Residents’ Willingness to Adopt Cycling as Intra-City Transport in Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract This study investigated the willingness of residents to use bicycles for intra-city transportation in Calabar, South-South Nigeria. Administered questionnaires were successfully retrieved (82%) from residents of all income and employment groups in the 22 political wards of the study area. Stratified sampling technique was used to select survey participants. Initial socioeconomic characteristics of respondents in intercept only model was used to predict the willingness of respondents to ride in the city. Twelve problems of bicycle transportation were further presented to participants who rated them using a six-point scale (1-6), highly unwilling to highly willing to ride, respectively. Logistic Regression Analysis was employed to predict the probability that a respondent would be willing to ride. The predictor variables were respondents’ gender, age, education, occupational status, 12 bicycle infrastructure characteristics and dummy variables coding each socioeconomic scenario. A test of the full model versus a model with intercept only was statistically significant, χ2 (24, N = 315) = 50.5, p < .001 and χ2 (19, N = 315) = 36.5, p < .001. The model was able to correctly classify 86% of those willing to ride and 29.1% of those unwilling to ride, for an overall success rate of 66.2%. The study revealed that there is no gender sensitivity in the willingness of residents to ride in the city. In model 2, the odd ratio of some bicycle infrastructure characteristics such as bicycle lanes (1.181), conflicts with motorist (1.338), lack of respect for cycling (1.078), culture/stigma (1.046), weather (1.013), potholes (1.222), safety issues (1.280), and illumination (1.241) are more significant in predicting the probability of respondents to ride bicycles. The study recommended designated bicycle paths/trails to motivate residents to ride bicycles in the city.