By Charles Pekow — Studies on urban bikeability often emphasize safety and comfort, but researchers should place greater emphasis on connectivity. This is the conclusion of a meta-analysis of 1,649 studies, which found that only 15 developed “urban bikeability indices” to measure bike friendliness across a city or part of it.
“The review findings suggest a lack of consideration of all five bicycle infrastructure design principles, as only three studies considered them all, while others only included a subset,” concludes the study “Bicycle Infrastructure Design Principles in Urban Bikeability Indices: A Systematic Review” from Hasselt University in Belgium.
Most reports prioritized “safety” and “comfort,” while paying relatively little attention to “coherence.” The studies also focused on “attractiveness” and “directness” to varying degrees.
Attempts to gauge bikeability varied in their focus and weighting of factors. Some studies emphasized the presence of bike lanes, while others prioritized intersections. The most commonly considered indicators included bicycle infrastructure, greenery along bike paths, slopes, vehicular traffic flow/volume, street lights, bicycle path connectivity, and traffic speed.
However, the authors criticize past research for not adequately considering factors such as pavement conditions, road markings, traffic control devices, and crosswalks.
