A study on route choice preferences for commuter and non-commuter bicyclists: a case study of Kharagpur and Asansol, India

Bandhan Bandhu Majumdar () and Sudeshna Mitra ()
Additional contact information
Bandhan Bandhu Majumdar: Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani Hyderabad Campus
Sudeshna Mitra: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Transportation, 2019, vol. 46, issue 5, No 12, 1839-1865

Abstract: Abstract The bicycle is one of the most affordable and flexible means of transportation in a developing country such as India. Despite being an important mode of transportation, a sharp decline in bicycle mode share has been observed in small and medium-sized Indian cities where trip lengths are favorable for bicycling. This decline could be attributed to inadequate bicycle infrastructure which should be improved not only to preserve the existing bicycle base, but also to attract new bicycle users. For such an improvement, it is essential to identify and evaluate key attributes that users value to select a bicycle route. In this study users’ preferences for bicycle infrastructure were collected with the help of stated preference survey in two Indian cities, Kharagpur and Asansol, and were used to estimate the choice preferences of both commuter and non-commuter bicyclists. In total, five different attributes were found to influence bicycle route choice, namely, road width, level of risk, route visibility, journey time and operating cost. With the collected data, random parameter logit (RPL) models were developed with and without considering heterogeneity around the means of the attributes. Based on the results of these RPL model coefficients and willingness to pay (WTP) values, the five attributes were estimated to quantify the perceived benefits associated with each attribute. Results indicate that the level of risk (a measure of perceived risk associated with motorized vehicles) is considered the most significant deterrent influencing bicyclist’s route choice decisions in both cities referred to above, followed by route visibility, road width and bicycle journey time. For almost all attributes, the WTP’s for non-commuters are found significantly higher than those for commuters.

Keywords: Bicycle; Commuter and non-commuter bicyclists; Route choice; Random parameter logit (RPL); Heterogeneity; Willingness to pay (WTP) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11116-018-9898-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:transp:v:46:y:2019:i:5:d:10.1007_s11116-018-9898-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ce/journal/11116/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s11116-018-9898-z

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation is currently edited by Kay W. Axhausen

More articles in Transportation from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().