Examining the association between cycling infrastructure and cycling: baseline results from INTERACT Victoria

Abstract

The majority of Canadians are not meeting physical activity guidelines. Implementing infrastructure that supports active transportation is an important intervention to increase population physical activity levels. The INTErventions, Research and Action in Cities Team (INTERACT), has the goal to advance research on the design of healthy and sustainable cities for all. My study is a sub-project of INTERACT and has three main objectives. The first objective is to determine whether participants support the All Ages and Abilities (AAA) Cycling Network. The second objective is to examine the association between exposure to the Pandora protected cycle track and physical activity levels and the third objective is to determine if there are gender differences in overall levels of physical activity. I hypothesized that participants would support the AAA Cycling Network and exposure to the Pandora protected cycle track would be associated with greater overall physical activity levels of residents who cycle at least once a month in Victoria. I also hypothesized that women would have lower levels of physical activity when compared to men. INTERACT recruited 281 people who completed online surveys; 149 of whom wore a Sensedoc (an accelerometer and global positioning system (GPS), for ten days to collect physical activity and spatial location data). Data collection took place from May 19, 2017, to November 30, 2017. I calculated exposure to the Pandora protected cycle track using daily path mobility, which measures the ratio of the number of GPS points within 200 metres of the Pandora protected cycle track compared to the participants number of total GPS points. Overall, participants supported the AAA Cycling Network and showed a preference for off-road paths and separated cycling infrastructure. This preference was especially true for women, who also reported much less physical activity per week than men. Regression analysis showed that there were associations between exposure to the Pandora protected cycle track and both self-report and accelerometer-based physical activity, but only after a certain threshold of exposure. The implementation of the AAA Cycling Network with an emphasis on protected cycling infrastructure may increase cycling frequency and physical activity levels in the City of Victoria.