlighted instead within research related to comfort. Second, the advantages of separated bike facilities have been proven in many studies; however, scarce research has addressed the challenges associated with them (e.g., the heterogeneity within those facilities due to the presence of electric bikes and electric scooters). This issue is clearly noticeable within the research regarding flow studies. Furthermore, network evaluation (in comparison to segment and node indices) has been studied to a lesser extent, whereas issues such as connectivity can be evaluated mainly through a holistic approach to the system. This study takes one step toward demonstrating the importance of the integration of similar research domains in the BLOS field to eliminate the aforementioned shortcomings.