Date of Award
8-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management (MPRTM)
Department
Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management
Committee Chair/Advisor
Charles Chancellor, PhD
Committee Member
Iryna Sharaievska, PhD
Committee Member
Elizabeth Baldwin, PhD
Abstract
Climate change is a global issue, and high rates of automobile usage contribute to substantial social, environmental, and economic issues. One potential partial solution is creating bicycle-friendly communities. Research suggests that bicycle use leads to benefits in physical health, environmental sustainability, economic savings, and social justice. Research supports the roles of infrastructure development, safety policies, and other transportation planning initiatives in increasing bicycling, but less research has been completed about what is needed to develop bicycle-friendly communities. While physical infrastructure affects willingness to commute by bicycle, research suggests that understanding psychological factors and other behavioral aspects is also important for building bicycling communities. Unlike the comprehensive, top-down institutional development typical in the European Union, advocacy organizations are the primary drivers in developing bicycle communities in the US. Therefore, this research used the Bicycle Community Development Framework (BCDF), which includes advocacy organizations’ terminology in addition to incorporating potentially valuable community development approaches and psychosocial factors designed to understand a community's response to bicycle development. This study used a phenomenological approach with BCDF as a lens to explore bicycle commuters’ collective experiences and the relevance of the BCDF’s psychosocial factors in bicycle commuter experiences at the Silver-Level Bicycle Friendly Community of Clemson University. Interviews with 13 bicycle commuters found that participants generally perceived their experiences as positive and described what could be interpreted as restorative benefits from both before and after returning or reaching work or class. They also spoke about negative experiences, and described a sense of fear, and feeling unsafe because of motor vehicles, and perceived insufficient infrastructure to accommodate bicycle commuting. Additionally, this research suggests that the BCDF 's psychosocial factors are relevant to cyclists’ experiences, and the findings support the importance of understanding psychosocial experiences to improve bicycle community development. Overall, such exploration can provide useful insight to potentially inform policymakers and shareholders on where to invest limited dollars in the bicycle community. Additional investigation into bicyclists’ psychosocial experiences in developing bicycle-friendly communities may highlight further strategies to increase support for bicycle community development. Lastly, this study suggests that Clemson may benefit greatly from stronger leadership and support from administration officials interested in increasing Clemson University's bicycle friendliness.
Recommended Citation
Romans, Trevor S., "Exploring Commuter Cyclists' Experiences Commuting in and Around Clemson University" (2025). All Theses. 4600.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/4600
Included in
Leisure Studies Commons, Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration Commons, Transportation Commons