Exploring non-attendance of situation attributes in choosing the bike as a transport mode: the case of Belgium

Abstract

Cycling is an important pillar of the global endeavour to have a more sustainable transportation system. A lot of information is available in the literature regarding the impact of different factors on cycling. However, no research has been conducted on heuristics individuals may use when choosing the bike as a transport mode. We try to answer this question in the current paper. We modelled the probability of cycling using a binary item response model where the choice is modelled as a trade-off between the individuals’ tendency to cycle and the threshold of each cycling situation. Accounting for heuristics has been mainly studied in discrete choice modelling, but in this study, we will explore attribute non-attendance in the analysis of binary item responses. We classified the respondents into two groups of frequent and occasional cyclists. The occasional cyclists were more affected by adverse levels of situation attributes. Contrary to previous studies, a separate bike path was a stronger motivator for the group of frequent cyclists. The model fit was substantially improved after accounting for attribute non-attendance. The weather condition and the bike path had the highest and lowest attendance probability respectively.