CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

(Previously a “Survey”) - Barriers to cycling in Edinburgh

(14 posts)

  1. Rosie
    Member

    SURVEY – BARRIERS TO CYCLING IN EDINBURGH
    I am currently studying towards my MSc in Transport Planning and Engineering at Edinburgh Napier. I am conduction study on the perceptions of barriers to cycling in Edinburgh and I reached the point where I am conducting a survey based on Theory of Planned Behaviour and Transtheoretical Model of Behavioural change.

    I am aiming to get some information on the perception of barriers, barriers itself as well as motivators of cycling. I am also looking to find out about people attitudes towards cycling and cyclists. The results will be compared with current actions and strategies in Edinburgh and then evaluated in those terms.

    Link to the survey
    http://www.questionpro.com/t/AMSTfZVB3z

    Posted 8 years ago #
  2. chdot
    Admin

  3. Frenchy
    Member

    "Cycling helmets should be worn at all times by all cyclists, should be required by law."

    I feel differently about the two halves of this question, and I'm sure others will too.

    "When was the last time you cycled?"

    No "Today" option!

    "Outside of a commute to work, when you last cycled, how long was your trip?"

    Options have gaps (my last non-commute was 3.5 miles).

    "Were you involved in any cycling accident with 3rd party (pedestrian/cyclist/car/lorry)?"

    Ditto.

    "I would cycle more if there were changing facilities at my workplace/school."

    This needs to be split up into a few more questions. You need to know whether the responses are coming from people who already have access to changing facilities.

    "Lack of secure bicycle parking at my final destination is a big problem for me to cycle commute."

    Ditto. You can't tell "There's no bike parking, but I don't care." apart from "I already have bike parking at work."

    "Lack of segregated cycle paths on my usual route is one of the main reasons for me not to cycle commute."

    You're begging the question.

    "Rank in order of importance from 1 to 7 the improvements that would make you cycle more or you would contemplate cycling more (with 1 being the most important)."

    I can't remember if you already asked how far I cycle on average, but without this information you can't separate "I don't cycle, and never will" from "I already cycle everywhere anyway." Things like separate traffic signals for cyclists would be great, but they won't increase how much I cycle.

    Qs 46-49
    Ditto/begging the question again.

    "Occupation"
    Retired?
    Blue collar?
    etc.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  4. algo
    Member

    This feedback from @Frenchy should be given to the student - it would be very helpful. I have to agree with all the comments - the counterfactual questions are predicated on assumptions meaning the response categories are not well defined. I'm a bit surprised the supervisor of this student let this survey out in this form, but perhaps that's mean - I certainly would have tried to make it consistent and the evaluation more meaningful. I did my best to answer it nonetheless.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  5. Frenchy
    Member

    "This feedback from @Frenchy should be given to the student"

    For some reason I just assumed that it was Rosie's survey. I've emailed the student now.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  6. gembo
    Member

    I did the survey. Went neutral with some answers I struggled with.

    Depends on what level the student is at. Seemed OK to me, I look at a few of these in my day job (reading not cycling)

    Posted 8 years ago #
  7. Rosie
    Member

    I should have made it clear that this was submitted to Spokes.

    @Frenchy - I thought some of the questions were badly expressed and the choices weren't adequate. Still answered it though.

    I did wonder about the results. If it's on sites where cyclists visit you're going to get different answers than from potential cyclists.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  8. Frenchy
    Member

    @Frenchy - I thought some of the questions were badly expressed and the choices weren't adequate. Still answered it though.

    To be clear, I answered it too, but thought it was worth noting where improvements could be made.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  9. chdot
    Admin

    Resurrecting this thread to think about “barriers” again.

    Saw this, which contains various elements of ‘why people don’t cycle’.

    The couple thought living rurally would mean they could run and cycle easily but Jasmin found they had to “drive everywhere” and she was “scared of getting hit” while cycling on country roads. They rarely sat in their garden due to noise from a nearby dual carriageway, and they had no local amenities close by. “The small village didn’t even have a shop,” she said. “We gave it a shot, but the longer we lived there we realised we didn’t feel happy.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/25/i-had-rose-tinted-spectacles-uk-city-dwellers-on-relocating-during-the-pandemic

    Apart from the universal ’too many cars’, one widely mentioned factor is ‘infrastructure’.

    Both are a function of decades of ‘normalising’ car ownership/use plus political complicity/timidly.

    Another factor is theft. It puts some people off from having a bike and others from getting another if they have one stolen.

    I’m now wondering how much theft is more of a significant “barrier” than is generally realised.

    Posted 2 days ago #
  10. gembo
    Member

    Having your bike stolen is a violation for sure. I felt bad when it happened to me but i quickly bounced back. I dont think theft is anywhere near Bam Drivers as a barrier. In fact I think it is on par with helmets.

    Posted 2 days ago #
  11. chdot
    Admin

    Bike for sale on Gumtree -

    I'm moving and there is no reliable bike storage at my new building.

    Posted 15 hours ago #
  12. ejstubbs
    Member

    @gembo: Waay off topic but I am suddenly reminded of the film Happy-Go-Lucky, in which the wonderful, brazenly non-helmet wearing Sally Hawkins is prompted to learn to drive following the callous theft of her Raleigh Twenty folder. It seemed that having to put up with a certifiably bonkers Eddie Marsan as her driving instructor was nowhere near as traumatising as having her bike stolen.

    (I'm now thinking that I might have to watch the film again. An hour or two with one of Mike Leigh's creations is rarely wasted time.)

    Posted 13 hours ago #
  13. gembo
    Member

    @ejstubbs

    En
    Ra
    Ha

    Posted 12 hours ago #
  14. chdot
    Admin

    Register your bike for free on BikeRegister.com. You can also mark your bike with a security kit so that it is visibly part of the database. We run frequent Doctor Bike events where you can get your bike marked for free. You can also collect a kit from the Transport & Parking Office and do it yourself at home. Registering your bike will make it much easier for the Police to identify you as the owner if they recover it.

    https://transport.ed.ac.uk/news/protecting-your-bike-against-theft

    Posted 8 hours ago #

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