2024-07-09, Erath, Alexander, van Eggermond, Michael, Sieber, Mark, Graf, Samuel, Perret, Fabienne

2021, Nazemi, Mohsen, van Eggermond, Michael, Erath, Alexander, Schaffner, Dorothea, Joos, Michael, Axhausen, Kay W.

There is a need for methods that provide a better understanding of bicyclists’ perceived safety and preferences on currently unavailable and/or unknown bicycle facilities. Different survey methods have been used to study bicyclists’ behavior, experiences, and preferences; ranging from verbally described facilities to surveys including images and videos. Virtual Reality (VR) experiments blur the boundaries between stated preference (SP) surveys and revealed preference (RP) surveys and provide a realistic sense of design. This research introduces a novel research method in bicycling research and discusses the results of an experiment using a bicycle simulator combined with immersive VR. In total, 150 participants participated in this experiment and were asked about demographics and perceptions and preferences after bicycling in five different environments with an instrumented bicycle in VR. A 5 2 mixed design was used with bicycling environment as within-subject factor and pedestrian / traffic volume as between-subject factor. ANOVA tests revealed how each environment and ambient pedestrian / traffic volume affected perceived level of safety (PLOS) and willingness to bicycle (WTB). Pairwise comparison showed that participants felt safer bicycling on the segregated bicycle path compared to bicycling on the painted bicycle path on the road and roadside. There was no meaningful difference between WTB for less than 10 min and WTB for more than 10 min between bicycling on a painted bicycle path on the sidewalk and painted bicycle path on the road. PLOS and WTB ratings of men and women were not significantly different from each other. The older segment of the sample was more worried about roadside bicycling and bicycle commuters were more confident to ride on the roadside. Despite having several limitations, immersive 360-degree VR was found a powerful presentation tool to evaluate future street designs which can inform transport and urban planning.

2017, Erath, Alexander, van Eggermond, Michael, Ordóñez, Sergio A., Axhausen, Kay W.

The indexes for walkability proposed so far refer generally to the closest amenities and public transport stops and the existing network structure. The weights of the attributes do not reflect the independently measured preferences of the users and residents. Design attributes such as the location and type of crossings and walkway design features are usually surveyed in walkability audits. However, such attributes are usually not considered when pedestrian walksheds or other accessibility-based walkability indexes are calculated. Nevertheless, these design attributes are very relevant for actual planning decisions. The proposed walkability index can be behaviorally calibrated, has been implemented as a geographic information system tool, and is published as open source software. The pedestrian accessibility tool allows the evaluation of existing and future urban plans with regards to walkability. The tool calculates Hansen-based accessibility indicators with the use of a customizable specification of the generalized walking costs, and it incorporates user-defined weights of destination attractiveness. The basic user workflow of the tool is summarized. Three case studies show real-world applications of the tool to support the planning of pedestrian infrastructure in an urban context. With indications of potential areas of improvement that have been reported by pilot users working in an urban planning department, hints are also given for future research.

2024, van Eggermond, Michael, Mavros, Panos, Erath, Alexander, Hess, Stephane, Daly, Andrew

Research eliciting individuals’ preferences, including stated preference (SP) research, have long utilised imagery as stimuli to visualise either attributes or situations deemed too complex to be expressed verbally. The advent of Virtual Reality (VR) offers choice modelers with exciting new opportunities. This chapter outlines key concepts underlying VR and summarises previous research combining VR and choice modeling. It provides a framework of different dimensions that should be considered when developing VR experiments, including technological aspects (display technology and movement) and other aspects, such as survey duration, motion sickness and the representation of time. The chapter concludes with several ways to further combine choice modeling and VR.

2019-11-18, Nazemi, Mohsen, van Eggermond, Michael, Erath, Alexander, Joos, Michael, Schaffner, Dorothea, Axhausen, Kay W.

2022-12, Schaffner, Dorothea, Studer, Nora, Kaufmann, Kaspar, Yildirimlar, Okan, Erath, Alexander, van Eggermond, Michael, Kalunder, Madlaina, Schubiger, Simon, Hüsser, Cloe, Zirn, Andrea, Schweizer, Nina, Gasser, Yves, Fischer, Raffael, Lauper, Severin

2018, Nazemi, Mohsen, van Eggermond, Michael, Erath, Alexander, Schaffner, Dorothea, Joos, Michael, Axhausen, Kay W.

Survey methods for bicycle research have been evolved in time, ranging from conventional tel- ephone surveys, paper-based and web-based surveys, to in-depth Virtual Reality (VR) ones, all aiming to provide insights about diversity among behaviours (McNeil et al., 2015; Tilahun et al., 2007; Xu et al., 2017). The underlying criteria in all of the aforementioned methods is that re- spondents need to understand what they are valuing or they will make potentially wrong as- sumptions based on different experiences and frames of reference. VR allows for highly-detailed observations, accurate behaviour measurements, and systematic environmental manipulations under controlled laboratory circumstances. It therefore has the potential to be a valuable re- search tool to carry out behavioural experiments to study cyclists’ perception of safety and com- fort. In order to fully understand VR as a valid environmental representation, it is essential to examine to what extent not only user cognition and behaviour, but also if users’ experiences are analogous in real and virtual environments (Kuliga et al., 2015). The aim of this research is to find out how accurately participants perceive speed and distance of the passing vehicles and find out solutions to calibrate virtual environments, particularly for bicycle research. To this end, a VR experiment was devised that allows respondents to cycle through a variety of streets, and in which the passing speed and distance of passing vehicles - two are crucial variables influencing cyclists’ perception of environment - is varied.