Why people do or do not use their bike on short trips: modality choices in the Netherlands

While the overall mobility is rising in the Netherlands, car use is increasing to a greater extent than the use of public transport and biking. In 2002 the percentage of car trips increased from 44% to 49%. Although we see within the category up to 7,5 kilometers (i.e. 2,08 miles) a somewhat smaller share of car trips, for these short trips the car is gaining ground. For the accessibility of cities, the quality of living conditions in living areas, traffic safety, the environment and the health of road users, these short car trips form a major problem in the Dutch community. Over the last decade, the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management has developed different policies to deal with the increasing pressure short car trips (i.e. up to 2,08 miles) form to our society. This Dutch Ministry has launched a specific governmental program, called mobility management, through which the Ministry tries to motivate, instead of force, people to make ‘good’ mode choices that are respectfull for both individual needs as well as for the society as a whole. The mobility management policy is focused on shifting the responsibilities for the implementation of policy measures from central to regional and local policy makers. Those measures include, for example, presenting attractive alternatives for individual car use. For short trips this means reducing the number of car trips by promoting biking: the goal is to get more people, more often on their bike! 1.1 Current research To gain insight into how people can be best stimulated to travel by bike more often, the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management asked the Transport Research Center (AVV) and Goudappel Coffeng to conduct a study among Dutch citizens. Main goal to be achieved in this study was to learn from the arguments people use when they decide to use their bike, and from the arguments they use when they decide to travel by car on short trips up to 7,5 kilometer (i.e. 2,08 miles). On the one hand, it was expected that the results would provide us with a better understanding of the perceived impediments for biking to be dealt with by policy makers. On the other hand the study was set out to provide better insight into the positive arguments that make people so-called ‘satisfied’ bikers. Also, this type of insight can be helpful for policy makers in persuading other citizens. Because we expected