Citation

Heinen E, Maat K, van Wee B. Transp. Res. Rec. 2011; 2230: 9-18.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.3141/2230-02

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper, using longitudinal data for 633 part-time bicycle commuters, investigates day-to-day decisions to commute by bicycle. Previous research has investigated mode choice, travel destination, and other travel choices for 1 day only. However, it cannot be assumed that travel choices do not vary from day to day and that most individuals travel by the same transportation mode every day. Day-to-day decisions to cycle are affected by work characteristics, commute journey characteristics, and weather conditions. More specifically, workers wearing business attire, needing to transport goods, needing a car during office hours, having longer commute distances, commuting in the dark, and facing a higher wind speed or a more or longer duration of rain are less likely to commute by bicycle. Positive effects were found for temperature and the duration of sunshine. The results show that factors that can differ on a daily basis largely influence bicycle mode choice from day to day. The results show that two groups of part-time cyclists exist: occasional cyclists and frequent cyclists. Whereas the decisions of occasional cyclists to commute by bicycle are more affected by positive weather conditions, frequent cyclists are discouraged from cycling by more practical barriers, including wind speed and the need to be at multiple locations.