While not unique to cycling, one recurring challenge is the lack of data on which to formulate plans and measure the effectiveness of a range of initiatives. Traditional reliance on irregular cross-sectional travel surveys and temporary link counts has often presented challenges for studies of bicycle use. Beginning in November 2005, VicRoads began installing automatic counting equipment at selected locations on Melbourne's off-road bike path network. The structure of this paper is as follows. Section 2 summarises existing knowledge about factors affecting variability in bicycle path use and highlights strengths and weaknesses of results reported in the literature. Section 3 quantifies the aggregate variability in usage of Melbourne's bike paths across facilities, days, weeks and months of the year, it also segments the trails on the basis of the distributions of bicycle traffic throughout the day. Section 4 enhances understanding of the factors contributing to that variability by calibrating and interpreting a multivariate demand model. The conclusions and research directions are presented in Section 5. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E216058.
Abstract