Browsing by Author "Schoner, Jessica"

Now showing 1 - 12 of 12
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    Assessing the Economic Impact and Health Benefits of Bicycling in Minnesota
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation Research Services and Library, 2016) Lindsey, Greg; Quian, Xinyi; Linscheid, Neil; Tuck, Brigid; Schoner, Jessica; Pereira, Mark; Berger, Aaron
    This project estimated the economic impact of the bicycling industry and events in Minnesota, estimated bicycling infrastructure use across the state, and assessed the health effects of bicycling in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
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    Assessing the Economic Impact and Health Effects of Bicycling in Minnesota
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2016-12) Qian, Xinyi; Lindscheid, Neil; Turk, Brigid; Lindsey, Greg; Schoner, Jessica; Pereira, Mark; Berger, Aaron
    This project estimated the economic impact of the bicycling industry and events in Minnesota, estimated bicycling infrastructure use across the state, and assessed the health effects of bicycling in the Twin Cities metropolitan area (TCMA). A survey of bicycling-related manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, non-profit and advocacy groups found the industry produced a total of $779.9 million of economic activity in 2014. Using data from multiple sources, The number of bicycle trips in Minnesota was estimated to be between 75.2 and 96 million annually. The TCMA accounts for 69%-72% of the total number of trips and miles traveled in Minnesota. Bicycling events, including races, non-race rides, fundraising events, mountain bicycling events, high school races, and bicycle tours, produced a total of $14.3 million of economic activity in 2014. All six types of bicycling events mainly attract white, non-Hispanic male participants. “Riding my bicycle” was the most frequently identified reason to attend an event (except for fundraising event participants), and there is a variety of enjoyable attributes that differed across event types. Overall, respondents were satisfied with the events. Bicycle commuting prevents 12 to 61 deaths per year, saving $100 million to $500 million. Bicycle commuting three times per week is also linked to 46% lower odds of metabolic syndrome, 32% lower odds of obesity, and 28% lower odds of hypertension, all of which lower medical costs. Project findings tell a compelling story for the positive effects of bicycling and provide direct evidence that supports the efforts of promoting bicycling-related industry, infrastructure, events, and activities.
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    Factors Associated with the Gender Gap in Bicycling Over Time
    (2014) Schoner, Jessica; Lindsey, Greg; Levinson, David M
    Bicycling has grown in popularity over the past decade, but the gap in rates of bicycling between men and women in the United States (US) persists. This paper uses regional travel behavior study data from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Region in 2000 and 2010 to measure and model the gender gap in bicycling over time. Findings from a series of statistical tests show that in aggregate, women bike less than men, and that growth in bicycling has been slower for women than for men over the past decade. However, stratifying the sample shows that women who live with at least one other adult bicyclist participate in bicycling at an equal rate as men. Similarly, frequency of bicycle trips among people who participate in bicycling differed by gender only slightly in 2000, and not at all in 2010. Binary logistic modeling results show that several factors, such as age and trip purpose, are associated with different bicycling outcomes for men and women, but some commonly hypothesized explanations, such as having children, were declining in effect or altogether insignificant. These findings and conclusions are important for practice and research because understand- ing the nuances of the gender gap, such as the apparent gap in participation but not in frequency or the contagion effect of living with a cyclist, is essential for targeting programs effectively. This paper also identifies several travel behavior data collection limitations that complicate studying the gender gap, and offers recommendations for further study.
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    Mutually Reinforcing Relationships Between Bicycling and Infrastructure
    (2017-04) Schoner, Jessica
    Researchers have long sought evidence about whether dedicated bicycling infrastructure induces people to cycle, based on a supply-driven assumption that providing infrastructure causes the behavior change. However, supply inducing demand is only one of four theoretical relationships between bicycling and infrastructure. The aims of this research are twofold: 1. Develop a theoretical framework to identify and evaluate all of the possible relationships between bicycling and infrastructure and describe how these factors reinforce one another to shape diffusion of bicycling and infrastructure in cities; and 2. Develop and execute a research plan to empirically model selected hypotheses within the theoretical framework. The empirical portion of the dissertation tests the hypotheses that (1) bicycling infrastructure supply induces bicycling demand, and (2) bicycling demand induces additional demand. The research uses a series of cross-sectional tests at multiple points in time as well as lagged variable models to add a layer of temporal precedence to our otherwise cross-sectional understanding of associations between bicycling and infrastructure. The findings show persistent associations between infrastructure and bicycling over time, across geographies, and at both the individual and aggregate level. The association between bicycling and additional bicycling holds over time at the individual household level and for bike share membership. However, the tests failed to find evidence of bike share stations and activity affecting general population cycling rates. This dissertation provides a roadmap for future research into feedback loops between bicycling and infrastructure. It additionally provides practitioners with guidance on both the strengths and limitations of both infrastructure provision and socially-focused bicycling initiatives. Like most bicycling research, this dissertation is limited by the quality of data available for both bicycling behavior and infrastructure supply. Neither the data nor the tests performed are rigorous enough to infer causality; instead, the findings add strength and nuance to the existing body of literature.
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    Nice Ride Minnesota Program Evaluation Bemidji Bike Rental System
    (2015-03) Levinson, David M; Schoner, Jessica; Lindsey, Greg
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    Nice Ride Minnesota Program Evaluation: Minneapolis-St. Paul Bike Share System
    (2015-05) Schoner, Jessica; Lindsey, Greg; Levinson, David M
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    Nice Stations: An Exploration of Nice Ride Bike Share Accessibility and Station Choice
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2014-02) Schoner, Jessica; Levinson, David
    Little is known about how people integrate bike share trip segments into their daily travel. In this study, we evaluate how people navigate from place to place using the Nice Ride Minnesota bike share system in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. We measure changes in job accessibility due to the addition of Nice Ride stations and develop a theoretical model for bike share station choice. The mapped results suggest that Nice Ride provides the strongest job accessibility improvement at the 30-minute threshold in a band just beyond the central business district where walking would not be feasible. We then model people's choice of origin station to evaluate their sensitivity to time spent walking, distance, and a set of station amenity and neighborhood control variables. As expected, people prefer to use stations that do not require deviating from the shortest path to reach a station. For commuters, each additional minute of walking decreases a station’s chance of being chosen, regardless of the overall trip length. Commuters also chose stations closer to parks. Conversely, users making non-work trips are sensitive to the ratio of walking to biking time (with a preference for time spent biking). Stations in neighborhoods with lower crime rates were more likely to be chosen for all trip purposes. The results from this study are important for planners who need a better understanding of bike share user behavior to design or optimize their system. The findings also provide a strong foundation for future research about bike share system modeling.
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    Performance Measures for Bicycling: Trips and Miles Traveled in Minnesota
    (Presentation at 95th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, and Publication in the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2016) Lindsey, Greg; Schoner, Jessica
    Transportation managers are grappling with the challenge of implementing performance management systems for all modes of transportation, including bicycling. Comprehensive measures of the magnitude of bicycling for states, regions, or municipalities do not exist. This paper presents two sketch plan methods for estimating the number of bicycle trips and miles traveled in the state of Minnesota.
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    Sharing to Grow: Economic Activity Associated with Nice Ride Bike Share Stations
    (Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, 2012-08-31) Schoner, Jessica; Harrison, R. Andrew; Wang, Xize
    This study examines local economic activity associated with bike sharing programs through a mixed methods investigation of the Nice Ride Minnesota bike share system. The literature on bike share systems is rapidly growing, but little information about the ways in which ridership is both influenced by the presence of businesses and influences those businesses is available. This research provides new information about economic aspects of bike share operations by (1) measuring the marginal effects of the presence of different types of businesses and job accessibility on station activity while controlling for other variables; (2) reporting the perceptions of business owners and managers about the effects of a nearby Nice Ride station on these businesses; and (3) using survey results to describe Nice Ride users’ trip making and expenditure patterns. We observed a statistically significant relationship between station trip activity and the number of food-related businesses and job accessibility within a bike share station area. Business owners and managers corroborated these findings by revealing general positive attitudes toward Nice Ride users as customers, although interviewees were ambivalent when asked if they would trade parking or sidewalk cafe space for a Nice Ride station. The user survey revealed that respondents use bike sharing to go to cafes, restaurants, grocery stores, concerts, bars, and the like, and they spend modest amounts of money on these trips. The availability of Nice Ride stations mainly supports mode shifts (e.g., people who choose to bike rather than drive or walk) but it also may induce some new trips. The principal economic effect may be the reallocation of user expenditures to businesses that are more accessible to more people because of the nearby stations.
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    Transportation Impact of Transitways: A Case Study of Hiawatha Light Rail Transit in Minneapolis
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2013-03) Cao, Jason; Schoner, Jessica
    The Metropolitan Council in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area (Twin Cities) aims to greatly increase transit ridership in the next two decades. A network of transitways is an essential component to achieve the ridership goal. Since transitways represent significant infrastructure investments from federal, state, and local governments, the public and planners are interested in their ridership bonus. This study investigated transportation impact of the Hiawatha light rail transit (LRT) using a 2011 dataset collected in the Twin Cities. By employing a match-pair cross-sectional design, we surveyed residents living in the middle section of the Hiawatha LRT corridor and those in two urban control corridors and two suburban control corridors in the region. We first explored the reasons that motivated residents moving into the LRT corridor (or residential preferences) and their connections with transit use. Then we employed a propensity score matching approach to study the impact of Hiawatha LRT on transit use for residents who moved to the corridor before its opening and for those who moved after its opening. Finally, we tested the carryover effect of the LRT and built environment effect on active travel: walking to stores and strolling. The study produced interesting results and offered important implications for land use and transportation policies associated with light rail transit.
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    Travel Behavior Over Time
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2015-06) Levinson, David; Lindsey, Greg; Fan, Yingling; Cao, Jason; Iacono, Michael; Brosnan, Martin; Guthrie, Andrew; Schoner, Jessica
    Using detailed travel surveys (the Travel Behavior Inventory) conducted by the Metropolitan Council of the Minneapolis/Saint Paul (Twin Cities) Region in Minnesota for 1990, 2000-2001, and 2010-2011, this report conducts an analysis of changes in travel behavior over time. Specifically looking at changes in travel duration, time, use, and accessibility; telecommuting and its relationship with travel and residential choices; transit service quality and transit use; effects of age and cohort; and changes in walking and bicycling. Much has changed in this period, including the size of the region, demographics, economics, technology, driver licensing, and preferences, examining in turn the effects of investment, development, and population change on behaviors for the Minneapolis-St. Paul region as a whole and for areas within the region. While this research cannot hope to untangle all of the contributing factors, it aims to increase understanding of what did happen, with some explanation of why. This will inform transportation engineers, planners, economists, analysts, and decision makers about the prospective effects of future changes to networks, land use, and demographics while also evaluating the effects of previous network investments.
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    Which Station? Access Trips and Bike Share Route Choice
    (2013) Schoner, Jessica; Levinson, David M
    Bike share systems are an emerging technology in the United States and worldwide, but little is known about how people integrate bike share trip segments into their daily travel. Through this research, we attempt to fill this knowledge gap by studying how people navigate from place to place using the Nice Ride Minnesota bike share system in Minneapolis and St. Paul. We develop a theoretical model for bike share station choice inspired by research on transit route choice literature. We then model people’s choice of origin station using a conditional logit model to evaluate their sensitivity to time spent walking, deviation from the shortest path, and a set of station amenity and neighborhood control variables. As expected, people prefer to use stations that do not require long detours out of the way to access. However, commuters and non-work travelers differ in how they value the walking portion of their trip, and what station amenities and neighborhood features increase a station’s utility. The results from this study will be important for planners who need a better understanding of bike share user behavior in order to design or optimize their system. The findings also provide a strong foundation for future study about comprehensive route choice analysis of this new bicycling technology.