The influence of comfort and travel time on cyclists’ route choice decisions

This paper described a study regarding the influence of comfort and travel related attributes on cyclists’ route choice decisions. The study focuses on the physical appearance of the bicycle route. The influence is investigated using a stated choice experiment where respondents were invited to make a choice between two route alternatives. The route alternatives were described using the following attributes: total travel time, available bicycle facility, speed of adjacent car traffic, pavement quality, priority and non-priority at intersections, traffic lights at intersections, and presence of slopes. The experiment was included in an online questionnaire that was filled out by almost 800 respondents who all cycle on a regular base. The influence of the attributes was investigated using a standard multinomial logit model including both main and context effects. The following context attributes were included in the model: bicycle type, trip length and trip purpose, age, and gender. The analyses show that an acceptable model could be specified in which almost all attributes are significant and with expected effects. Comfort related attributes appear to be more important than travel time.