A quantitative analysis of gender impacts on travelers’ tendency toward cycling

Today, increasing number of cars and urban trips has caused problems such as: congestion and air pollution leading to lower quality of life in metropolises. In such circumstances, modern system and new transportation methods are generally suggested, whereas traditional systems can also be of high value. One such alternative system being cycling with benefits, like congestion and air pollution reduction and increasing people’s physical activity level. This paper aims to analyze quantitatively the gender impacts on travelers’ tendency toward this simple, cheap and pollutant-free system. Based on a field survey of 1096 Tehran citizen in municipality district number eight, and 1384 person trips, binary logit models are calibrated separately for women and men to analyze factors influencing travelers’ tendency toward cycling. Results indicate that women using cars and men using bus and subway, have a lower tendency for cycling, as, do women for educational trips, contrary to men. Results also indicate that increasing travel time and aging, decrease cycling tendency. Results suggest that positive factors for men traveling by bicycle include traveling during peak period and men with more daily trips.