How do you monitor and evaluate?

For all monitoring activities related to cycle infrastructure five basics steps are distinguished to guide you through this activity. These steps will be explained in more detail and what we learned so far from experiences will be shared in this paragraph. Besides the five steps to follow, a focus of this subchapter are the methods and tools to use for monitoring. There are several ways to reach a monitoring goal by using for example counters, surveys, GPS-data or observation data. Every method has benefits and weaknesses and they will be described in this chapter in order to help research teams to choose the best method for their goals.

Five steps for monitoring

formulate the goals for monitoring
choose a method to use
execute the monitoring activity
draw conclusions from the data
formulate actions or repeat the monitoring steps

Learn more about:
How to collect cycling data?
How to measure user experience using surveys?
How to measure user experience using qualitative methods?
How to test innovations?

Learn more about CHIPS project

Cycle Highways Innovation for smarter People Transport and Spatial Planning

CHIPS will develop and promote cycle highways as an effective and cost efficient low carbon solution for commuting towards and from urban employment poles.

Project partners from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK will develop solutions that will help regions and mobility stakeholders to:

Position cycle highways as a new mobility product
Overcome physical and behavioural barriers that keep commuters from using cycle highways
Maximize synergies between cycle highways and trains, buses and cars
Upgrade cycle highways to key structuring elements in future spatial planning
Monitor performance and assess impact

First step | Plan

Plan Phase

A cycle highway facilitates citizens to move by bicycle from one place to another. It connects residential areas with business districts, city centers or transportation hubs. To determine the right location and make the right connection a calculation of the expected use is needed, taking into account the future developments to plan a future proof cycle highway.

Main objective: development of a virtual planning tool for potential cycle highways

Next step | Design

Design Phase

The challenge is to design the best suitable cycle highway for that specific location. Therefor different criteria such as attractiveness, wayfinding, size and directness have to be taken into account.

Main objectives: a cycle highway assessment tool to evaluate the design and readability concepts in the (Virtual) Living Lab.

Next step | Sell

Sell Phase

Communication and campaigns will help to stimulate (new) cyclists to use the cycle highway. Commuters are the main target group. The engagement of employers is key to reach the commuters and create a modal shift from car to (e)-bike.

Main objectives: designing campaigns, development of service point and mobile HUBs.

Next step | Evaluate

Evaluate Phase

Final step is to monitor and evaluate the effects of the development. Are people using the new cycle infrastructure? By using GPS-data, information from counters and traffic lights relevant information about the use can be filtered.

Main objectives: monitoring and evaluation dashboard and a CO2 reduction calculator.