Exploring Biking Activities Among Different Household Income Groups 

Abstract
Different transportation organizations have collected various data related to bike trips. However, few studies have explored the effect of household income on different types of bike activities or focused on different sociodemographic attributes that affect bike trips. The main goal of this study is to explore the number of bike trips, number of bike trips for exercise, and bike share program usage among different household income groups. Moreover, we explore the bike share program participation among different sociodemographic groups. The data has been obtained from the latest National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), which is the most valid and comprehensive national transportation-related dataset in the United States. The novelties of this study are to investigate the newly bike-related attributes in the 2017 NHTS, and focus on different household income groups. This research is in line with the topic “Moving Beyond Car-centric Cities” of the conference, and contributes to shaping the future of mobility by providing a deeper understanding of bike-travel behavior among different household income groups in the U.S., which can help transportation planners and authorities prioritize bike infrastructure investment. This study extends previous research of the authors in which they focused on different races and found that among African-American and Asian populations, individuals with a household income of more than $100,000 had the highest 30-day average bike share program participation compared to other income groups. Furthermore, they found that among African-American and Asian populations, females had the highest 30-day average bike share program compared to males. Therefore, the research team extends the analyses to investigate the various aspects of bike trips among different household income groups. This research is a part of a funded project by Urban Mobility & Equity Center at Morgan State University, a Tier 1 University Transportation Center of the U.S. Department of Transportation University Transportation Centers Program.