On identification and prioritization of motivators and deterrents of bicycling

ABSTRACT

This study has identified a comprehensive set of motivators and deterrents influencing bicycling in typical Indian context based on literature review. A travel intercept survey was conducted to collect user perceptions on the identified motivators and deterrents from Kharagpur and Asansol, two typical Indian cities. The collected data were analyzed for prioritization of the identified factors using two established Multi-Attribute-Decision-Making (MADM) approaches, namely, RIDIT and GRA. The rankings of the factors obtained are found to be consistent for both cities. Results reveal that among deterrents, ‘safety concern’ and ‘route visibility’ are perceived as strong deterrents to bicycling, whereas ‘parking fee’ is not perceived as a significant deterrent. Motivators such as ‘physical fitness,’ ‘environmental awareness,’ and ‘reliability’ are perceived to be more important than the low cost of bicycle travel, which contradicts a wildly held perception that the relatively lower cost of bicycle travel is the primary motivator for bicycling.

KEYWORDS:

• Bicycling
• motivators
• deterrents
• user perception
• prioritization
• MADM
• RIDIT
• GRA

Acknowledgments

This work was done as part of a research project funded by The Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd., HSMI, Ministry of Housing &Urban Poverty Alleviation Government of India.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from HUDCO, HSMI, Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India (HSMI/R&D/3/2012) to carry out this study.