Behavioural Profiling of Cycling and Walking in Nine European Cities

Tim De Ceunynck, Gert Jan Wijlhuizen, Aslak Fyhri, Regine Gerike, Dagmar Köhler, Alice Ciccone, Atze Dijkstra, Emmanuelle Dupont and Mario Cools ()
Additional contact information
Tim De Ceunynck: Vias Institute, Haachtsesteenweg 1405, 1130 Brussels, Belgium
Gert Jan Wijlhuizen: SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, P.O. Box 93113, 2509 AC The Hague, The Netherlands
Aslak Fyhri: TØI Institute of Transport Economics, Gaustadalléen 21, 0349 Oslo, Norway
Regine Gerike: Institute of Transport Planning and Road Traffic, Technical University Dresden, Hettnerstraße 1, 01069 Dresden, Germany
Dagmar Köhler: Polis, Rue du Trône 98, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Alice Ciccone: TØI Institute of Transport Economics, Gaustadalléen 21, 0349 Oslo, Norway
Atze Dijkstra: SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, P.O. Box 93113, 2509 AC The Hague, The Netherlands
Emmanuelle Dupont: Vias Institute, Haachtsesteenweg 1405, 1130 Brussels, Belgium
Mario Cools: Local Environment Management & Analysis (LEMA), UEE, University of Liège, Quartier Polytech 1, Allée de la Découverte 9, 4000 Liège, Belgium

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: To ensure cities’ livability, a significant modal shift from car use towards more sustainable modes of transportation, such as walking and cycling, is required. To establish such a modal shift, a better understanding is needed of the psychological components that affect people’s likelihood of shifting to active transport modes. To this end, a behavioural survey was conducted among more than 2000 respondents across nine European cities in four countries. Using factor and cluster analysis, two groups of respondents are identified that have common determinants of their variations in intentions to shift to active transport modes, i.e., a “pro-cycling” cluster (55.6% of the respondents) and a “non-pro-cycling” cluster (44.4%). The findings highlight the intrinsically different nature of walking and cycling as transport modes, underlining the importance of distinguishing walking and cycling policies. The main obstacle to cycle more frequently is perceived traffic safety. Therefore, the main priority should be the improvement of traffic safety. The most important obstacle hindering more frequent walking is time. Hence, reducing travel time, for instance, by creating shortcuts for pedestrians and denser and more diversified urban areas will be an important strategy. Future research could extend this research to cities in other countries and regions. By repeating the survey periodically, changes in people’s motivations and perceived barriers can be analysed over time.

Keywords: walking; cycling; sustainable transport; behavioural change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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