Factors affecting the propensity to cycle - the case of Thessaloniki

Societies today invest in transport sustainability by investigating and promoting smarter and greener transport solutions such as intelligent transport systems, electric vehicles, cycling and walking through targeted strategies. An indicator of the success of such strategies is their uptake from the travellers/users. Under this light, this paper investigates the factors affecting travellers' propensity to cycle in the city of Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece. A questionnaire survey has been developed to investigate citizens' attitudes concerning cycling including questions on current trip patterns and characteristics of the respondents, opportunities and barriers for cycling, preferences regarding cycling infrastructure and attitudes considering the transport mode in general. A stated preference experiment is also included in the questionnaire. In the later, the propensity of the respondent to cycle is explored under specific scenarios for different trip purposes, trip lengths and supporting cycling infrastructure. Discrete choice analysis is performed, and a random-effect ordered probit model is developed describing the contributory factors for cycling amongst the population. Results indicate that the trip purpose, trip distance and cycling infrastructure are among the determinants that influence cycle use, as well as specific participant characteristics and attitudes.