Exploring effective communication strategies to encourage the use of bicycle parkings

Abstract

Cycling has gained popularity worldwide, but little is known about the choice behaviour of people searching for a bicycle parking spot in the city centre. Formal parking spaces provided in the city centre are currently often underutilised, whilst many people use fly parking, which causes nuisance. This thesis aims to identify the most effective communication strategy to reduce the utilisation of fly parking and whether this differs for distinct user groups. Traffic signs were chosen as a means to present the different communication strategies. Information on choice behaviour was gathered with the use of a stated preference survey. Discrete choice modelling was used to analyse this data. The results show communication prohibiting the use of fly parking work very effectively in reducing fly parking. Interactions of socio-demographics and communication strategies were also found, indicating that belonging to a certain user group affects the effectiveness of the different communication strategies. What should be noted is that the effect of the interactions is marginal compared to the effect of the communication strategy itself. Meaning that the effectiveness of the communication strategy itself is most important. The research also tested how well traffic signs performed as a means of delivering the communication. It was concluded that solely showing traffic signs without providing any prior or other information is not very effective.