THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE BICYCLE TRAIN COMBINATION

The train does not offer door-to-door transport. Therefore the quality of transport to and from the station plays an important role in modal choice. For policy purposes it is useful to know which improvements in access and egress make the train as a major transport mode more attractive as compared to the car. This study focuses on improvements to encourage use of the bicycle as an access or egress transport mode, in order to make travelling by train more attractive. The Transportation and Traffic Engineering Division of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works requested to describe the attractiveness of the bicycle-train transport combination. The source of information was a survey among train passengers departing from Delft Central Railway Station, held in 1988. The results of this survey showed that the Foot-Train-Foot and Bicycle-Train-Foot combinations had the biggest share in the total distance and time travelled of all combinations of access and egress modes in train trip chains. It was not possible to point out the influence of various variables on a choice of access and egress transport mode combinations. However, the following factors play a role: (1) Type and location of activity centres that generate traffic (2) The quality of public transport in cities having a railway station (3) The population of train passengers (4) The availability of access and egress transport modes. The Bicycle-Train-Bicycle combination can be made more attractive by: (A) Improving the way to and from the station for important relations; (B) In particular making the choice for the bicycle as an egress mode easier. This can be done e.g. by letting people take the bicycle on the train, by improving rent-a-bike facilities and bicycle parking facilities at railway stations etc. (Author/TRRL)