Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Webinar: Breaking Barriers To Bike Share: Insights On Equity, Nathan Mcneil, Jennifer Dill, John Macarthur

TREC Webinar Series

While the number of public bike share systems in the United States grew considerably in recent years, early evidence indicated that many systems were not serving the diverse populations of cities, particularly lower-income residents and people of color. Lack of bike share stations in neighborhoods with people of color and/or lower incomes is one factor; however, considerable disparities appear to persist even when stations are placed in these communities.

Efforts to overcome access and use barriers (such as cost, payment options, and familiarity with the system) to bike share for underserved communities have been initiated in a number of cities. …

Breaking Barriers To Bike Share: Insights From Residents Of Traditionally Underserved Neighborhoods, Nathan Mcneil, Jennifer Dill, John Macarthur, Joseph Broach, Steven Howland

TREC Final Reports

Evidence has shown that higher income and white populations are overrepresented in both access to and use of bike share. Efforts to overcome underserved communities’ barriers to access and use of bike share have been initiated in a number of cities, including those working with the Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP) to launch and test potentially replicable approaches to improve the equity outcomes. This report describes findings from a survey of residents living near bike share stations placed in underserved communities of select BBSP cities: Philadelphia, Chicago, and Brooklyn. These were neighborhoods targeted for focused outreach related to BBSP programs, …

Breaking Barriers To Bike Share: Insights On Equity From A Survey Of Bike Share System Owners And Operators, Steven Howland, Nathan Mcneil, Joseph Broach, Kenneth Rankins, John Macarthur, Jennifer Dill

TREC Final Reports

The number of public bike share systems has been increasing rapidly across the United States over the past five to 10 years. To date, most academic research around bike share in the U.S. has focused on the logistics of planning and operationalizing successful systems. Investigations of system users and impacts on the local community are less common, and studies focused on efforts to engage underserved communities in bike share are rarer still. This report uses a survey of representatives from 56 U.S. bike share systems to better understand and document current approaches toward serving low-income and minority populations. The survey …

Barriers To Biking For Women And Minorities, Amy Lubitow

TREC Project Briefs

The health benefits of bicycling are well understood; numerous studies link increased cycling activity with improved health outcomes. Research suggest that the cycling behavior most likely to generate broad, population-level health benefits is everyday routine cycling—including running errands and taking other short trips. Despite these health benefits and new investment in cycling infrastructure, overall cycling levels in the U.S. lag behind many other nations. Amidst findings of increased ridership, research still finds that women and racial minorities are underrepresented as cyclists in North America.

While quantitative data may reveal estimates of these disparities, little is known about the motivations or …

Narratives Of Marginalized Cyclists: Understanding Obstacles To Utilitarian Cycling Among Women And Minorities In Portland, Or, Amy Lubitow

TREC Final Reports

Research has demonstrated that everyday or utilitarian forms of cycling are most likely to generate positive population-level health impacts (Garrard et al., 2012), yet significant deterrents to routine cycling remain, particularly for women and minorities. The primary aim of this project was to conduct a qualitative interview study that generated rich, narrative data regarding obstacles to routine or utilitarian cycling for women and minorities who already see biking as a viable form of transit, but who make relatively few bike trips. A secondary aim of the project was to develop a set of specific interventions that have the potential to …