In these papers, researchers analyze past, present, and future bicycle policy, and explore how these policies have affected or could potentially affect bicycling. Policy shapes investments in bicycle infrastructure and promotional programs, thus influencing who uses bicycles, how often, how safely, for what purpose, and with what outcomes. Understanding the factors that lead to bicycling-supportive policies is essential to efforts to increase the prevalence and safety of bicycling.
Bicycling is an important aspect of everyday life for a growing number of people. As bicycling increases, researchers are addressing new questions and discovering new challenges. Key challenges researchers face include obtaining accurate measurements of bicycling, recruiting representative samples of bicyclists, and acquiring data at multiple points in time to enable more rigorous research designs. In these papers, researchers discuss the issues and challenges surrounding the study of bicycling as a mode of transportation.