Trip chaining of bicycle and car commuters: An empirical analysis of detours to secondary activities

A largely overlooked mode choice factor of cycling is the mode-dependent capability of visiting several activity locations within a trip chain. Due to the bicycle’s limited reach in comparison to the car, this capability can be increased by urban environments that facilitate trip chaining by bicycle. In the present paper, we empirically study travel distances between activity locations that facilitate trip chaining by the example of Dutch commute tours. More precisely, we address the question of how much cyclists extend commute tour distances compared to car travellers to include a secondary activity. For this purpose, a Bayesian regression model is proposed to analyse the effects of travel mode, secondary activity type and a series of control variables such as age and time of the day on commute tour extensions. The model results propose that people make on average detours of 7.4 km by car and 1.3 km by bicycle. These values strongly differ depending on the type of secondary activity, gender, the distance of the home-work tour and the duration of the secondary activity. In addition, the comparison between car and bicycle travel revealed some behavioural peculiarities of the active modes, which have implications for bicycle-friendly urban planning and several transport-related concepts.