Some People Feel the Rain, Others Just Get Wet: An Analysis of Regional Differences in the Effects of Weather on Cycling

Kathrin Goldmann and Jan Wessel

No 33, Working Papers from Institute of Transport Economics, University of Muenster

Abstract: Between cities and regions, not only cycling levels differ, but also the reactions of cyclists to adverse weather conditions. Using data from 122 automated bicycle counting stations in 30 German cities, and a composite index of adverse weather conditions that consists of air temperature, precipitation, wind speed, relative humidity, and cloud coverage, we calculate city-specific weather elasticities of the level of utilitarian cycling. The results show that these weather elasticities vary significantly between cities. Our next step is to analyze various determinants of weather elasticities, which reveals that the share of young inhabitants and the density of the cycle network have a positive impact on weather resilience. Based on the notion that resilience to adverse weather conditions reflects a revealed part of a city's bicycle culture, the weather elasticities can be used to create a ranking of bicycle cities. This ranking is positively correlated with a ranking based on the modal share of cycling, as well as with other rankings based on stated preference surveys or external conditions such as infrastructure or cycling safety.

Keywords: Bicycle; weather elasticities; Germany; regional heterogeneity; bicycle city ranking; cycling culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2020-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-tre, nep-upt and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Research in Transportation Business & Management (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2020.100541)

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