Who is the typical bicyclist?

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Abstract

Promoting bicycling is important for individual health, environmental sustainability and transport demand management. However, very few people use a bicycle on a regular basis. This paper explores what views bicyclists and non-bicyclists in England may hold about the typical bicyclist and how such views are related to bicycling behaviour and intentions. A survey was conducted among 244 bicyclists and non-bicyclists. On the basis of a range of statements on behaviour, motivation and characteristics of the typical bicyclist, four different stereotypes could be distinguished: responsible, lifestyle, commuter and hippy-go-lucky. These views differed between bicyclists and non-bicyclists. Moreover, independent of past bicycling behaviour, reported intentions to use a bicycle in the future were positively related to perceptions of the typical bicyclist as a commuter or hippy-go-lucky bicyclist. These findings have implications for encouraging bicycling, which may benefit from promoting bicycling as a common day-to-day activity rather than something that is only relevant for a few.

Introduction

Bicycling is a healthy and sustainable form of transport (Cavill & Davis, 2007; Lumsdon and Tolley, 2001). Regular bicycling can provide an important form of exercise, which is often lacking in modern lifestyles (Department of Health, 2004). Although bicycling may carry safety risks these risks tend to be outweighed by the health benefits (British Medical Association, 1992). Moreover, the use of bicycles instead of motorised forms of transport for short journeys can play an important role in tackling climate change (Komanoff, Roelofs, Orcutt, & Ketcham, 1993). It has also been suggested that the encouragement of (off-peak) cycling for commuting journeys has the potential to reduce congestion and encourage restorative benefits for individuals (Lyons & Haddad, 2008). Unfortunately, bicycling is not considered a first option, let alone an alternative, by many, especially in countries such as the UK, where few safe bicycle routes exist (Gatersleben & Appleton, 2007). Between 1985 and 1997 journeys made by bicycle in the UK fell by 36%. In 2000 only 2% of all UK journeys were by bicycle. Although 90% of the bicycle journeys were no more than 5 miles long, again only 2% of these were made by bicycle (DTLR, 2001). This suggests that, at least from the perspective of distance travelled, there may be potential for increasing bicycling.

When people are asked why they do not use a bicycle they often refer to traffic safety, heavy traffic, inconsiderate drivers, pollution, bad weather, distance and travel time, gradient, not being fit enough and social pressure (e.g., Bannister, 1988, Davies et al., 2001, Gatersleben and Appleton, 2007, Kingham et al., 2001, McClintock and Clearly, 1996, Newby, 1993, Wardman et al., 1997). Bicyclists, as well as non-bicyclists, believe bicycling is good for individual health and the environment; those who bicycle regularly, however, also refer to benefits such as low cost, flexibility, enjoyment, fitness and relative speed (Davies et al., 2001, Gatersleben and Appleton, 2007, Hopkinson and Wardman, 1996, Pooley and Turnbull, 2000).

One of the factors that has received relatively little attention in research on bicycling is the role of social variables such as social norms, social identity and stereotypes. Gatersleben and Appleton (2007) examined bicycling attitudes and perceptions of people in different stages of change (see Prochaska & DiClemente, 1984). They found that people who have never contemplated bicycling were particularly different from infrequent or frequent bicyclists. More specifically they found that non-contemplators had the least positive attitude towards bicycling, they were most likely to think that they would feel strange on a bicycle and that others would find it strange if they used a bicycle. It was suggested that information campaigns on bicycling should attempt to improve the image of bicycling. To date most of such campaigns focus on health and environmental aspects. But, such campaigns do not necessarily result in the increased uptake of bicycling (Davies et al., 2001). One potential barrier may be the views some people hold of the typical bicyclist. Social science research has shown that the stereotypes people hold of social groups can influence their perceptions, attitudes and behaviour (e.g., Fyock and Stangor, 1994, Rojahn and Pettigrew, 1992, Wright et al., 1992). If people hold negative stereotypes of the typical bicyclist, or if they hold views which include uncommon characteristics and behaviours, they may be less likely to take up bicycling or to be influenced by cycling information campaigns.

Stereotypes are oversimplified schema of traits about a group of people (Katz & Braley, 1933). What kinds of traits people attribute to a group depends on whether they perceive themselves as part of that group or not. According to the social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979, Tajfel and Turner, 1986) people tend to see the in-group (to which they feel they belong) in a more positive light than the out-group (to which they do not belong). There is some work which supports such views in relation to bicycling. Davies, Halliday, Mayes, and Pocock (1997) propose that images of bicycling and bicyclists in the UK are mainly negative. Basford et al. (2002) report that drivers tend to class bicyclists as the ‘out group’ – with different characteristics from other road users. In their study, drivers often placed bicyclists at the bottom of the road user hierarchy and often associate negative traits to bicyclists, viewing them as being irresponsible, unpredictable or erratic, arrogant and inconvenient. Drivers were more likely to say that drivers normally abide by the rules of the road than bicyclists were which highlights the notion of out-group perception.

Stereotypes can be useful shortcuts in understanding the world and the variations of people within it, but they can also distort perceptions and influence motivations and behaviour. For instance, existing research has shown that people are inclined to attend more to stereotype-consistent information and reject or ignore information that is inconsistent with their stereotypes (Fyock and Stangor, 1994, Rojahn and Pettigrew, 1992). Wright et al. (1992) found that people are more likely to want to buy a sports car if they believe a typical driver of a sports car has certain positive characteristics, such as sexy, young and outgoing. On the other hand, Sadalla and Krull (1995) suggest that negative stereotypes of people who engage in energy conservation behaviours may act as a barrier for others to engage in such behaviour(s). They found that stereotypes of individuals who act pro-environmentally were widely shared and generally negative. Although other research does not find support for negative stereotypes related to environmental behaviours (e.g., Moreira, Da Costs, Da Silva, & De Araújo, 2004). The link between attitudes towards a behaviour and the stereotypical views people hold towards the people who perform these behaviours has been found in a range of behaviours including recycling behaviour (Mannetti, Pierro, & Livi, 2004), consumer behaviour (Wright et al., 1992), and risky behaviour (e.g. Gibbons, Helweg-Larsen, & Gerrard, 1995).

The present study examines what views people in England hold in relation to the typical bicyclist, further looking at whether these views are related to bicycle intentions and behaviours. To explore the stereotypes that (may) exist of a ‘(stereo)typical bicyclist’, respondents were asked to what extent they feel a range of behaviours, motivations, personality and demographic characteristics belonged to a typical bicyclist. The study examines whether the respondents’ views of these aspects reflect a limited number of underlying dimensions or categories of typical bicyclists: i.e. stereotypes. The research then goes onto explore whether the views differ between those who use a bicycle and those who do not and if so, where these differences may lie. On the basis of existing literature one would expect that people who use a bicycle are likely to have more positive views of the typical bicyclist than people who do not use a bicycle. Finally, the study will examine to what extent perceptions of each of the possible stereotypes that may emerge are related to intentions to take up bicycling in the future, independent of past bicycling behaviour.

The findings of this study may reveal important insights into the views held of typical bicyclists. This can be useful in providing alternative and richer information to increase the effectiveness of future cycling campaigns; aiming to provide an indication as to the aspects such campaigns may want to address in order to promote bicycling.

Section snippets

Participants

A total of 244 people completed a questionnaire. About half of them indicated they had used a bicycle in the 2 months before completing the questionnaire. There was an almost equal number of males and females. The mean age of the respondents was 38 (age range 18–69, SD = 13.18). Respondents lived in a range of locations in the UK: 36% lived in the South East: 29% lived in the Norfolk: 8% lived in Greater London and around a quarter lived in other areas of the country. There was a broad spectrum of

Bicycling behaviour

At the start of the questionnaire respondents were asked whether they had bicycled in the last 2 months (yes/no). If they indicated that they had they were asked to indicate on a 7-point scale how often they had bicycled for functional reasons and for leisure reasons (1 = never, 4 = about half the days, 7 = daily). If they had not used a bicycle in the last 2 months they were asked whether they had done so in the past (yes/no) and if so how long ago this had been (open ended).

Bicycling stereotypes

Respondents were asked to

Bicycling

Just under 50% of the respondents indicated they had bicycled in the last 2 months (48%), and 52% indicated they had not bicycled in the 2 months before the questionnaire was distributed. On average, those who had bicycled had done so more frequently for functional purposes (M = 3.48, SD = 2.12) than for leisure reasons (M = 2.29, SD = 1.31; t = 5.23 (111) p < .001). Out of those who had not bicycled in the past 2 months only 8% (n = 10) indicated they had never done so at all. Those who had bicycled in the

Conclusion and discussion

This paper examined how people perceive a typical bicyclist and how such perceptions relate to bicycling behaviours and intentions. The study findings suggest that respondents tend to perceive four types of bicyclists on English roads: responsible bicyclists (who use a bicycle safely and responsibly); lifestyle bicyclists (keen bicyclists who spend time and money on bicycling); commuters (professionals who use the bike to commute to work, whatever the weather); and hippy-go-lucky bicyclists

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    We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their considered feedback.

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