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Abstract
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Background
Cycling for transportation has the potential to contribute to an increase in people's physical activity levels. A growing body of evidence links the natural and the built environment to cycling. Whereas previous studies were mostly done within one city or one region, the present study covered the whole of the Netherlands, giving the opportunity to investigate whether associations between environmental characteristics and cycling are context-specific. The study examined the extent to which objectively measured natural and built environment characteristics contribute to differences in cycling between 4-digit postal code areas ("PC4 areas") and between municipalities in the Netherlands, as well as the differential effect of environmental characteristics on cycling by municipality size.
Methods
Our sample from the Dutch National Travel Survey 2010-2014 comprised 110,027 people aged 20-89 years, residing in 3,163 PC4 areas, nested within 387 municipalities. Multilevel Tobit regression models were fitted to assess the associations between the natural and the built environment with average daily cycling duration (in minutes), while adjusting for individual and household characteristics. Interaction effects of natural and built environment characteristics and municipality size on cycling duration were also investigated.
Results
After adjustment for individual and household characteristics, 3.4% of the variance on cycling duration could be explained by environmental factors. Higher address density, more bus stops, and shorter distance from home to the nearest train station were positively related to cycling duration. Respondents were more likely to cycle on days with higher temperatures, less wind, and less precipitation. Interaction tests showed that increased street density and address density appeared to be less cycling-promotive in small urban areas compared to medium or large cities. On the other hand, the positive associate between number of bus stops and cycling duration was weaker in the four largest cities and medium-sized cities compared to small urban and rural areas.
Conclusions
Higher address density, more bus stops, and shorter distance from home to nearest train station were positively related to cycling duration. Interactions suggest that relations between environmental characteristics and cycling duration are context-specific (e.g. dependent on circumstances that differ between highly urbanized and less urbanized areas). The findings confirm that the emphasis in Dutch policies on compact, development and good public transport has helped achieve a high level of cycling at both the city and the national level. |