Income inequalities in Bike Score and bicycling to work in Canada

The purpose of this study was to examine income inequalities in Bike Score and bicycle to work mode share, a health enhancing form of physical activity, at the census tract level in Canada. This ecological study examined associations between income quintiles and availability of cycling infrastructure and cycling behaviour in 1282 census tracts in 8 cities in Canada. The outcomes were Bike Score, its components (Bike Lane Score, Hill Score, and Destinations and Connectivity Score), and bicycle to work mode share. Quintiles of median income were calculated from the 2011 National Household Survey Data. We used linear and negative binomial regression with city level fixed effects, and controlled for unemployment, home ownership, total population, and number of new immigrants in the last 5 years in the census tract to examine social inequalities in environmental supports for cycling and bicycling behaviour. The mean Bike Score and bicycle to work mode share across all census tracts were 72.4 (SD = 16.9) and 2.6 (SD = 4.0), respectively. Final regression models showed significant income quintile gradients for Bike Score and Bike Lane Score. For bicycle to work mode share, higher income areas had significantly greater cycling compared to the lowest income areas, although there was not a consistent trend across quintiles. Our results show some income inequalities are present in the availability and quality of cycling infrastructure in several Canadian cities.