Cycling culture and socialisation: modelling the effect of immigrant origin on cycling in Denmark and the Netherlands

This paper focusses on travel socialisation by examining the effect of immigrant origin on cycling in two distinct European cycling cultures: Denmark and the Netherlands. Based on data from both countries’ national travel surveys, the empirical analyses show that people of immigrant origin cycle less compared to natives. While in Denmark this effect is significant only for people of non-Western origin, in the Netherlands it is also true for people of Western origin, probably because they originate to a greater extent from non-European countries (e.g., Indonesia). In the Netherlands, the effect of non-Western origin is larger for women than for men, while we do not find a significant gender interaction in the Danish data. Individuals with residence in neighbourhoods with a higher share of people of non-Western origin are less likely to cycle, probably as the national norm to cycle is less salient here. The results cannot be fully explained by differences in socioeconomic status, car access, or level of urbanisation. We assume that cultural norms mediated by parents play a relevant role. The results lend support to policies focused on stimulating the use of the bicycle among immigrants and especially women of non-Western origin.

     

Overcoming barriers to cycling: understanding frequency of cycling in a University setting and the factors preventing commuters from cycling on a regular basis

Much local and regional transport policy is attempting to increase cycling as an everyday mode of travel through infrastructure changes, education initiatives, and safety campaigns. While considerable research has examined the influence of the built form on cycling, less research has examined the barriers that prevent people who wish to cycle more (as part of their routine) from doing so. This study examines several factors influencing the frequency by which people do (and do not) cycle in a campus setting in a large metropolitan area. Mixed methods reveal differences between barriers to cycling as well as the relative strength of these barriers across categories of age, sex, and current mode used. A multinomial logit model, which controls for residential self-selection effects, predicts whether and how often a respondent cycles based on socio-demographic and trip characteristics. The presence of cycle paths is found to be strongly associated with a higher frequency of cycling commutes. Additionally, an analysis of stated barriers reveals effort and a lack of safety as the most important barriers to potential cyclists. Finally, a qualitative analysis of respondents’ open-ended responses confirms the influence of bicycle paths, but reveals other factors such as the importance of improved interactions among various street users. Findings from this research can be of benefit to transportation engineers and planners who are aiming to increase the use of cycling among various groups of commuters.     

Planning for cycling in the dispersed city: establishing a hierarchy of effectiveness of municipal cycling policies

Transportation - Urban utility cycling is being promoted widely due to various health, social, economic and environmental benefits. This study seeks to identify and rank which municipal-level...     

Exploring temporal fluctuations of daily cycling demand on Dutch cycle paths: the influence of weather on cycling

In the pursuit of sustainable mobility policy makers are giving more attention to cycling. The potential of cycling is shown in countries like the Netherlands, where cycling covers 25 % of all person trips. However, the effect of policy interventions on cycling demand is difficult to measure, not least caused by difficulties to control for changing context variables like weather conditions. According to several authors weather has a strong influence on cycling demand, but quantitative studies about the relationship are scarce. We therefore further explored this relationship, with the aim of contributing to the development of a generic demand model with which trend and coincidence in bicycle flows might be unraveled. The study is based on time-series between 1987 and 2003 of daily bicycle flows, collected on 16 cycle paths near two cities in the Netherlands. The regression analyses show that, not surprisingly, recreational demand is much more sensitive to weather than utilitarian demand. Most daily fluctuations (80 %) are described by weather conditions, and no less than 70 % of the remaining variation is locally constrained. The regression can therefore mainly be improved by incorporating path specific, as yet unknown, variables. We used the regression results to calculate weather-inclusive bicycle flow predictions and found indications of a downward trend in recreational demand. This trend has been off-set in the observed flows by more favorable weather conditions over the years considered.     

Empirical speed models for cycling in the Oslo road network

Transportation - Knowing the speed at which a cyclist travels is important in route and mode choice modelling. Empirical evidence suggests that it varies significantly in accordance...     

Supplemental infrastructure: how community networks and immigrant identity influence cycling

Transportation - While factors such as urban form, infrastructure, and attitudes shape cycling behavior, the experience of cycling can vary drastically across socioeconomic and identity groups. For...     

圆梁山隧道向斜地段岩溶水循环特征及隧道施工对策

在对圆梁山隧道上方毛坝向斜地区的岩溶地质进行充分调查的基础上,结合地质勘探资料,对隧道在通过向斜核部时有可能遇到岩溶水的里程进行了初步预测.通过向斜核部地表、隧道内涌水点的水质分析,对隧道上方向斜地面地下水的径流模式进行了初步探讨,明确了在向斜核部、隧道上方的地层中存在着一条地下暗河或岩溶系统.该地下暗河或岩溶水系统通过向斜地层层间接触带连通隧道,并对隧道施工有一定程度的影响.最后有针对性地提出了隧道通过向斜核部里程时的施工对策.     

Measuring unobserved prices using the structural time-series model: The case of cycling

This study presents a means of determining a historic (generalised cost based) price index for cycling in the UK for the period 1949–2006 using annual demand data. By specifying demand as a function of generalised price and income and then applying a structural time-series model to elucidate the unobserved component of prices (while controlling for observed income levels), it is illustrated that the role of prices in influencing demand is non-trivial. Over the sample period price responses generally influence demand for cycling to a greater extent than income effects.     

Contemplating cycling to work: Attitudes and perceptions in different stages of change

In 1996 the UK government introduced the National Cycle Strategy which aimed to double the number of cycling trips by the end of 2002 and double them again by 2012. So far, however, these targets have not been met. The House of Commons ascribes this to ‘a fundamental lack of commitment to cycling on an individual, regional and national level’. This paper addresses the individual level by examining the views of commuters in different stages of change as distinguished by Prochaska’s model [Prochaska, J.O., DiClemente, C.C., 1984. The Transtheoretical Approach: Crossing Traditional Boundaries of Change. Dow Jones/Irwin, Homewood IL]. This model views behaviour change as a process rather than an event. Two studies were conducted amongst university staff and students: a survey study and an action study. The studies showed that as people progress from precontemplation to action their attitudes towards cycling become more positive and their perceptions of various personal and external barriers change. This suggests that different strategies are necessary to move people in different stages of change to action and maintenance. At the moment, it seems that regular cyclists form a very small minority of people who will cycle under most circumstances simply because they like cycling. The majority of people have never contemplated cycling. There is, however, also a group of people who would like to cycle and could be persuaded to cycle under the right circumstances.     

Exploring the role of individual attitudes and perceptions in predicting the demand for cycling: a hybrid choice modelling approach

Cycling is often promoted as a means of reducing urban congestion and improving health, social and environmental outcomes. However, the quantification of these potential benefits is not well established. This is due in part to practical difficulties in estimating cycling demand and a lack of sound methodologies to appraise cycling initiatives. In this paper we attempt to address this need by developing predictive models of cycle demand, relative to other transport modes, that capture not only the impacts of observed characteristics such as age and travel time but also the role of attitudes and perceptions. Using data from a stated preference survey, we estimate a hybrid choice model for cycle use that incorporates the role of attitudes towards cycling, perceptions of the image associated with cycling, and the stress arising from safety concerns. Model results indicate that the latent attitudes and perceptions explain an important part of the non-observable utility in a simple multinomial logit choice model. We also demonstrate policy analysis using the hybrid choice model, which allows comparisons of ‘hard’ policies such as the provision of parking facilities against ‘soft’ measures such as cycle promotion schemes.     

Designing a route planner to facilitate and promote cycling in Metro Vancouver,Canada

With increasing fuel costs, greater awareness of greenhouse gas emissions and increasing obesity levels, cycling is promoted as a health promoting and sustainable transport mode. We developed a cycling route planner (http://cyclevancouver.ubc.ca) for Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to facilitate cycling amongst the general public and to facilitate new route location by transportation planners. The geographical information system-based planner incorporates variables that influence choices to travel by bicycle (e.g., distance, elevation gain, safety, route features, air pollution and links to transit) in selecting the preferred routing. Using a familiar and user-friendly Google Maps interface, the planner allows individuals to seek optimized cycling routes throughout the region based on their own preferences. In addition to the incorporation of multiple user preferences in route selection, the planner is unique amongst cycling route planners in its use of topology to minimize data storage redundancy, its reliance on node/vertex index tables to increase efficiency of the route selection process, and the use of web services and asynchronous technologies for quick data delivery. Use of this tool can help promote bicycle travel as a form of active transportation and help lower greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) and air pollutant emissions by reducing car trips.     

The evaluation of large cycling infrastructure investments in Glasgow using crowdsourced cycle data

Transportation - The benefits of cycling have been well established for several decades. It can improve public health and make cities more active and environmentally friendly. Due to the...     

论企业管理者在企业文化建设中的重要性

在现代企业中,管理者的素质和能力高低对于企业的成败起到关键作用。论述了企业管理者在企业文化建设应起的作用。     

I want to ride it where I like: measuring design preferences in cycling infrastructure

Transportation - Sidewalk cyclists are a major concern to planners in many cities around the world: they are considerable in numbers, and increase the risk of injury not only to pedestrians but...     

海元物流耕耘农村

2006年4月,河南省安阳市内黄县,一个由企业自主发起的"新农村建设与现代物流发展论坛"在此举办,从而揭开了内黄乃至河南省发展农村物流的序幕.而作为国内最早举办的农村物流发展论坛之一,该论坛不仅吸引了郎咸平等香港经济学家和国内物流企业的普遍关注,而且使内黄这个人口不到八十万的小县顿时热闹.对于这一切,论坛主办方、海元物流董事长陈建君说,"农村物流将使内黄'火'起来."     

Short-term planning and policy interventions to promote cycling in urban centers: Findings from a commute mode choice analysis in Barcelona,Spain

BackgroundCycling for transportation has become an increasingly important component of strategies to address public health, climate change, and air quality concerns in urban centers. Within this context, planners and policy makers would benefit from an improved understanding of available interventions and their relative effectiveness for cycling promotion. We examined predictors of bicycle commuting that are relevant to planning and policy intervention, particularly those amenable to short- and medium-term action.MethodsWe estimated a travel mode choice model using data from a survey of 765 commuters who live and work within the municipality of Barcelona. We considered how the decision to commute by bicycle was associated with cycling infrastructure, bike share availability, travel demand incentives, and other environmental attributes (e.g., public transport availability). Self-reported and objective (GIS-based) measures were compared. Point elasticities and marginal effects were calculated to assess the relative explanatory power of the independent variables considered.ResultsWhile both self-reported and objective measures of access to cycling infrastructure were associated with bicycle commuting, self-reported measures had stronger associations. Bicycle commuting had positive associations with access to bike share stations but inverse associations with access to public transport stops. Point elasticities suggested that bicycle commuting has a mild negative correlation with public transport availability (−0.136), bike share availability is more important at the work location (0.077) than at home (0.034), and bicycle lane presence has a relatively small association with bicycle commuting (0.039). Marginal effects suggested that provision of an employer-based incentive not to commute by private vehicle would be associated with an 11.3% decrease in the probability of commuting by bicycle, likely reflecting the typical emphasis of such incentives on public transport.ConclusionsThe results provide evidence of modal competition between cycling and public transport, through the presence of public transport stops and the provision of public transport-oriented travel demand incentives. Education and awareness campaigns that influence perceptions of cycling infrastructure availability, travel demand incentives that encourage cycling, and policies that integrate public transport and cycling may be promising and cost-effective strategies to promote cycling in the short to medium term.     

广西高校体育教师工作压力的现状分析

文章采用文献资料法、问卷调查法、数理统计法等研究方法,对广西高校体育教师的工作压力进行调查分析.结果表明,广西高校体育教师普遍感受到中等程度的工作压力,不同年龄、教龄和职称的体育教师工作压力呈显著性差异.     

公交支付方式及其效率调查分析

智能系统的广泛使用,带来了移动支付的普及。公交支付在传统IC卡和现金支付的基础上,加入了云闪付和二维码支付。为探究移动支付对公交支付效率的影响,基于杭州市公交发展现状,制定了公交支付情况的调查方案。通过对所选10、93、97公交线路的早、晚高峰和平峰的三天实地调查,采集视频数据并使用SPSS进行定量统计分析,发现公交乘客刷卡占62%、二维码占27%、云闪付占6%、现金占5%。当乘客提前做好准备时,刷卡支付时间为1.29 s,低于云闪付的1.42 s和二维码的1.65 s,而未准备好时用时分别为6.74 s、10.94 s、8.54 s。通过相关性和多元线性回归分析得出提前拿卡、上车掏卡、提前开二维码和上车开二维码四种支付方式对公交停留时间延长的影响最大。     

Zambia,the TAZARA and the alternative outlets to the sea

Zambia has attempted to reduce her excessive transport dependency on her traditional transport routes via South Africa and the former Portugese colonies. The costly construction of the Tanzania‐Zambia Railway (TAZARA) was part of this diversification strategy. This article examines the nature, extent and direction of Zambian traffic, including its historical evolution. It explores further the place of TAZARA among the various routes to Mozambican, Angolan and South African ports, and the ensuing actual and potential competition. Future traffic patterns will be influenced not only by the direct and service‐oriented costs of the different lines, but also by the region's volatile and uncertain political climate.