Recreational bicycling as a “gateway” to utility bicycling: The case of Charlotte, NC

ABSTRACT Riding a bicycle for utility purposes in US cities is rare, especially in historically automobile-dominated cities. Using data from a transportation survey administered to 406 residents of Charlotte, NC, this paper reports on the results of a logistic regression model that predicts the influence of an individual's recreational cycling frequency on the odds of that individual riding a bicycle for utility purposes on a weekly basis. The odds of an individual riding for utility purposes at least once a week increases dramatically as an individual rides more for recreation. Recreational cycling appears to offer a space in which individuals can acquire a threshold level of skills and materials necessary to ride their bike for utility purposes. Results suggest that plans to increase utility cycling in an automobile-dominated city like Charlotte ought to emphasize and fund opportunities for residents to ride recreationally, and consider how experience riding a bike in the temporally- and spatially- flexible context of recreation can encourage more individuals to ride to and from errands, school, or their place of work.

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