Modeling Cyclist Route Choice using Revealed Preference Data: An Age and Gender Perspective

Perception of safety varies among cyclists depending on their cycling experience and frequency as well as on their socio-demographic attributes, particularly age and gender. Female cyclists are often more likely to feel unsafe than their male counterparts under similar traffic conditions or surrounding environment. In general, female cyclists are known to avoid slopes and high traffic, and prefer shorter trips than their male counterparts. However, there is no research that has yet explicitly modeled the differences in route choice between female and male cyclists using revealed preference data. In this research, we use GPS enabled smartphone based route data to develop segmented route choice models for different age groups and genders. The results indicate that segmented models are significantly better representatives of route choices made by female and male cyclists than pooled models. The findings suggest that traffic characteristics such as speed and annual average daily traffic (AADT) influence the decision to choose a particular route differently for female cyclists and male cyclists. Similar results are seen across different age groups as well. Preference towards routes with cycling facilities are however universal and no significant difference is noted among gender or age segments in this regard.