Estimating Bicycle Usage on a National Cycle Network
Source: Transportation Research Board
"This paper describes the methodology and results from the 1999-2002 Veloland Schweiz surveys of the Swiss national cycle network, using an intercept survey technique, supplemented by cyclist counts and track-side interviews, to obtain information on the magnitude and characteristics of cyclist flows on the Veloland Schweiz National Cycling Routes. The project uses a method of weighting and expanding the sample data obtained from the survey sites to obtain estimates of annual trips and kilometres travelled for catchment areas around each survey site and for the network as a whole. These expansion weights account for the response to the survey, and to the spatial and temporal sampling involved in the survey. They also account for the weather conditions on the days on which the sample surveys were conducted, compared to the average weather during the survey year. Finally, estimates are made of cycling-related expenditure associated with trips made on the national network. While this method has been developed in the context of a national network of cycle routes, it is considered to be applicable at other geographic scales including regional and city-wide cycle networks."
