Case Study: Changing Attitudes to Cycling
Reducing traffic congestion, better air quality, getting fitter and reducing noise pollution … the benefits of cycling are well documented. So why don't more people do it and how can they be persuaded to change their minds and get on their bikes?
Background
Cycling is integral to the Mayor's vision to develop London as an exemplary sustainable world city. The Mayor's vision is to make London a city where people of all ages, abilities and cultures have the incentive, confidence and facilities to cycle whenever it suits them. Currently, Transport for London (TfL) believes this is not the case due to perceived difficulties with cycling and out-of-date attitudes.
TfL wanted to find out how they could encourage more people to take up cycling. In particular, they were interested in finding out whether giving people knowledge about, and experience of, cycling would encourage them to change their views about and interest in cycling.
Our Approach
We adopted a three-stage approach to this challenging brief:
- Deliberative workshops
- Post-workshop immersion exercise
- Reconvened groups
Two deliberative workshops were held in both central and outer London (Southwark and Harrow). In these workshops, we recruited a mix of cyclists and non-cyclists with different patterns of travelling behaviour, at different life stages and of a variety of different ethnic backgrounds, to discuss their attitudes towards cycling.
The workshops were designed to:
- Understand the role / relevance, underlying views and perceived positives and negatives of cyclists and cycling in London (e.g. safety, lack of respect for cyclists from other people, etc.), as well as people's aspirations for cycling in London (looking at the differences between cycling for commuting and for leisure);
- Confront negative views about cyclists and cycling in London and seek to change them during the study, thus understanding what is most effective for changing views on a London-wide scale;
- Understand what effect TfL could have on people's attitudes towards cyclists and cycling in London via various initiatives;
- And to this end, establish an effective way of improving attitudes to cycling in London.
Throughout the day, a series of projective techniques and stimulus materials were used to fuel the discussion. Stimulus materials included videos, expert witnesses, as well as written briefing notes.We used questionnaires before and after the workshops to assess how opinions changed throughout the day.
These workshops were followed by an immersion exercise where participants were offered the opportunity to borrow a bike and safety equipment for a few weeks. This was to see whether their experiences would change their opinions of cycling. A high proportion of participants agreed to take part in this element of the research, including some people who had either never cycled before or not cycled for decades.
The workshops were reconvened a few weeks later and in the interim all participants were asked to discuss cycling with their friends and family, to note their own reactions to cyclists and to take photographs which related to cycling. The reconvened groups were then used to discuss these experiences and the impact they had on their attitudes towards cyclists and cycling.
Outcomes
This highly participative methodology enabled TfL to:
- Spend time with participants, gaining a deeper understanding of their attitudes towards cycling, and the extent to which these views might change when subjected to advertising and information.
- Understand the impact of actively encouraging people to try cycling,
As a result, the report gave practical suggestions as to how TfL could encourage Londoners to cycle more in the future.
Comments
"I took a bike because I haven't ridden one for quite some time. I used to ride a bike a lot and thought it was a good opportunity to get back on and … rekindle old feelings, for health reasons, and for enjoyment!" Participant
"Instead of just driving in the car and getting a newspaper on Saturday, I was actually riding!" Participant