Sustrans

Abstract The results from this research will inform how cycling infrastructure is designed and planned to mitigate barriers that prevent women accessing and utilising cycling as a form of travel. It will support the Irish Government’s strategic objectives within the Climate Action Plan (2023), which sets a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, by providing evidence to support a shift from carbon-based transport to higher uptake of cycling among women in Ireland. In addition, it will provide evidence on how to best meet objectives within the trans-European transport network to increase the benefits for its users by ensuring accessibility for all users is fair and meets their mobility and transport needs. The research project has to date included a literature review of current cycling patterns in Ireland and internationally, and qualitive and quantitative data collection from women living in Ireland. This paper outlines the results from those initial phases. The literature review was used to inform the follow on qualitative and quantitative research phases. The first phase consisted of a survey to collect data from women in Ireland, the second phase involved recording travel diary data followed by depth interviews.

IntroductionHigh quality evaluations of new walking and cycling routes are scarce and understanding contextual mechanisms influencing outcomes is limited. Using different types of data we investigate how context is associated with change in use of new and upgraded walking and cycling infrastructure, and the association between infrastructure use and overall physical activity. MethodsWe conducted repeat cross-sectional pre-post analysis of monitoring data from a variety of walking and cycling routes built in 84 locations across the United Kingdom (the Connect2 programme, 2009–2013), using four-day user counts (pre n = 189,250; post n = 319,531), next-to-pass surveys of route users (pre n = 15,641; post n = 20,253), and automatic counter data that generated estimates of total annual users. Using multivariable logistic regression, we identified contextual features associated with 50% increase and doubling of pedestrians, cyclists, and sub-groups of users. We combined insights from monitoring data with longitudinal cohort data (the iConnect study) from residents living near three Connect2 schemes. Residents were surveyed by post at baseline, one-year (n = 1853) and two-year follow-up (n = 1524) to investigate associations between use of the new infrastructure and meeting physical activity guidelines. ResultsThe routes were associated with increased use (median increase in cyclists 52%, pedestrians 38%; p < 0.001). Large relative increases were associated with low baseline levels (e.g. odds of doubling cycling were halved for each additional 10,000 annual cyclists at baseline: OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.31, 0.77). Use was associated with meeting physical activity guidelines in both repeat cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses (users vs. non-users after one year, OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.37, 3.21; after two years, OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.37, 2.96). ConclusionsThis examination of use, users, benefit-cost ratios, and physical activity associated with new walking and cycling infrastructure across contexts, using multiple types of data, suggests that building walking and cycling infrastructure could improve population health and reduce inequalities.