IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v13y2006i3p265-279.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why Canadians cycle more than Americans: A comparative analysis of bicycling trends and policies

Author

Listed:
  • Pucher, John
  • Buehler, Ralph

Abstract

In spite of their colder climate, Canadians cycle about three times more than Americans. The main reasons for this difference are Canada's higher urban densities and mixed-use development, shorter trip distances, lower incomes, higher costs of owning, driving and parking a car, safer cycling conditions, and more extensive cycling infrastructure and training programs. Most of these factors result from differences between Canada and the United States in their transport and land-use policies, and not from intrinsic differences in history, culture or resource availability. That is good news, since it suggests the possibility of significantly increasing cycling levels in the United States by adopting some of the Canadian policies that have so effectively promoted cycling and enhanced its safety.

Suggested Citation

  • Pucher, John & Buehler, Ralph, 2006. "Why Canadians cycle more than Americans: A comparative analysis of bicycling trends and policies," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 265-279, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:13:y:2006:i:3:p:265-279
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967-070X(05)00138-1
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shoup, Donald, 1999. "Instead of Free Parking," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt58898049, University of California Transportation Center.
    2. Pucher, John & Komanoff, Charles & Schimek, Paul, 1999. "Bicycling renaissance in North America?: Recent trends and alternative policies to promote bicycling," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 625-654.
    3. Pucher, J. & Dijkstra, L., 2003. "Promoting Safe Walking and Cycling to Improve Public Health: Lessons from The Netherlands and Germany," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1509-1516.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vandenbulcke, Grégory & Dujardin, Claire & Thomas, Isabelle & Geus, Bas de & Degraeuwe, Bart & Meeusen, Romain & Panis, Luc Int, 2011. "Cycle commuting in Belgium: Spatial determinants and 're-cycling' strategies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 118-137, February.
    2. Vandenbulcke, Grégory & Thomas, Isabelle & de Geus, Bas & Degraeuwe, Bart & Torfs, Rudi & Meeusen, Romain & Int Panis, Luc, 2009. "Mapping bicycle use and the risk of accidents for commuters who cycle to work in Belgium," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 77-87, March.
    3. Santos, Georgina & Behrendt, Hannah & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2010. "Part II: Policy instruments for sustainable road transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 46-91.
    4. Justine I Blanford & MGIS Geog 586 Students, 2020. "Pedal Power: Explorers and commuters of New York Citi Bikesharing scheme," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-15, June.
    5. Wooliscroft, Ben & Ganglmair-Wooliscroft, Alexandra, 2014. "Improving conditions for potential New Zealand cyclists: An application of conjoint analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 11-19.
    6. Ipek Sener & Naveen Eluru & Chandra Bhat, 2009. "An analysis of bicycle route choice preferences in Texas, US," Transportation, Springer, vol. 36(5), pages 511-539, September.
    7. Kevin J Krizek & Susan L Handy & Ann Forsyth, 2009. "Explaining Changes in Walking and Bicycling Behavior: Challenges for Transportation Research," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 36(4), pages 725-740, August.
    8. Zachary Shahan, 2007. "The Relationship between Bicycling Facilities and Bicycle Travel: A Comparative Study in the United States and the Netherlands," NEURUS papers neurusp107, NEURUS - Network of European and US Regional and Urban Studies.
    9. Ellison, Richard B. & Ellison, Adrian B. & Greaves, Stephen P. & Sampaio, Breno, 2017. "Electronic ticketing systems as a mechanism for travel behaviour change? Evidence from Sydney’s Opal card," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 80-93.
    10. Spielman, Seth E. & Yoo, Eun-hye, 2009. "The spatial dimensions of neighborhood effects," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1098-1105, March.
    11. Pucher, John & Buehler, Ralph & Seinen, Mark, 2011. "Bicycling renaissance in North America? An update and re-appraisal of cycling trends and policies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 451-475, July.
    12. Paul Downward & Simona Rasciute, 2011. "An Economic Analysis of the Subjective Health and Well-being of Physical Activity," Chapters, in: Plácido Rodríguez & Stefan Késenne & Brad R. Humphreys (ed.), The Economics of Sport, Health and Happiness, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Daley, Michelle & Rissel, Chris, 2011. "Perspectives and images of cycling as a barrier or facilitator of cycling," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 211-216, January.
    14. An, Ran & Zahnow, Renee & Pojani, Dorina & Corcoran, Jonathan, 2019. "Weather and cycling in New York: The case of Citibike," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 97-112.
    15. Gould, Gregory & Karner, Alex, 2009. "Modeling Bicycle Facility Operation: a Cellular Automaton Approach," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt1xn1j5vh, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    16. McDonald, Noreen C., 2005. "Children’s Travel: Patterns and Influences," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt51c9m01c, University of California Transportation Center.
    17. Neatt, Kevin & Millward, Hugh & Spinney, Jamie, 2017. "Neighborhood walking densities: A multivariate analysis in Halifax, Canada," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 9-16.
    18. Echeverría, Lucía & Giménez-Nadal, J. Ignacio & Alberto Molina, José, 2022. "Who uses green mobility? Exploring profiles in developed countries," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 247-265.
    19. Frater, Jillian & Kingham, Simon, 2020. "Adolescents and bicycling to school: Does behaviour setting/place make a difference?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    20. Massingue, Suzanna Allen & Oviedo, Daniel, 2021. "Walkability and the Right to the city: A snapshot critique of pedestrian space in Maputo, Mozambique," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:13:y:2006:i:3:p:265-279. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.