Using a stages of change approach to explore opportunities for increasing bicycle commuting

Given the potential benefits of bicycling to the environment, the economy, and public health, many U.S. cities have set ambitious goals for increasing the bicycle share of commute trips. The Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change, which seeks to describe how positive and permanent change can be fostered in individuals, may shed light on how cities can most effectively increase bicycle commuting. We use the model's “stages of change” framework to explore the potential for increased bicycle commuting to the UC Davis campus in Davis, California. Our analysis uses data from the 2012 to 2013 UC Davis Campus Travel Survey, an annual online survey that is randomly administered to students and employees at UC Davis. Based on their responses to questions about current commute mode and contemplation of bicycle commuting, respondents are divided into five stages of change: Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance. We construct a Bayesian multilevel ordinal logistic regression model to understand how differences in socio-demographic characteristics, travel attributes, and travel attitudes between individuals explain their membership in different stages of change. In addition, we use this model to explore the potential of various intervention strategies to move individuals through the stages of change toward becoming regular bicycle commuters. Our results indicate that travel attitudes matter more to progression toward regular commute bicycling than travel attributes, tentatively supporting the efficacy of “soft” policies focused on changing travel attitudes.