Trends and determinants of cycling in the Washington, DC region.

795129295Final report; 08/2010-11/2011.PDFTech ReportVT-2009-05DTRT07-G-0003BicyclingNonmotorized transportationTrend (Statistics)Descriptive statisticsDeterminants (Mathematics)Linear algebraBicycle commutingBicycle travelSustainable transportationTransportation planningVirginiaMid-Atlantic Universities Transportation CenterBuehler, RalphHamre, AndreaSonenklar, DanGoger, PaulVirginia Tech. Urban Affairs and PlanningPennsylvania State UniversityThomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation InstituteUnited States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology AdministrationNTL-PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLES-BicyclesNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-PLANNING AND POLICYUS Transportation CollectionThis report analyzes cycling trends, policies, and commuting in the Washington, DC area. The analysis is divided into two parts.Part 1 focuses on cycling trends and policies in Washington (DC), Alexandria (VA), Arlington County (VA), Fairfax County(VA), Montgomery County (MD), and Prince George\ue2\u20ac\u2122s County (MD) during the last two decades. The goal is to gain a betterunderstanding of variability and determinants of cycling within one metropolitan area. Data on bicycling trends and policiesoriginate from official published documents, unpublished reports, site visits, and in-person, email, or phone interviews withtransport planners and experts from municipal governments, regional planning agencies, and bicycling advocacy organizations.Part 2 of the report presents a multiple regression analysis of determinants of bike commuting based on data of 5,091 workersfrom the Washington, DC region. A series of logit, probit, and relogit (Rare Events Logistic) regressions focus on the role ofbike parking, cyclist showers, and free car parking at work as determinants of the decision to cycle to work, while controllingfor socio-economic factors, population density, trip distance, bikeway supply, and season of the year. The report finds thatcycling levels and cyclist safety have been increasing in the Washington region. However, cycling appears to be spatiallyconcentrated in neighborhoods of the urban core jurisdictions. Compared to national averages for urbanized areas a larger shareof bicycle trips in Washington, DC is commute or work related (41% vs. 17%). Area cyclists are predominantly male, between25 and 40 years old, white, and from higher income groups. Bicycle planning in the region has its roots in the 1970s,experienced a hiatus in the 1980s, but has witnessed a \ue2\u20ac\u2dcrenaissance\ue2\u20ac\u2122 since the (late) 1990s. Initially bicycle policies focused onthe provision of off-street paths\ue2\u20ac\u201doften shared with pedestrians. Since the late 1990s, jurisdictions have greatly expanded theiron-street bicycle lanes and implemented other innovative programs. The regression analysis appears to support the expansion ofthe bike network, since bikeway supply is a significant predictor of bike commuting. Moreover, bike parking and cyclistshowers at work are associated with more bike commuting. Free car parking at work is associated with less bike commuting;and transit commuter benefits were not a significant predictor of bike commuting