China faces a very serious environmental situation as a result of severe environmental pollution in the country. Smog in eastern and northern China is a wake-up call for actions to be taken to improve the ecological environment. As a student in landscape architecture, my practicum topic focuses on a design that can reduce the problem of air pollution in China. A bicycle infrastructure design in Nanjing is proposed to encourage people to ride instead of drive. By creating a safe, functional, efficient, recreational and attractive bicycle system, more people will love cycling and realize the importance of “green travel”. At the same time, I would like to try to improve Chinese people’s awareness of environmental protection through a well-designed bicycle infrastructure. / February 2016

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional & Community Planning / Gregory Newmark / Concerns about climate change, environmental impacts and resources needed for transportation infrastructure, require new and different approaches to planning, designing, and operating transportation solutions on a global scale. College campuses are prime locations to focus on various methods of sustainable transportation, specifically walking and bicycling and the related infrastructures needed for these systems. The necessary infrastructures for these modes of transportation are different than the conventional road system utilized by automobiles. As a result, cities, planners, campuses, and the individuals who will be traveling must understand why changes to transportation infrastructures are important. This may require a mindset change before it becomes incorporated in their everyday lives. Universities can play a large role in this by offering increased infrastructure for bicycling. This paper examines the travel behaviors of students that live on campus at Kansas State University Campus in Manhattan and examines their bicycle ownership and usage habits, through the use of a survey. The survey results suggest that the Jardine Apartments is the area most used for bicycle travel. The survey provides the most perceived prevalent impediments to cycling more often as well as the top elements the University could utilize to promote cycling. This report conducted three binomial logistic regression models to predict bicycle ownership and usage. It was found that being male, residing in the Jardine Apartments, and having a high bicycle comfort level are all important factors.

As bicycle transportation has increased, especially among commuters, so have the types of bicycle infrastructure facilities increased. This report focuses on the application of several of these innovative bicycle infrastructure treatments in three different scenarios: shared-lane facilities, bicycle-specific facilities, and high-conflict area treatments. The focus treatments include the sharrow, Sharrow Bicycle Priority Lane, Green Bicycle Priority Lane, Bicycles May Use Full Lane sign, green bike lane, bike-box, green lane in a conflict area, and elephant's footprint markings. The goal of this report is to gather how well bicyclists understand their meaning, how they would use each, and which treatments are most preferred among bicyclists. Data for this study was gathered in the form of an online survey administered to 1000 bicyclists of varying levels and purposes from different regions of the country. The survey gathers general rider characteristics, asks how each bicyclist would use each treatment in different traffic speed and volume scenarios, and finally each respondent rates each of the treatments in order of preference. Using the survey results, the effectiveness of each treatment is analyzed in detail by different population segments of those surveyed. Bicyclist riding characteristics and route choice factors are also examined in detail to better understand the sampled population of riders. The results are discussed and conclusions to the effectiveness of each treatment are made.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Architecture / Jason Brody / This report examines the use of bicycling as a transportation alternative to the personal automobile in the United States. It begins with a review of historical trends that caused Americans to move away from bicycling for transportation and choosing to adopt automobiles as the primary mode of transportation. A review of articles, reports, and studies is used to consider the benefits connected with utilitarian cycling and electing to bicycle for transportation. The report focuses on three prominent barriers that affect an individual‟s decision to bicycle: bicycle safety, bicycle consciousness, and bicycle infrastructure. The study discusses how these three obstacles are considerable factors affecting bicycling. The study also discusses a number of exemplary solutions for overcoming these barriers that have been implemented in bicycle-friendly cities in the United States. An analysis of plans and policies for the bicycle-friendly cities of Portland, Oregon and Davis, California is used to determine what historical actions have led to a more complete bicycle network in these two cities which have elected to promote bicycling. An in-depth evaluation of Boulder, Colorado, provides insight for specific plans that have been adopted and strategies that have proven to be successful in improving bicycling for transportation. The report attempts to demonstrate that bicycling can be made a viable means of transportation in United States‟ communities by adopting comprehensive plans and policies that address the challenges of bicycle safety, bicycle consciousness, and bicycle infrastructure simultaneously.

Thermal comfort receives little priority in the planning and design of bicycle pathways. Design tools are required to illustrate the importance of the relationship between climate and bicycling activity to improve the bicycling experience and extend the bicycling season in a cold climate. Microclimatic and bicycle pathway design principles were integrated with a COMFA model to simulate the thermal comfort of users bicycling on a proposed pathway in Ottawa, Canada. Modelling results predicted bicyclists could be thermally comfortable travelling at a steady-state speed of 16.0-19.2 km/h, but preferred to be cooler when travelling at higher speeds and warmer in colder months when standing at rest. Design implications recognized the compatibility of microclimatic and bicycle pathway design principles and demonstrated how a bioclimatic approach to designing bicycle infrastructure can encourage user thermal comfort, mitigate weather discomforts, accentuate seasonal climate conditions, and address a more inclusive combination of bicycle user design criteria.

This thesis examines the bicycle cultures found in the United States and the Netherlands. The cities of Claremont, California, San Luis Obispo, California, and Groeningen, Netherlands are used as case studies to compare bicycle policies and infrastructure. Bicycle-friendly cities require bicycle master plans that address accessibility, education and promotion, safe infrastructure, and parking. A successful bicycle culture improves a city’s environmental sustainability, health, equity, and access. Most importantly, a safe and convenient bicycle environment builds community interaction.

Bicycling as a mode of transportation has been increasing in recent years due to its environmental and health benefits. The availability of bicycles through bicycle share programs has made bicycling a more viable option. With this increase, there is a need for complementary improvements of bicycle infrastructure. Many local and regional transportation agencies are recognizing this need and developing a master plan or safety action plan to improve the city’s bicycle and walking facilities. This study examines bicycle travel demands and travel patterns in Lexington, Kentucky as generated by SPIN bicycle share users. It is hypothesized that the SPIN users emulate bicycle users on and around the University of Kentucky campus. Therefore, analyzing their travel patterns will provide a valuable understanding of bicycle demand and infrastructure needs. To identify such demand, travel patterns and routes were compared to the existing bicycle infrastructure in order to determine improvement needs with an ulterior goal to increase bicycling as a mode of transportation. The methods of study include five levels of analysis: length and duration, temporal, climatic, point density, and modeling. Recommendations for improving routes and parking facilities have been developed based on analytical methods and results obtained. The findings support the notion that bicycle infrastructure influences the travel paths cyclists take. The research supports the idea that commuters are using SPIN bicycles to chain their trips with transit and completing the last or first section of the trip with a bicycle. It was found that bicycle travel demand fluctuates with weather patterns. Furthermore, future work could use the existing data and conduct a detailed analysis on the individual trip level to determine what percentage of a completed trip was taken on an existing bicycle facility or on a non-facility. These findings should aid transportation planning and city officials to make decisions for expanding the existing bicycle network in efforts to minimize the percentage of cyclists who take a detour and the length of detours when necessary.

The bicycle as a means of transport is an important part of a more transport-efficient society as well as to reach Sweden's and the world's climate goals. It also has other advantages, it is a healthy, flexible, and surface-efficient means of transport that does not cause noise and thus provides socio-economic benefits. For more people to want to cycle, however, a cycling infrastructure that a majority of the population feels safe and comfortable with is required. An understanding of different cyclists' infrastructure preferences is therefore of great importance in planning. The purpose of this report is to investigate whether the cycling infrastructure in the city of Stockholm fulfills the degree of perceived safety and comfort which in turn makes it possible to reach the city's targeted number of cyclists. To investigate this, a literature study was conducted on the relationship between bicycle infrastructure, perceived safety and comfort and choosing the bicycle as a means of transport. Bicycle typologies are then examined to see how these relationships vary within the population. This is applied in a Stockholm context through a case study of the Alvik-KTH route where an inventory was conducted to understand the present conditions regarding bicycle infrastructure. Furthermore, an interview was conducted with officials at the City of Stockholm to understand how planning is done practically in the city and which limitations exist within bicycle planning. The study shows that there are differences in infrastructure preferences between different parts of the population. A majority prefers a traffic-separated cycling infrastructure that they feel is safe and comfortable. Currently, these preferences are not met on a large part of the Alvik-KTH route, whereby it may be difficult to reach the City of Stockholm's target for number of cyclists. The City of Stockholm has ambitions to reach a high standard of cycling infrastructure. This study shows that this standard corresponds to the preferences of a majority of the population to some extent. To meet the preferences to a greater extent, supplementary guidelines and measures are needed, which can be taken from leading cycling nations such as the Netherlands. The City also has a limited budget and a street space where many interests must come together. When and to what extent an improvement of the cycle infrastructure can take place is therefore a matter of political priorities. / Cykeln som transportmedel är en viktig del i ett mer transporteffektivt samhälle och för att nå Sveriges och världens klimatmål. Den har även många andra fördelar, det är ett hälsosamt, flexibelt och yteffektivt transportmedel som inte orsakar buller och av dessa anledningar ger samhällsekonomiska vinster. För att fler ska vilja cykla krävs dock en cykelinfrastruktur som en majoritet av befolkningen känner sig säker och komfortabel med. En förståelse för olika individers cykelinfrastrukturpreferenser är därför av stor vikt i planeringen.  Syftet med denna rapport är att undersöka om cykelinfrastrukturen i Stockholms stad uppfyller den grad av upplevd säkerhet och komfort som i sin tur gör det möjligt att nå stadens mål om antal cyklister. För att undersöka detta genomfördes en litteraturstudie kring sambanden mellan cykelinfrastruktur, upplevd säkerhet samt komfort och att välja cykeln som färdmedel. Därefter undersöks cykeltypologier för att se hur dessa samband varierar inom befolkningen. Detta appliceras i en Stockholmskontext genom en fallstudie över stråket Alvik-KTH där en inventering genomfördes för att förstå förutsättningarna för cykelinfrastrukturen. Vidare genomfördes en intervju med tjänstepersoner på Stockholms stad för att förstå hur cykelplaneringen praktiskt går till inom staden och vilka begränsningar som finns. Studien visar att det finns skillnader i infrastrukturpreferenser mellan olika delar av befolkningen. En majoritet föredrar en trafikseparerad cykelinfrastruktur som de upplever är säker och komfortabel. I dagsläget är dessa preferenser inte uppfyllda på en större del av stråket Alvik-KTH varvid det kan bli svårt att nå Stockholms stads mål om antal cyklister. Stockholms stad har ambitioner om att nå en hög standard på cykelinfrastrukturen. Denna studie visar att denna standard till viss del motsvarar de preferenser som en majoritet av befolkningen har. För att i högre grad möta preferenserna behövs kompletterande riktlinjer och åtgärder, vilka kan hämtas från ledande cykelnationer som Nederländerna. Staden har dessutom en begränsad budget och ett gaturum där många intressen ska samsas. När och i vilken utsträckning en förbättring av infrastrukturen kan ske är därför en fråga om politiska prioriteringar.

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Esta dissertação apresenta uma pesquisa e uma série de análises realizadas com a finalidade de entender melhor o uso das bicicletas próprias e compartilhadas em São Paulo, cidade em que a infraestrutura cicloviária e os sistemas de bicicletas compartilhadas são recentes e ainda limitados. Através de análises descritivas e de modelos estatísticos, (1) foi realizada uma comparação das características dos usuários de bicicletas próprias com as dos usuários de bicicletas compartilhadas; (2) foi analisado o perfil dos ciclistas antes e depois da expansão da infraestrutura cicloviária e foram identificadas as diferenças comportamentais entre ciclistas recentes e experientes; (3) foram analisados os fatores associados à frequência do uso da bicicleta com motivo trabalho ou estudo e para demais finalidades e (4) foi analisada a escolha do uso da bicicleta compartilhada ou própria para uma determinada viagem. Os resultados indicam que a expansão da oferta de infraestrutura cicloviária parece estimular segmentos menos representativos da população, como mulheres e indivíduos de baixa renda, os quais não consideravam utilizar a bicicleta sem a existência de ciclovias. O tempo de viagem parece influenciar significativamente na frequência de uso de bicicleta, indicando que esse modo pode ser competitivo com os veículos motorizados em cidades grandes, densas e congestionadas. Também se observou que os sistemas de bicicletas compartilhadas desempenham um papel fundamental nas viagens multimodais e na atração de novos ciclistas. Os resultados servem de subsídios para tomadores de decisão na definição de estratégias que visam incentivar o uso da bicicleta. Assim, o estudo pode auxiliar na elaboração de políticas públicas voltadas para a bicicleta; por exemplo, incentivo à expansão dos sistemas de bicicletas compartilhadas ou melhorias e expansão da infraestrutura cicloviária nas cidades. / The current study presents a survey and a series of analyses performed in an effort to better understand the use of private and shared bicycles in Sao Paulo, a city where bicycle infrastructure and bicycle-sharing systems are recent and still limited. Using descriptive analysis and statistical models, we (1) compare the characteristics of private bicycle users and shared bicycle users; (2) analyze the profile of bicyclists before and after the expansion of dedicated infrastructure and identify behavioral differences between newcomers and experienced bicyclists; (3) analyze factors associated with frequencies of work and non-work bicycle trips, and (4) analyze the choice between using a private or a shared bicycle for a given trip. The results show that the expansion of bicycle infrastructure seems to stimulate underrepresented segments of the population, such as women and low-income individuals, to start cycling. Travel time seems to be an important predictor of bicycling frequency for both work and non-work purposes, suggesting that this mode can be very competitive with cars and transit in large, dense and congested cities. We also observe that shared bicycle systems play a fundamental role in multi-modal travel and in introducing new users to the bicycle mode. Results may subsidize policy making in defining strategies to stimulate the use of bicycles, such as introducing bike sharing systems and expanding and qualifying the cycling infrastructure.