Citation

Guerra E, Zhang H, Hassall L, Wang J, Cheyette A. Transp. Res. D Trans. Environ. 2020; 87: e102554.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.trd.2020.102554

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this paper, we develop comparable multilevel logistic models predicting whether a sample of 5.7 million workers commute by bicycle in the hundred largest urban areas in the US and Mexico. In both contexts, men in relatively poor households without motor vehicles are likeliest to cycle. The similarities in cycling commuters generally stop with these commonalities, however. The archetypal US bike commuter is a recent college graduate, lives by himself in a centrally located apartment in a moderate-to- high density city, like Portland, OR, and works in a relatively low-paying service sector job, perhaps at a restaurant or a not-for-profit. The archetypal Mexican bike commuter, by contrast, is in his mid-forties, has only a few years of formal education, lives with a large family in a house in the suburbs of either a small city or a dense metropolitan area, and commutes to a relatively low-paying agriculture, construction, or manufacturing job. Local context matters and the most effective public policies to promote urban cycling will almost certainly vary across national borders. For example, our analysis suggests that suburban cycling investments will likely do a lot more to support Mexican cyclists than US ones. Last, we conclude that there is a need for studies that include comparable measures of cycling infrastructure, local built environments, and non-work trips across national contexts.

Language: en

Keywords

Bicycling; Commute to work; Multilevel model; National comparison; Urban form