Thread by @DIsaac8

This #CyclingScienceSunday let's look at some things that prevent marginalized communities from biking, even where there is good infrastructure. 🧵

TL;DR: Racism, financial barriers, knowledge barriers, and spatial inequality.

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

#LdnOnt #BikeTO #CycleWR

This study comes from Grenoble, France, which is a cycling-friendly city. The authors did 19 interviews with policymakers, residents with different identities, and bike service providers to identify barriers to cycling for people from marginalized communities.

From these interviews, the authors identified four main barriers to cycling: racism, financial barriers, information or knowledge barriers, and spatial inequalities.

Participants noted that they faced racism in accessing bike services and in how they were perceived and treated as cyclists (particularly Black men delivering food by bike). The effect of this was to discourage cycling among POC.

Financial barriers included the cost of buying and maintaining a bike, but also a lack of safe bike storage in poorer neighbourhoods and buildings, leading to a fear of theft.

The third barrier was knowledge/information. Participants noted that information about bike sharing and bike services was generally only provided in French, which some immigrants did not speak.

Similarly, information about bike services was provided by news releases and on social media, but one participant stated that the women in her community did not get their information this way, so were unaware of services they would have used.

The final barrier was spacial inequality. The city's subsidized bike share stations were located 6 km from the poorest area of the city. Women noted that they had been harassed while cycling, and some avoided certain central areas of the city where that behaviour is common.

Likewise, one participant noted that when they city asked residents to bike around to identify gaps in cycling infrastructure, only white, older, wealthy residents participated.

These various barriers intersect with each other, just as identities of the participants intersect. For instance, subsidized bikes were available for purchase (financial barrier), but this information wasn't available in many languages (knowledge barrier).

The authors conclude that access to bike infrastructure and services is not simply a question of living close by - there are other significant barriers to cycling for marginalized communities.