Abstract

In the last 20 years cities have undergone considerable changes. The current phase of expansion, which took place in the absence of demographic pressures, has diluted urban space into functional areas, scattered randomly throughout the area. The authors therefore identify new mobility needs, met mainly by private means, with implications in terms of congestion and air pollution. Sustainable mobility is a priority intervention for the EU. This chapter studies, after a discussion of the importance of sustainable mobility, cycling in Italy from an economic and strategic perspective. Promoting cycling is important for individual health, environmental sustainability, and transport demand management. In Italy, very few people use a bicycle on a regular basis. The analysis relies on national aggregate data as well as case studies of large and small cities in an Italian region. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Thesis (MEng(TransportSystemsEng))--University of South Australia, 2006. There is a significant gap in the current understanding of issues relating to bicycle safety. The provision of cycling facilities has long been based on professional opinion and has rarely been based on academic research. In particular, it is widely considered that the provision of bicycle lanes improves safety for cyclists, however there is little or no research to confirm this belief. This thesis seeks to improve the current understanding of the impact of bicycle lanes on safety by utilising gap acceptance theory. Unsignalised T-junctions have been surveyed to gather gap data for the estimation and comparison of critical gaps. The findings of this research indicate that bicycle lanes may in fact reduce safety at unsignalised intersections.

Abstract

Traffic congestion and its associated environmental effects pose a significant problem for large cities. Consequently, promoting and investing in green travel modes such as cycling is high on the agenda for many transport authorities. In order to target investment in cycling infrastructure and improve the experience of cyclists on the road, it is important to know where they are. Unfortunately, investment in intelligent transportation systems over the years has mainly focussed on monitoring vehicular traffic, and comparatively little is known about where cyclists are on a day to day basis. In London, for example, there are a limited number of automatic cycle counters installed on the network, which provide only part of the picture. These are supplemented by surveys that are carried out infrequently. Activity tracking apps on smart phones and GPS devices such as Strava have become very popular over recent years. Their intended use is to track physical activity and monitor training. However, many people routinely use such apps to record their daily commutes by bicycle. At the aggregate level, these data provide a potentially rich source of information about the movement and behaviour of cyclists. Before such data can be relied upon, however, it is necessary to examine their representativeness and understand their potential biases. In this study, the flows obtained from Strava Metro (SM) are compared with those obtained during the 2013 London Cycle Census (LCC). A set of linear regression models are constructed to predict LCC flows using SM flows along with a number of dummy variables including road type, hour of day, day of week and presence/absence of cycle lane. Cross-validation is used to test the fitted models on unseen LCC sites. SM flows are found to be a statistically significant (p<0.0001) predictor of total flows as measured by the LCC and the models yield R squared statistics of ~0.7 before considering spatio-temporal variation. The initial results indicate that data collected using fitness tracking apps such as Strava are a promising data source for traffic managers. Future work will incorporate the spatio-temporal structure in the data to better account for the spatial and temporal variation in the ratio of SM flows to LCC flows.

Abstract

The future of cycling is about to change. At least, this is apparent if we are to believe the multitude of innovators, start-ups, incumbent industries, policy actors and consultants proposing to harness the power of digital techniques to improve and transform cycling experiences, infrastructures, and gadgets. This ‘smartification of cycling’ is a phenomenon that is increasingly attracting attention and a variety of interests, fuelled both by the processes of transitioning to smart mobility and a boom of attention to cycling in cities worldwide. However, proposed cycling futures, both implicit and explicit, receive little critical scrutiny. Here, we fill this gap by mapping smart cycling innovations and their key features. We examine how innovations are believed to change the way cycling is practiced, made sense of and governed. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we analyse 86 website texts of smart cycling innovations and systematically outline changes envisioned by innovators. Having identified tensions between and within a range of promised futures, we conclude that smart cycling futures are multiple and contested, just as cycling presents are. Therefore, we propose a number of questions for further research to advance a more nuanced understanding of the range of futures of smart cycling in academic thinking and potentially to support decision-making at different levels of governance. Understanding diverse, contested, embodied and embedded cycling presents is part and parcel of imagining and co-creating (smart) cycling futures.

Abstract

eer-reviewed Limerick was designated as Ireland’s National Smarter Travel demonstration area in 2012. Limerick Smarter Travel, which aims to promote sustainable travel in the City and suburbs, is a partnership between the Limerick Councils and the University of Limerick (UL). Within UL, final-year projects and other research is on-going in the smarter travel subject area. This paper is based on Limerick City’s Bike Sharing Scheme and a final-year project thesis which is a study of the feasibility of a stand-alone bike sharing scheme in the suburb of Castletroy adjacent to the University of Limerick. This paper also focused on discovering if it would be feasible to merge a Castletroy scheme with the existing Limerick city scheme or extend the existing city scheme to the Castletroy area. The paper details the use of a smartphone application to collect rich trip and mode share data and proposes this methodology as a significant improvement on current feasibility study methods for bike sharing scheme feasibility studies. The smartphone application is capable of collecting numerous persons travel data for the entire period of the day. Data such as distance travelled, mode of travel, time taken to travel and trip destination and origin are all collected within the application. From this data, heat maps were produced for each of the survey participants. An example of a heat map for one candidate can be seen in Figure 3.6. In these heat maps, dark purple lines highlight routes of low activity, where bright orange lines highlight routes of high activity for that user for the specified study period. A number of precedent studies were also investigated as well as generating, collecting, analysing and investigating a number of quantitative datasets. The quantitative datasets explored include: travel survey results for University of Limerick students and staff; Places of Work – Census of Anonymised Records data for Castletroy residents; secondary data gathered through an online survey and primary data gathered using the implementation of the GPS smartphone application to monitor the travel patterns of eighteen candidates. Recommendations for further research are also outlined in the paper.

Abstract

The current paper describes an integrated behavioural model that includes the main factors that can contribute to"br" a modal shift from motorized to active transport modes. It has been built based on an extensive literature review"br" of existing models from different disciplines, such as psychology, public health, urban planning and behavioural"br" economics. The model accounts for factors shaping behavioural intentions, such as attitudes, social norms and"br" perceived behavioural control, based on an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour’. But the model"br" in this paper also acknowledges the role of non-conscious, automatic influences on behaviour, such as habits."br" Habits have been consistently identified as a powerful determinant of modal choice."br" The developed model is part of the ISAAC project (“Stimulating safe walking and cycling within a multimodal"br" transport environment”). It will be one of the key elements of an interactive checklist and guidelines for urban"br" and regional decision makers and practitioners. This will support them in identifying and implementing the most"br" appropriate measures to create a modal shift towards active transport modes.

Abstract

Multi-modal mobility contributes, among other things, to accessibility and sustainability. New developments in"br" technology, sustainability and public transportation provide opportunities to take multi-modal mobility to the next"br" level. To do so however, one faces both travel-related and organizational challenges. The travel-related challenges"br" relate to providing what is necessary to create an attractive, pleasant and seamless journey from A to B for the"br" traveller, using different modes of transportation. The organizational challenges are more difficult to solve as the"br" organization of multi-modal mobility is generally spread across different organizations and departments with"br" different interests and resources. Two Dutch regions have faced both kinds of challenges and now serve as"br" examples in the field of multi-modal mobility. This paper will focus on how the challenges have been addressed"br" in these two cases to draw lessons for others who want to seize the opportunities that multi-modal mobility has to"br" offer.

Abstract

eer-reviewed Limerick was designated as Ireland’s National Smarter Travel demonstration area in 2012. Limerick Smarter Travel (LST), which aims to promote sustainable travel in the City and suburbs, is a partnership between the Limerick Councils and the University of Limerick (UL). Within UL, final year projects and other research is on-going in the smarter travel subject area. Although cycling participation in Ireland is on the rise both nationally and locally within the Limerick community, travel survey data conducted by the LST team has demonstrated a significant gender gap exists among cyclists with far less women cycling than men. This paper is based on a final year project thesis: The Ladies’ 4-Week Cycle Challenge: An active research study of females investigating the barriers and motivators regarding cycling participation in Ireland. The research involved a group of females taking up cycling over a period of 4 weeks as a means of commuting to work/college. Following pre- and post-challenge interviews with the female participants a number of measures to encourage cycling participation among women are outlined along with recommendations for further research.