The Influencing Factors on Bicycle Trips: A Comparison of A Metropolitan City to Suburban Cities

Due to the advantages of bicycles as a sustainable transportation mode, local governments are increasing efforts on the development of bicycle master plans. Some research recently started supporting these efforts by investigating the factors that influence bicycle trips. However, a generic approach that covers a large metropolitan area may not accurately capture the factors influencing bicycle trips since the approach covers a large geographical extent with different levels of land use hierarchy, a mixture of different demographic characteristics, and a variety of physical environmental conditions. To address this consideration, this study classifies the Los Angeles metropolitan area into two areas by the hierarchy of city scale; a metropolitan city (Los Angeles) and suburban cities (Covina and Pomona). This paper then examines the unique attributes that influence bicycling in a metropolitan city and suburban cities. The results of the examination clearly suggest that there are distinct differences between the factors of the metropolitan city and the suburban cities. The land use and physical environment factors contribute to the bicycle trips in the metropolitan city, while demographic characteristics including population density and income are significant factors on suburban bicycle trips. The findings of this paper can support local governments to develop customized bicycle planning strategies by the hierarchy of city scale.