Ask Women to Boost Urban Cycling

... An emerging body of research suggests that a superior strategy to increase pedal pushing could be had by asking the perennial question: What do women want?
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Women are considered an “indicator species” for bike-friendly cities for several reasons. First, studies across disciplines as disparate as criminology and child ­rearing have shown that women are more averse to risk than men. In the cycling arena, that risk aversion translates into increased demand for safe bike infrastructure as a prerequisite for riding. Women also do most of the child care and household shopping, which means these bike routes need to be organized around practical urban destinations to make a difference.

...In the U.S., most cycling facilities consist of on-street bike lanes, which require riding in vehicle-clogged traffic.... And when cities do install traffic-protected off-street bike paths, they are almost always along rivers and parks rather than along routes leading “to the supermarket, the school, the day care center,”...

.... A few municipalities are beginning to implement a “second wave” of strategies aimed at broadening the cycling demographic. ... a Women on Bikes program targets such concerns as fixing a flat tire.... also building its first cycle track—a European-style bike lane that is separated from cars and pedestrians...

Ahead of the curve may be New York City, where about five miles of traffic-protected bike lanes have recently been installed. Credit goes to the new Department of Transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who is upending the department’s long-standing focus on trucks and automobiles. ... “A woman cyclist became head of the DOT, and wonderful things started happening.”..
-Scientific American Magazine - October 16, 2009