Cycling to school : Investigating accessibility and seasonal differences using GIS service area analysis

• Main Author: Hull, Karolina
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Umeå universitet, Institutionen för geografi 2020
• Subjects: Accessibility; AST; cycling to school; service area analysis; Human Geography; Kulturgeografi; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-172351

Cycling to school is one way of minimising the negative environmental effects of car use, on the one hand, and increasing children’s exercise on the other. Cycling can also be challenging in winter as bicycle paths need keep a certain standard to be cyclable (e.g. cleared of snow). An assumption is made that cycling in winter can affect the accessibility as less maintained roads will not be as cyclable. This study looks at the case of Umeå, in northern Sweden that has a long winter season and have prioritized bicycle paths in terms of maintenance. Through service area analysis in ArcGIS software, accessibility in terms of travel time is measured to the closest primary and lower secondary school in 10-minute intervals and in two seasonal scenarios. By applying soft restrictions and speed differences, the priority in the bicycle network is considered in the winter scenario. The number of children between 7 – 15 years who live within each service area is also calculated. The results show that 98 % of children in the study area can cycle to their closest school regardless of education level or season. Slight seasonal differences were found but are not significant. This is positive in terms of children’s general accessibility to school by bicycle but also in the potential possibilities for children to cycle to school all year round. The challenge now lies primarily in the individual components of accessibility and whether children are authorised to cycle by their parents/guardians.