Thread by @DIsaac8

This #CyclingScienceSunday let's take a look at what factors prompt people to bike in the winter.

TL;DR: It mostly comes down to plowing bike lanes. If bike lanes are plowed, 40% of people say they would bike in the winter.

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

This study is from Sweden, which has a pretty robust cycling culture (although the study is 20 years old and it was a bit different then). The authors differentiated between people who frequently bike in the winter, don't bike in the winter, infrequently bike or never bike.

Study participants were asked to rank the importance of factors influencing what mode of transport they took.

Those who biked in summer but not in winter rated precipitation, road condition and temperature as the most significant reasons for not choosing bikes in the winter.

Those who biked all year ranked exercise, cost, the environment and travel time as the most important factors. (Ironically, people who never biked also ranked travel time and cost in their top choices).

Between 38% and 43% of participants stated they would bike more in the winter if bike path maintenance was improved. The authors estimated that if bike paths were properly cleared during the winter, bike trips would increase by up to 18%.

This just goes to show that people are actually willing to bike in the winter, provided they have properly maintained infrastructure to use.