Multimodal Commuting to Work by Public Transport and Bicycle: Attitudes Toward Mode Choice

Public transport and cycling often are combined in one trip. However, this combination has not attracted much research attention. Existing research has identified several hard factors that may explain the combined use of public transport and bicycle: station accessibility, distance to the station, and bicycle facilities at stations. Even though the effect of attitudes toward mode choice is widely acknowledged, the authors are not aware of any study that analyzes this effect on the combined use of bicycle and public transport. The effect of attitudes on the decision to commute by both public transport and bicycle was investigated. Results indicated that public transport bicycle commuters differed significantly from those who commuted by only car, public transport, or bicycle. Nevertheless, public transport bicycle commuters shared similarities with public transport commuters (who did not cycle to or from the station) and bicycle commuters. Public transport commuters had a more positive attitude toward car commuting and a less favorable attitude toward cycling, and bicycle commuters had a more positive attitude toward cycling and a less favorable attitude toward public transport than did public transport bicycle commuters. Public transport bicycle commuters also shared most beliefs about public transport with public transport commuters and shared beliefs about cycling with bicycle commuters and public transport commuters but differed on several characteristics. Nevertheless, differences between the groups were significant and indicated that commuters who used both public transport and a bicycle in one trip were different from single-mode commuters.