Search

Search Results

• 1. [Article] New FHWA VMT Forecasts Implications for Local Planning

  A summary of FHWA’s new national traffic trends assessment will be presented, including discussion of varied factors influencing forward-thinking forecasts. Examples of Oregon statewide vehicle miles travelled ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: New FHWA VMT Forecasts Implications for Local Planning Author: Mortensen, Andrew Year: 2015 A summary of FHWA’s new national traffic trends assessment will be presented, including discussion of varied factors influencing forward-thinking forecasts. Examples of Oregon statewide vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and historic traffic trends from ATR stations in the Portland urban region and greater Willamette Valley will be highlighted. VMT, population and income data will be noted with implications on local transportation planning. Title: New FHWA VMT Forecasts Implications for Local Planning Author: Mortensen, Andrew Year: 2015 A summary of FHWA’s new national traffic trends assessment will be presented, including discussion of varied factors influencing forward-thinking forecasts. Examples of Oregon statewide vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and historic traffic trends from ATR stations in the Portland urban region and greater Willamette Valley will be highlighted. VMT, population and income data will be noted with implications on local transportation planning. Close

• 2. [Article] Utilizing High Resolution Bus GPS Data to Visualize and Identify Congestion Hot-spots in Urban

  Congestion and travel delay on urban roadways can influence the roadways’ operating costs and service attractiveness. This research used high-resolution bus data to examine sources of delay on urban arterials. ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Utilizing High Resolution Bus GPS Data to Visualize and Identify Congestion Hot-spots in Urban Author: Stoll, Nicholas B, Glick, Travis B, Figliozzi, Miguel Year: 2016 Congestion and travel delay on urban roadways can influence the roadways’ operating costs and service attractiveness. This research used high-resolution bus data to examine sources of delay on urban arterials. A set of tools was created to help visualize trends in bus behavior and movement; these tools allowed larger traffic trends to be visualized along urban corridors and streets. With buses as probes and examining aggregated bus behavior, contoured speed plots were used to understand the behavior of roadways outside the zone of influence of bus stops. Speed plots were used to discover trends and travel patterns with only a few days’ data. Congestion and speed variation were viewed by time of day, and plots helped to indicate delays caused by intersections, crosswalks, or bus stops. This type of information is important to transit authorities looking to improve bus running times and reliability. Congested areas were detected and ranked. Speed plots were used to reevaluate bus stop locations (e.g., near side versus far side) and to identify locations where improvement are needed (e.g., queue jump lanes). Transportation agencies can also benefit from this type of information because arterial performance measures are difficult to estimate. Title: Utilizing High Resolution Bus GPS Data to Visualize and Identify Congestion Hot-spots in Urban Author: Stoll, Nicholas B, Glick, Travis B, Figliozzi, Miguel Year: 2016 Congestion and travel delay on urban roadways can influence the roadways’ operating costs and service attractiveness. This research used high-resolution bus data to examine sources of delay on urban arterials. A set of tools was created to help visualize trends in bus behavior and movement; these tools allowed larger traffic trends to be visualized along urban corridors and streets. With buses as probes and examining aggregated bus behavior, contoured speed plots were used to understand the behavior of roadways outside the zone of influence of bus stops. Speed plots were used to discover trends and travel patterns with only a few days’ data. Congestion and speed variation were viewed by time of day, and plots helped to indicate delays caused by intersections, crosswalks, or bus stops. This type of information is important to transit authorities looking to improve bus running times and reliability. Congested areas were detected and ranked. Speed plots were used to reevaluate bus stop locations (e.g., near side versus far side) and to identify locations where improvement are needed (e.g., queue jump lanes). Transportation agencies can also benefit from this type of information because arterial performance measures are difficult to estimate. Close

• 3. [Article] Utilizing High Resolution Bus GPS Data to Visualize and Identify Congestion Hot-spots in Urban Arterials

  The research uses high resolution bus data to examine sources of delay on urban arterials. A set of tools were created to help visualize trends in bus behavior and movement, which allowed for larger traffic ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Utilizing High Resolution Bus GPS Data to Visualize and Identify Congestion Hot-spots in Urban Arterials Author: Stoll, Nicholas B Year: 2016 The research uses high resolution bus data to examine sources of delay on urban arterials. A set of tools were created to help visualize trends in bus behavior and movement, which allowed for larger traffic trends to be visualized along urban corridors and urban streets. By using buses as probes and examining aggregated bus behavior, contoured speed plots were used to understand the behavior of roadways outside the zone of influence of bus stops. These speed plots can be utilized to discover trends and travel patterns with only a few days’ worth of data. Congestion and speed variation can be viewed by time of day and plots can help indicate delays caused by intersections, crosswalks, or bus stops. This type of information is important to transit authorities looking to improve bus running times and reliability. Congested areas can be detected and ranked. Speed plots can be utilized to reevaluate bus stop locations, e.g. near-side vs. far-side, and to identify locations where improvement are needed, e.g. queue jump lanes. Transportation agencies can also benefit from this type of information because arterial performance measures are difficult to estimate. Title: Utilizing High Resolution Bus GPS Data to Visualize and Identify Congestion Hot-spots in Urban Arterials Author: Stoll, Nicholas B Year: 2016 The research uses high resolution bus data to examine sources of delay on urban arterials. A set of tools were created to help visualize trends in bus behavior and movement, which allowed for larger traffic trends to be visualized along urban corridors and urban streets. By using buses as probes and examining aggregated bus behavior, contoured speed plots were used to understand the behavior of roadways outside the zone of influence of bus stops. These speed plots can be utilized to discover trends and travel patterns with only a few days’ worth of data. Congestion and speed variation can be viewed by time of day and plots can help indicate delays caused by intersections, crosswalks, or bus stops. This type of information is important to transit authorities looking to improve bus running times and reliability. Congested areas can be detected and ranked. Speed plots can be utilized to reevaluate bus stop locations, e.g. near-side vs. far-side, and to identify locations where improvement are needed, e.g. queue jump lanes. Transportation agencies can also benefit from this type of information because arterial performance measures are difficult to estimate. Close

• 4. [Article] Who Uses Peer-to-Peer Carsharing? Early Exploration

  Peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing is a system where a facilitating company connects car owners to car renters. Such systems are relatively new in the U.S. This paper aims to understand who is participating ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Who Uses Peer-to-Peer Carsharing? Early Exploration Author: Mathez, Anaïs Year: 2015 Peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing is a system where a facilitating company connects car owners to car renters. Such systems are relatively new in the U.S. This paper aims to understand who is participating in P2P carsharing as a renter (as opposed to as an owner), why they join, whether and how often they rent vehicles, and why. Exploring these questions may provide insight on the potential for P2P carsharing to meet public policy objectives of reducing the impacts of personal vehicle ownership and use and providing mobility options for underserved populations. The analysis is based on 465 study participants who enrolled in a P2P carsharing service in Portland, Oregon during its first two years of operation (February 2012 to June 2014). The data, which come from a series of online surveys, are part of an on-going, multi-year research project and, as such, should be considered early findings. The people who joined P2P carsharing and this study tend to be younger and well-educated, consistent with research on traditional carsharing. Given two trends in vehicle ownership – the longstanding positive correlation with income and the emerging trend of younger Americans eschewing vehicle ownership in greater numbers than before - we created a typology of potential P2P renters to explore reasons for joining and the potential influence of P2P carsharing on vehicle ownership and mobility. The typology consists of: (1) Student Millennials,(2) Non-student Millennials, (3) Lower Income Non-millennials, and (4) Higher Income Non-millennials. Study participants were highly motivated to join simply because they like the idea of P2P carsharing. Not surprisingly, the Higher Income Non-millennials were less motivated by economic reasons. By June 2014, just over half (52%) of the study participants had rented a vehicle through the service. Actual use of the service is negatively correlated with car ownership. There are some early indications that the service may be expanding mobility options for lower income households. Title: Who Uses Peer-to-Peer Carsharing? Early Exploration Author: Mathez, Anaïs Year: 2015 Peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing is a system where a facilitating company connects car owners to car renters. Such systems are relatively new in the U.S. This paper aims to understand who is participating in P2P carsharing as a renter (as opposed to as an owner), why they join, whether and how often they rent vehicles, and why. Exploring these questions may provide insight on the potential for P2P carsharing to meet public policy objectives of reducing the impacts of personal vehicle ownership and use and providing mobility options for underserved populations. The analysis is based on 465 study participants who enrolled in a P2P carsharing service in Portland, Oregon during its first two years of operation (February 2012 to June 2014). The data, which come from a series of online surveys, are part of an on-going, multi-year research project and, as such, should be considered early findings. The people who joined P2P carsharing and this study tend to be younger and well-educated, consistent with research on traditional carsharing. Given two trends in vehicle ownership – the longstanding positive correlation with income and the emerging trend of younger Americans eschewing vehicle ownership in greater numbers than before - we created a typology of potential P2P renters to explore reasons for joining and the potential influence of P2P carsharing on vehicle ownership and mobility. The typology consists of: (1) Student Millennials,(2) Non-student Millennials, (3) Lower Income Non-millennials, and (4) Higher Income Non-millennials. Study participants were highly motivated to join simply because they like the idea of P2P carsharing. Not surprisingly, the Higher Income Non-millennials were less motivated by economic reasons. By June 2014, just over half (52%) of the study participants had rented a vehicle through the service. Actual use of the service is negatively correlated with car ownership. There are some early indications that the service may be expanding mobility options for lower income households. Close

• 5. [Article] Annual Metro Regional Trail Count and Why Local Extrapolation Factors Matter

  Metro, Portland's regional governing agency, conducts annual two-hour counts along its regional trail every September. This upcoming fall (2017) will be the 10th year that the counts have been held, which ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Annual Metro Regional Trail Count and Why Local Extrapolation Factors Matter Author: Gibson, Geoff Year: 2017 Metro, Portland's regional governing agency, conducts annual two-hour counts along its regional trail every September. This upcoming fall (2017) will be the 10th year that the counts have been held, which means we at Metro can finally start seeing noticeable, long-lasting trends in the regional trail network. Perhaps more importantly, we are seeing how these data have directly impacted investments in future trail, bicycle, and pedestrian projects. This seminar will cover the history of the program, details of how it's conducted and why it's conducted that way, how data are used (including an inside look at future iterations of Metro's interactive trail count map), and why creating local extrapolation factors for adjusting to annual traffic is so important. Title: Annual Metro Regional Trail Count and Why Local Extrapolation Factors Matter Author: Gibson, Geoff Year: 2017 Metro, Portland's regional governing agency, conducts annual two-hour counts along its regional trail every September. This upcoming fall (2017) will be the 10th year that the counts have been held, which means we at Metro can finally start seeing noticeable, long-lasting trends in the regional trail network. Perhaps more importantly, we are seeing how these data have directly impacted investments in future trail, bicycle, and pedestrian projects. This seminar will cover the history of the program, details of how it's conducted and why it's conducted that way, how data are used (including an inside look at future iterations of Metro's interactive trail count map), and why creating local extrapolation factors for adjusting to annual traffic is so important. Close

• 6. [Article] Track Time and Monetary Costs of Transportation as a Comprehensive Performance Measure: Development and Application of Transportation Cost Index

  As federal and state policies place increasing emphasis on using comprehensive transportation performance measures to guide transportation decision making, there is a gap in such measures of transportation ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Track Time and Monetary Costs of Transportation as a Comprehensive Performance Measure: Development and Application of Transportation Cost Index Author: Wang, Liming Year: 2016 As federal and state policies place increasing emphasis on using comprehensive transportation performance measures to guide transportation decision making, there is a gap in such measures of transportation and land use systems. This seminar reports the results from a research project aiming to fill the gap in the type of applications and policy areas covered by existing measures. Modeled after the popular Consumer Price Index, the project refines and develops a transportation cost index (TCI) measure for transportation and land use systems by tracking the time and monetary costs of transportation for households as they travel to satisfy their daily needs. The TCI can be used in applications ranging from monitoring historical and projected trends (benchmarking), to evaluating and comparing scenarios outcomes (scenario evaluation), and it is capable of representing policy areas not sufficiently covered by existing similar measures. The seminar will review similar performance measures, describe the rationale, design and implementation of TCI, and present results of its applications in Portland and Corvallis, Oregon, as well as nation-wide in the US. The project is sponsored by National Institute of Transportation Communities (NITC) and Oregon DOT. Title: Track Time and Monetary Costs of Transportation as a Comprehensive Performance Measure: Development and Application of Transportation Cost Index Author: Wang, Liming Year: 2016 As federal and state policies place increasing emphasis on using comprehensive transportation performance measures to guide transportation decision making, there is a gap in such measures of transportation and land use systems. This seminar reports the results from a research project aiming to fill the gap in the type of applications and policy areas covered by existing measures. Modeled after the popular Consumer Price Index, the project refines and develops a transportation cost index (TCI) measure for transportation and land use systems by tracking the time and monetary costs of transportation for households as they travel to satisfy their daily needs. The TCI can be used in applications ranging from monitoring historical and projected trends (benchmarking), to evaluating and comparing scenarios outcomes (scenario evaluation), and it is capable of representing policy areas not sufficiently covered by existing similar measures. The seminar will review similar performance measures, describe the rationale, design and implementation of TCI, and present results of its applications in Portland and Corvallis, Oregon, as well as nation-wide in the US. The project is sponsored by National Institute of Transportation Communities (NITC) and Oregon DOT. Close

• 7. [Article] Travel to Food: Transportation Barriers for the Food Insecure in Tampa Bay

  In partnership with the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida (USF), the Transportation Innovation Group informed practical transportation solutions aimed at ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Travel to Food: Transportation Barriers for the Food Insecure in Tampa Bay Author: Salzer, Kevin, Joslin, Ann Year: 2017 In partnership with the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida (USF), the Transportation Innovation Group informed practical transportation solutions aimed at improved food access in Tampa Bay (Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties). The food pantry/bank sites that are part of Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger (TBNTEH) helped to gather data through a survey and interviews of food-related organizational leadership, staff and volunteers from each site to gain insight into how clients currently access emergency food sites (qualitative). This information was supplemented with a GIS analysis of transit accessibility for the food insecure in Tampa Bay (quantitative). Funding for this project was provided, in part, by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) at Portland State University. This project entitled “Travel to Food: Transportation Barriers for the Food Insecure in Tampa Bay” fits with the NITC’s theme of safe, healthy and sustainable transportation choices to foster livable communities in the following ways: Identify gaps in the transportation system for vulnerable communities; Lead to focused solutions to improve access to healthy food; Lead to added sustainable transportation options; and Access to food is an essential precursor to livability. Background: The dominance of the automobile in the southeast has impacted the urban and suburban built environment, resulting in barriers to transportation access. The vulnerability of the food insecure makes them an indicator population of the larger transportation system; mobility and housing location options are limited for this population. The grocery industry’s trend toward larger stores and higher-value inventory to maximize shelf space value has left lower-income neighborhoods with fewer food retail options. The lack of food access is experienced more acutely in lower-income neighborhoods where auto ownership is lower and dependence on alternative modes of transportation (e.g., transit, bike and walking) is higher. Title: Travel to Food: Transportation Barriers for the Food Insecure in Tampa Bay Author: Salzer, Kevin, Joslin, Ann Year: 2017 In partnership with the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida (USF), the Transportation Innovation Group informed practical transportation solutions aimed at improved food access in Tampa Bay (Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties). The food pantry/bank sites that are part of Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger (TBNTEH) helped to gather data through a survey and interviews of food-related organizational leadership, staff and volunteers from each site to gain insight into how clients currently access emergency food sites (qualitative). This information was supplemented with a GIS analysis of transit accessibility for the food insecure in Tampa Bay (quantitative). Funding for this project was provided, in part, by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) at Portland State University. This project entitled “Travel to Food: Transportation Barriers for the Food Insecure in Tampa Bay” fits with the NITC’s theme of safe, healthy and sustainable transportation choices to foster livable communities in the following ways: Identify gaps in the transportation system for vulnerable communities; Lead to focused solutions to improve access to healthy food; Lead to added sustainable transportation options; and Access to food is an essential precursor to livability. Background: The dominance of the automobile in the southeast has impacted the urban and suburban built environment, resulting in barriers to transportation access. The vulnerability of the food insecure makes them an indicator population of the larger transportation system; mobility and housing location options are limited for this population. The grocery industry’s trend toward larger stores and higher-value inventory to maximize shelf space value has left lower-income neighborhoods with fewer food retail options. The lack of food access is experienced more acutely in lower-income neighborhoods where auto ownership is lower and dependence on alternative modes of transportation (e.g., transit, bike and walking) is higher. Close

• 8. [Article] Connecting People to Places: Spatiotemporal Analysis of Transit Supply Using Travel-Time Cubes

  Despite its importance, temporal measures of accessibility are rarely used in transit research or practice. This is primarily due to the inherent difficulty and complexity in computing time-based accessibility ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Connecting People to Places: Spatiotemporal Analysis of Transit Supply Using Travel-Time Cubes Author: Farber, Steven Year: 2016 Despite its importance, temporal measures of accessibility are rarely used in transit research or practice. This is primarily due to the inherent difficulty and complexity in computing time-based accessibility metrics. Estimating origin-to-destination travel times that include the “last mile” of travel between the transit network and actual start and endpoints of the trip is technically difficult. Not only do such estimations require multimodal network structures, they also require detailed knowledge of transit schedules and sophisticated algorithms for calculating shortest paths using such inputs. Recently, new standards for sharing transit schedules and geographic data, namely the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) have prompted innovations in the analysis of complex transit travel times using the Esri ArcGIS package with the Network Analyst extension. With continued development of the analytical capabilities of network analysis functionality, this project assesses spatiotemporal dynamics in transit supply through an investigation of scheduled travel time variability. This report consists of a collection of three stand-alone research papers. The first defines a new data object, the public transit travel time cube, and demonstrates its use in measuring changes in transit provision over time, changes in accessibility to jobs, and the impacts of bicycling on the last mile problem. The second paper consists of a study of temporal mismatch between observed travel patterns and the spatiotemporal patterns of transit supply in the Wasatch Front. The third paper expands the food desert literature by measuring temporal fluctuations in food accessibility over the course of a typical day, and examining the trends for disparities between socioeconomic subgroups. Our findings indicate that time-based measures of transit accessibility provide more nuanced abilities for us to understand how people are impacted by temporal variability in transit provision. Title: Connecting People to Places: Spatiotemporal Analysis of Transit Supply Using Travel-Time Cubes Author: Farber, Steven Year: 2016 Despite its importance, temporal measures of accessibility are rarely used in transit research or practice. This is primarily due to the inherent difficulty and complexity in computing time-based accessibility metrics. Estimating origin-to-destination travel times that include the “last mile” of travel between the transit network and actual start and endpoints of the trip is technically difficult. Not only do such estimations require multimodal network structures, they also require detailed knowledge of transit schedules and sophisticated algorithms for calculating shortest paths using such inputs. Recently, new standards for sharing transit schedules and geographic data, namely the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) have prompted innovations in the analysis of complex transit travel times using the Esri ArcGIS package with the Network Analyst extension. With continued development of the analytical capabilities of network analysis functionality, this project assesses spatiotemporal dynamics in transit supply through an investigation of scheduled travel time variability. This report consists of a collection of three stand-alone research papers. The first defines a new data object, the public transit travel time cube, and demonstrates its use in measuring changes in transit provision over time, changes in accessibility to jobs, and the impacts of bicycling on the last mile problem. The second paper consists of a study of temporal mismatch between observed travel patterns and the spatiotemporal patterns of transit supply in the Wasatch Front. The third paper expands the food desert literature by measuring temporal fluctuations in food accessibility over the course of a typical day, and examining the trends for disparities between socioeconomic subgroups. Our findings indicate that time-based measures of transit accessibility provide more nuanced abilities for us to understand how people are impacted by temporal variability in transit provision. Close

• 9. [Article] Understanding Social Media Program Usage in Public Transit Agencies

  Social media has been gaining prominence in public transit agencies in their communication strategies and daily management. This study aims to better understand recent trends in social media usage in public ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Understanding Social Media Program Usage in Public Transit Agencies Author: Liu, Jenny H., Shi, Wei, Elrahman, O. A., Ban, Xuegang, Reilly, Jack M. Year: 2016 Social media has been gaining prominence in public transit agencies in their communication strategies and daily management. This study aims to better understand recent trends in social media usage in public transit agencies, to examine which agencies use what kind of social media programs for what purposes, and how they measure their programs. A survey was conducted of the top transit agencies in the nation, and results are examined through descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis and regression modeling. We found that while most agencies still lack clearly-defined goals and performance metrics to guide their social media development, many are increasing their social media capacity with more structural components. Public transit service usage and the level of transit service provision are the most significant determinants of agencies’ social media programming and resource investments. In contrast, the measurement of social media usage and outcomes is more significantly related to city attributes and demographic characteristics. We anticipate an increase in the usage of social media to convey transit related stories and livability benefits, such as environmental sensitivity or safety improvements, as these programs expand. Public transit agencies’ commitment to measuring social media outcomes underscores the future research need to develop best practices for measuring the impacts and performance of social media communications and investments. Title: Understanding Social Media Program Usage in Public Transit Agencies Author: Liu, Jenny H., Shi, Wei, Elrahman, O. A., Ban, Xuegang, Reilly, Jack M. Year: 2016 Social media has been gaining prominence in public transit agencies in their communication strategies and daily management. This study aims to better understand recent trends in social media usage in public transit agencies, to examine which agencies use what kind of social media programs for what purposes, and how they measure their programs. A survey was conducted of the top transit agencies in the nation, and results are examined through descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis and regression modeling. We found that while most agencies still lack clearly-defined goals and performance metrics to guide their social media development, many are increasing their social media capacity with more structural components. Public transit service usage and the level of transit service provision are the most significant determinants of agencies’ social media programming and resource investments. In contrast, the measurement of social media usage and outcomes is more significantly related to city attributes and demographic characteristics. We anticipate an increase in the usage of social media to convey transit related stories and livability benefits, such as environmental sensitivity or safety improvements, as these programs expand. Public transit agencies’ commitment to measuring social media outcomes underscores the future research need to develop best practices for measuring the impacts and performance of social media communications and investments. Close

• 10. [Article] Cycling by Choice or Necessity? Exploring the Gender Gap in Bicycling in Oregon

  In Oregon, as elsewhere in the US, a greater percentage of men bicycle than women. This study illuminates the gender gap in bicycling by exploring differences in bicycling among women and men in Oregon. ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Cycling by Choice or Necessity? Exploring the Gender Gap in Bicycling in Oregon Author: Singleton, Patrick Allen Year: 2016 In Oregon, as elsewhere in the US, a greater percentage of men bicycle than women. This study illuminates the gender gap in bicycling by exploring differences in bicycling among women and men in Oregon. A one-day statewide travel survey of over 30,000 adults was examined. Comparisons between individual, household, and trip and activity characteristics for people grouped by gender (women vs. men) and bicycling (made a bicycle trip or normally commuted by bicycle vs. did not bicycle) were assessed using chi-squared tests of independence. Many significant differences were found. In particular, women living alone, not working, without a high-school degree, without a driver license, and living in low-income households or zero-vehicle households were less likely to bicycle than other women. Men with similar characteristics did not exhibit the same trends and sometimes were even more likely to bicycle. These findings are consistent with a perspective that women who bicycle are more likely to do so by choice, whereas women with fewer means are less likely to turn to bicycling than their male counterparts. In addition, there was partial support for the idea that women’s roles and responsibilities (for household maintenance and escorting, but not necessarily the presence of children) may contribute to this deficit. The study’s results begin to suggest a rethinking of bicycle-promoting policies and interventions to better target certain women, although further research is needed to more fully understand bicycling’s gender gap. Title: Cycling by Choice or Necessity? Exploring the Gender Gap in Bicycling in Oregon Author: Singleton, Patrick Allen Year: 2016 In Oregon, as elsewhere in the US, a greater percentage of men bicycle than women. This study illuminates the gender gap in bicycling by exploring differences in bicycling among women and men in Oregon. A one-day statewide travel survey of over 30,000 adults was examined. Comparisons between individual, household, and trip and activity characteristics for people grouped by gender (women vs. men) and bicycling (made a bicycle trip or normally commuted by bicycle vs. did not bicycle) were assessed using chi-squared tests of independence. Many significant differences were found. In particular, women living alone, not working, without a high-school degree, without a driver license, and living in low-income households or zero-vehicle households were less likely to bicycle than other women. Men with similar characteristics did not exhibit the same trends and sometimes were even more likely to bicycle. These findings are consistent with a perspective that women who bicycle are more likely to do so by choice, whereas women with fewer means are less likely to turn to bicycling than their male counterparts. In addition, there was partial support for the idea that women’s roles and responsibilities (for household maintenance and escorting, but not necessarily the presence of children) may contribute to this deficit. The study’s results begin to suggest a rethinking of bicycle-promoting policies and interventions to better target certain women, although further research is needed to more fully understand bicycling’s gender gap. Close