Individual and External Catalysts and Barriers of Biking: A Community Based Study in a Metropolis

Biking has proven health, environmental and traffic benefits. To prevail biking at community infrastructures and "Bicycle Sharing Systems (BSS)" have been developed, but their effectiveness is dependent on people's attitudes and perceptions. We aim to investigate attitudes of people toward biking and related infrastructures with regard to demographic factors in Mashhad, Iran-a metropolis with unsuccessful BSS. The present work was conducted as a cross-sectional study at Mashhad, Iran, in 2015. In a multistage sampling, adult inhabitants were selected and data about their perceptions of benefits and barriers of biking were collected through a researcher-designed questionnaire. Of 437 study participants with a mean (±SD) age of 29.9 (±11.3) years, 250 (57.3%) were female. Only 3 (0.7%) of respondents used bikes. Positive attitudes were significantly associated with gender, marital status and occupation of participants. Car ownership was accompanied by higher perceptions of "tiredness of biking"(p=0.02), its "low safety" (p=0.02) and "time wasting" (p=0.01). According to the results, cultural interventions are needed for biking promotion regardless of their socioeconomic status. Educational programs at academic settings are also valuable. Safety, convenience, and affordability of different groups of populations (like elderly and deprived people) should be regarded during designing and constructing biking infrastructures and setting participation rules.