Public Lecture with Melissa Smith - "When Bike Lanes Are Not Enough"

In this public lecture, Melissa Smith will present their research on “When Bike Lanes Are Not Enough”.

Bike Waikato invites you to a public lecture for Biketober 2025.

Melissa Smith is not only the Co-Chairperson of Bike Waikato but a published researcher. Since completing a Master of Environmental Planning in 2024, Melissa has presented their research at the New Zealand Planning Institute conference, the University of Waikato Postgraduate Conference, and the Mathematical Societies Conference. In July 2024, their research was accepted for publication in the international urban planning journal Cities.

Their research investigates classifications of bicycle infrastructure and networks and the relationship between those classifications, network connectivity, and cycling uptake in major cities. It creates a new methodology for local Governments to assess local cycling networks and demonstrates an empirical relationship between connected, low-stress cycling networks and the proportion of people cycling for everyday transportation needs.

The lecture is approximately 40 minutes long and will be followed by questions. The lecture will be held at Trust Waikato.

Abstract (Smith & Xu, 2025): 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.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.105526

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