Impact of creating bike lanes for bicycling use as transportation for adults living in the city of Rio Claro-SP.

Abstract

Several studies have shown that the bicycle use for transportation has beneficial effects on several diseases, whether as a result of the exercise itself or indirectly through carbon reduction and pollution coming from cars. However, the lack of a suitable location for cycling (bike paths and bike lanes) is one of the main barriers for cyclists and non-cyclists. Studies assessing the impact of the creation of bike paths and lanes in promoting cycling have some inconsistent results and only few studies using objective measures report increased physical activity in response to these environmental changes. Thinking about this, the aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of the creation of bike lanes in the use of the bicycle as transportation for adult residents of the city of Rio Claro - SP. To this end, a longitudinal research will be conducted in two stages. At first, a survey will be conducted with 1588 subjects in a period prior to the creation of 14 miles of bike lanes in the city; Then after the creation of these structures, the same subject will be invited to participate in the second stage of this survey. The impact of the creation of bike lanes will be analyzed objectively and subjectively, through the Geographic Information System and so perceived, through a validated instrument to assess the barriers and motivators for the use of bicycles and bike paths, respectively. For the analysis of the data the Poisson Regression will be used being adjustable for gender, age, education, marital status, Index of Social Vulnerability and number of cars.