“There’s something about the breeze on your face” The Motivations and Obstacles Faced By Cyclists in a Diverse Farm Town

Cities and communities invest in cycling programs to promote public health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate traffic. In twenty-five qualitative interviews with residents of a predominantly Latina/o community California, the authors explore the personal motivations and barriers to cycling among volunteers for and participants of a folding bike loan program. The diverse sample represents a broad cross-section of a small farm town, ranging from a local minister to a prison parolee, a school counselor to staff of a county social service agency. The authors find residents are motivated by concerns for personal and familial wellbeing, including stress reduction, physical health and having a prosocial activity to do with family. Residents expressed a sense of freedom, independence and pride derived from cycling for leisure and utilitarian transportation. Many immigrants related their experiences cycling in California to cycling in Mexico, describing cycling in mixed traffic in the United States as much easier and relaxing than cycling where they grew up. Participants generally had positive or neutral attitudes about driving, but found automobile ownership and maintenance burdensome. Results suggest campaigns to promote cycling among women, immigrants, working families and communities of color will benefit from linking the financial and health benefits of cycling to a broader narrative of personal empowerment, self-sufficiency and lifestyle satisfaction. Results also demonstrate great potential for folding bikes to reduce several major barriers to cycling for working families, including lack of safe storage space, lack of confidence riding large bikes, and the shortage of bike racks on public buses.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20 Bicycle Transportation. Alternate title: “There’s Something About the Breeze on Your Face”: Motivations and Obstacles Faced by Cyclists in Diverse Farm Town.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Palm, Matthew
  • Niemeier, Deb
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
• Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p
• Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycle travel; Bicycling; Campaigns; Immigrants; Low income groups; Mode choice; Motivation; Promotion; Rural areas; Small towns
• Identifier Terms: Mexicans
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01556680
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-5716
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 12 2015 7:52AM