Determinants of bicycling for transportation in disadvantaged neighbourhoods: Evidence from Xi'an, China

Abstract

Over the past decade, there has been a strongly increased interest in investigating bicycling behaviour. However, the vast majority of these studies have been limited to Western (North-American and European) contexts and draw evidence from the general population. Much less studies of bicycling behaviour have been carried out in East- Asian contexts and focus on lower social-economic population. Relying a survey data from Xi'an, China, this study investigates the personal, spatial, social and psychological factors associated with bicycling for transportation in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. In contrast to the results of many previous studies, this study finds that social norms have the greatest effect on bicycling behaviour, while attitudes toward bicycling do not affect bicycling. Among the neighbourhood environment characteristics, this study finds neighbourhood aesthetics, bicycle infrastructure, and access to subway stations are important factors in promoting utilitarian bicycling in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in China. Finally, an interesting finding of our study is that the spatial characteristics that improve attitudes toward bicycling (such as access to amenities and street connectivity) do not lead to more bicycling, due to their positive effect of walking. Overall, these findings offer important policy implications regarding designing effective interventions to promote bicycling in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and Chinese cities, and the special policy consideration of stimulating walking and bicycling jointly.