Evaluating bicycle accessibility and bike-bus integration infrastructure : Saskatoon, SK, 2006
Date
2006-12-22
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
The study proposes an application of Talen’s (2003) methodological framework for assessing neighbourhood-level (i.e., non-motorised mode) accessibility, and offers recommendations for improving non-motorized transportation (NMT) accessibility to enhance multimodal integration between bicycles and buses in contemporary North American suburban neighbourhoods. Accessibility (or "access”) is defined as the average travel time or distance between a given origin and destination along the shortest available street network route. The study considers characteristics of the transportation network such as available route directness, facilities, and transit service provision to determine their impacts on bicycle access. A further methodology for comparing bicycle versus bus modal efficiencies within suburban contexts is developed and applied to the case study. A review of approaches designed to promote bicycling while discouraging personal automobile use provides a toolbox of proven treatments that are applied to a case study of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – a city of approximately 200,000 people. The approach provides a process that can be used by city or transit planners to identify neighbourhoods that lack sufficient access and apply treatments that improve bicycle accessibility and bicycle-transit integration. Results suggest existing potential for the bicycle as an access mode within contemporary suburban neighbourhood transportation networks. The case study supports the notion that suburban bicycle-bus integration could be used as a viable alternative to automobiles for daily home-to-node activity trips, and raises questions about the current allocation of public transit service to suburban routes within the context of the case study. Discussion and conclusions suggest directions for future research in this field of sustainable urban transportation planning.
Description
Keywords
bicycle, bus, multi-modal, non-motorized, access, bike, accessibility, saskatoon
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Geography
Program
Geography