When bike lanes are not enough: The role of connected low-stress cycling infrastructure on cycle commuting in urban Aotearoa New Zealand

Promoting bicycling is a shared aspiration among cities internationally in pursuit of sustainable urban development. However, while cities are increasingly investing in bike lanes, car dependency remains high. Existing empirical literature examining the reasons behind such a low conversion rate remains inconclusive and limited. In this study, we aim to address this gap by empirically investigating the quality of cycling infrastructure using the Level of Traffic Stress Framework and its relationship with cycling uptake using a case study of seven major cities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Specifically, we first developed a transferable method that combined the Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) framework and graph theory to spatially quantify the quality of cycling infrastructure, and then used Hurdle models to examine the relationship between the presence of low-stress cycling infrastructure and cycling uptake across these cities. We found that while the majority of the roads in these cities are low stress, they are poorly connected, and the greater provision of low-stress cycling infrastructure is associated with more people cycling to work. This study offers important empirical evidence for transport planners to inform decisions that enable longer-distance active commutes and foster broader public uptake of active travel in their communities.