As issues of traffic congestion, obesity, and environmental conservation receive increased attention globally and in the US, focus turns to the role that walking and cycling can play in mitigating such problems. This enthusiasm has created a need for evidence on the degree to which policies to increase walking and cycling travel have worked. This paper outlines the important challenges researchers face in their attempts to produce credible evidence on walking and cycling interventions. It closes by discussing matters to consider in such research endeavors, including the importance of clear conceptualization, sound research design, measurement innovations, and strategic sampling.

Many school districts in the United States allow parents to choose which school their child attends ('school choice’ or ‘magnet schools’) while other school districts require students to attend their nearest (‘neighborhood’) school. Such policies influence children's transportation. We survey elementary-school parents in St. Paul and Roseville, Minnesota, to discover how children travel to school and underlying factors influencing parent's choice of their child's travel mode. From this information we develop a statistical model of travel mode choice. We find that children's commute mode and parental attitudes towards school selection differ by school type (magnet versus neighborhood), income, and race. Relative to neighborhood schools, magnet schools draw from broader geographic regions, have lower rates of walking, bicycling, and commuting by automobile, and higher busing rates. Parent attitudes towards transportation also differ by race and school type. For example, parents of nonwhite and magnet school students placed greater-than-average importance on bus service and quality. This paper highlights the potentially unintended influence of school district policy on school commute mode.

The manner in which cyclists visually perceive elements of the urban environment plays an important role in bicycle crashes, which have been increasing in recent years. Yet, how visual information is processed by the user while riding a bike is still poorly analyzed by researchers. This study investigates cyclists’ eye gaze behavior at signalized intersections taking into account a set of gaze characteristics. Recording cyclist’s visual fixations by mobile-eye glasses in a real outdoor environment, a total of 13 field tests have been analyzed along a three-kilometer route in the urban center of Bologna, Italy. Findings reveal key differences in gaze behavior by experience level of the cyclist and type of intersection.

(2007). Analysing the benefits and costs of bicycle facilities via online guidelines. Planning Practice & Research: Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 197-213.

As communities around the globe contemplate the future of their transport portfolio, bicycling's role has increasingly cropped up as a key discussion point. Up until a few years ago, bicycling's value was largely fueled by a loyal advocacy base. Its potential was littered with unsupported claims and bicycling struggled to obtain legitimate status, even as, or precisely because of its status as a 'fringe mode.' This context has recently changed. Concomitant with—or perhaps prompted by—a rise in (public and policy attention for) bicycling, there has been a rise in research specifically on bicycling. In just a few years, bicycling's stock has risen to be a mode that is commanding attention in cities of all sizes. Furthermore, its role and value are informed by a burgeoning evidence base, increasingly in the form of peer-reviewed work. This evidence base allows, among other things, a more reflective appreciation for bicycling's position in transport systems and for bicycling to be better understood in different geographical contexts.