Workshop TR 1.2, Monday 19 June 16.00 - 17.30
Why are people cycling?
Alex Sully, County Cycling Officer, Somerset County Council, UK

How Far Are 'Ordinary' Cyclists Happy to Cycle As Part Of An 'Ordinary' Journey?
Where to Spend the Money?

The presentation sets out an hypothesis about cyclists' behaviour which can be used as a tool to aid understanding of how far 'ordinary' cyclists are happy to use their bikes before considering transferring to another form of transport. Whilst the conclusions reached require the acceptance of a number of assumptions, if accepted as valid, it may serve as a useful guide to behaviour when responding to claims about the distances cyclists will travel for utility purposes. It is also suggested that it will help justify decisions made about expenditure on cycle facilities when faced with conflicting demands and a limited budget.

Bruce Landis, Vice President SCI, USA
Russell Ottenberg, Project Planner, SCI, USA
Venkat Vattikuti, Staff Engineer, SCI, USA

Forecasting Bicycle Travel, The Latent Demand Method

This presentation will overview current methods used in the United States to estimate bicycle travel demand and potential use of bicycle facilities. It will highlight some of the recent developments in bicycle travel modeling and explore how they and other approaches are being used to help make decisions regarding bicycle facility investments.

Unlike travel demand for the automobile, which usually can be quantified, or at least validated by actual vehicle counts, estimating travel demand for the bicycle mode in the United States is complex due to many impediments.  Generally, bicycle travel does not occur because of poor accommodation within the existing transportation network and the dispersed suburban structure of most communities.  Thus surrogate measures, such as latent demand, are now being used in the United States for an objective measure of the transportation value of a proposed bicycle facility or network.

One such measure, the LDS Method, was developed in the mid-1990s. It employs a series of gravity models.  It estimates the bicycle travel market potential within roadway or trail corridor areas based upon the frequency, magnitude and proximity of adjacent bicycle trip generators and/or attractors, using distance as the primary travel impedance. It is increasingly being used as a low-cost network modeling approach to prioritize transportation system segments for bicycle facility investments. Both its structure and examples of its applications in metropolitan areas throughout the United States will be highlighted during this presentation.