Comparing groups

In order to fully answer the first two sub questions, tests have been carried out if to find distinctive groups within the speed pedelec user dataset. To find deviating mean values, groups have been compared on their mean values. The hypotheses that are presented in table 8, have been formulated to properly carry out the analysis. Ha has been accepted whenever the two-sided significance level of the Chi square did not exceed 0.05. The hypotheses have been formulated in such a way that it has enabled comparing groups considering their behaviour.

Similar to paragraph 5.3 multiple indicators have been used to determine a speed pedelec users’

behaviour: average speed, travel distance, type of road and former mode of transport. Groups have been differentiated based on the social demographic questions that have been included in

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the survey. Those are age, gender, education, working days and percentage of days using a speed pedelec.

There have been some remarking results. First, it has appeared that there are significant differences between gender and the speed they achieve during cycling. Contemplating the data, it appeared that men reach a significant higher speed than women. Moreover, it has been found that there is a significant difference between the former transport mode respondents used to have and the current distance they cycle as shown. This relates to the fact that almost 60% of the respondents used to drive their car to work and now completes the same distance by speed pedelec. Moreover, the respondents are mainly male and higher educated indicating that they primarily drive a car to work and bridge longer distances (Van Acker & Witlox, 2010). From rejecting hypothesis 8 one could conclude that there has been a significant difference between the groups based on the type of road they mainly cycle considering the average distance they cycle. Remarkable is the fact that there is a significant deviance has been found between the level of education and the distances respondents cycle. Van Acker and Witlox (2010) their research confirms this relation through explaining that higher educated people find their jobs in highly concentrated urban areas which occurs in fewer places and therefore find theirs jobs further away from home. Regarding the type of road, groups have also been distinguished for cycling on a cycling highway or not. It appeared that cycling on a cycling highway has been contributing to a higher average speed. This has confirmed that the cycling highway has been accomplishing its initial purpose. Groups that have been differentiated on if their route mainly is outside or within the built environment show that cycling mainly outside the built environment, implies bridging longer distances. This makes sense as regional connections mainly are outside built environment.

The last striking outcome has been the significant deviation between groups based on the number of days they work considering the distance they cycle.

TABLE 9HYPOTHESIS TESTING

Hypothesis Description Valid

cases 1 There is a difference between groups

based on gender considering the distance they cycle

220 3,418 0,490 Rejected

2 There is a difference between groups based on gender and average speed they reach

222 18,647 0,001 Accepted

42 3 There is a difference between groups

based on their former transport modes and current distance respondents cycle

219 35,329 0,018 Accepted

4 There is a difference between groups based on former transport modes and current speed

221 20,324 0,438 Rejected

5 There is a difference between age groups considering the current distance the respondents cycle

220 18,133 0,316 Rejected

6 There is a difference between age groups considering the speed the respondents reach

222 22,716 0,122 Rejected

7 There is a difference between groups based on cycling distance considering if their trip is multimodal

220 13,023 0,111 Rejected

8 There is a difference between groups based on the type of road they mainly cycle considering the average distance they cycle

220 29,909 0,003 Accepted

9 There is a difference between groups based on highest acquired education and distances they cycle

220 32,764 0,008 Accepted

10 There is a difference between groups based on highest acquired education considering the speed respondents reach

222 18,803 0,279 Rejected

11 There is a difference between groups based on the percentage of working days that respondents cycle considering the velocity they reach

220 19,452 0,246 Rejected

12 There is a difference between groups based on the percentage of working days that respondents cycle considering the distance they cycle

218 48,074 0,000 Accepted

13 There is a difference between groups based on if they cycle on a cycling highway and the speed they reach

222 11,625 0,169 Rejected

14 There is a difference between groups based on if they cycle on a cycling highway and the distance they cycle

220 6,830 0,555 Rejected

15 There is a difference between groups based on if they cycle within or outside the built environment and the distance they cycle

220 23,883 0,000 Accepted

16 There is a difference between groups based on if they cycle within or outside the built environment and the speed they reach

222 14,026 0,081 Accepted

17 There is a difference between groups based on if they cycle on a separate cycling lane and the distance they cycle

220 3,436 0,488 Rejected

18 There is a difference between groups based on if they cycle on a separate cycling lane and the velocity they reach

222 8,531 0,383 Rejected

43 19 There is a difference between groups

based on gender considering the frequency they use the speed pedelec

222 3,999 0,406 Rejected

20 There is a difference between age groups considering the frequency they use the speed pedelec

222 11,244 0,794 Rejected

21 There is a difference between groups based on speed considering the distance they cycle

220 47,140 0,000 Accepted

*Significance is here determined two-sided

** Hypothesis is rejected when significance does not exceed 0,05