A Quantitative Analysis of Gender Impacts on Traveler's Tendency toward Cycling

Today, excessive increase in number of cars and urban trips has caused problems such as traffic congestion and air pollution leading to lower quality of life in metropolises. In such circumstances, modern transportation systems are generally suggested, whereas traditional systems can also be of high value: cycling as a green transportation and human-oriented alternative system with benefits, like congestion and air pollution reduction and increasing physical activity level. In Iran, due to increasing car ownership and its negative impacts, cycling can have bold role. Previous international studies have shown that women and men have some different transport behavior due to their innate differences, like differences in social responsibility and access to facilities. Considering the almost equal and significant share of women in urban trips, and also the cultural aspects, this issue is of even more importance in Tehran. According the research gap in this field particularly in Iran, this paper aims to analyze quantitatively gender impacts on travelers’ tendency toward this simple, cheap and pollutant-free system. Based on a field survey of 1096 Tehran citizens in municipality district number eight, and collected demographic and travel characteristics data on 1384 person trips, binary logit models with emphasis on new variables are calibrated to analyze factors influencing women’s and men’s tendency toward cycling. In this paper, the effect of new explanatory variables that have received little attention in previous studies, such as: Type of vehicle, trip purpose, traveling during peak period and number of daily trips has been analyzed. Results indicate that age, trip purpose and type of vehicle, have different effects on women’s and men’s tendency for cycling. For example, 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 can decrease cycling tendency. Results suggest that positive factors for men traveling by bicycle include traveling during peak period and men with more daily trips.