Route choice decisions of e-bike users:analysis of GPS tracking data in the Netherlands

Over the past years, the usage of electric bikes has emerged. E-bikes are suitable for short and medium distance trips. Therefore, the Dutch government promotes using e-bikes for daily commuting trips. However, the impact of increasing demand on the cycling infrastructure is unclear. Additionally, route choice models for e-bikes are limited. This paper estimates a route choice model for e-bike users in the Noord-Brabant region of The Netherlands. The data used are based on 17626 trips from 742 users including user profiles extracted from GPS data. In order to analyze the data, a mixed logit model is applied on the route choice of respondents with addition of the path-size attribute. Mixed logit model allows a panel data setup and enables the examination of preference heterogeneity around the mean of distance attribute. Moreover, the path-size attribute is included on the model to account for the overlap between alternatives. Socio-demographic characteristics and trip-related factors are found to be influencing on the route choice decisions of e-bike and bike users. There are differences on the significance of variables between e-bike and bike users