Your Views on...Electric Bikes (Dissertation Project)

[alexalph]

Good Morning CTC!

I am a masters student at Leeds University studying Transport Planning. As part of this, I am currently undertaking a dissertation examining peoples attitudes towards electric bikes and how electric bikes have changed the travel habits of those who own them.

I am here as I am keen to get a sample of those who currently commute by conventional bike, and if i'm lucky a couple of people with an electric bike! As part of this there are two surveys:
For those with WITHOUT an electric bike:
https://www.survey.leeds.ac.uk/ebikenonuser4

For those WITH an electric bike:
https://www.survey.leeds.ac.uk/ebikeuser2

Both should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. There is also the chance to win a £10 Amazon Gift Voucher and receive a summary of the completed work.

Please feel free to comment on the questionnaire or study. The information collected is to be used purely for academic purposes.

Finally, if anyone could provide advice/help on distributing the questionnaire to those with an e-bike it would be most welcome!

Thank you all in advance...
Alex Lister

[Si]

Q14 (I think it was) doesn't have an option for £0 - I guess £0 comes under £500 or less but doesn't really tell you that I won't be prepared to pay anything for one because I don't want or need one. Not that I've got anything against them - I can see that they are a great thing for some people and I would rather share the roads with ebikes than cars, but my proper bike does everything that I want it to.

[alexalph]

Thank you for the feedback! Surprised that didn't come up in piloting the questionnaire.

I have updated the survey to include an option to overcome that.

[fossala]

Did the questionnaire but I felt that sometimes it was assumed you did want an electric bicycle but for one or more reasons you couldn't have one.

[niggle]

Oh I answered that one on the baisis of what I would be prepared to pay if I had decided to buy one, which in my case would only be due to health deterioration reasons.

[Vorpal]

Oh I answered that one on the baisis of what I would be prepared to pay if I had decided to buy one, which in my case would only be due to health deterioration reasons.

I did the same. I would not buy one at all at the moment, but if my health or mobility were to deteriorate, I would buy an ebike rather than give up cycling altogether.

The intro page fo the survey does have an error, though...
'peoples' is misspelt.

people is plural already. I think you need the possesive: people's (or just leave it out because attitudes imply people, & probably don't need the word people's in front).

[Psamathe]

I could not complete the survey because of Q6. I don't commute so don't have any form of transport for commuting so left it unanswered. Answered everything else and then pressing "continue" rejected the form because I had not answered Q6 (which I cannot answer). Needs a "I don't commute" option.

I also agree that it seems to take the general attitude that everybody wants an eBike.

Ian

[AlaninWales]

I could not complete the survey because of Q6. I don't commute so don't have any form of transport for commuting so left it unanswered. Answered everything else and then pressing "continue" rejected the form because I had not answered Q6 (which I cannot answer). Needs a "I don't commute" option.

I also agree that it seems to take the general attitude that everybody wants an eBike.

Ian

Good Morning CTC!...
I am here as I am keen to get a sample of those who currently commute by conventional bike, and if i'm lucky a couple of people with an electric bike!

Is there an assumption here that the primary use of an e-bike is for commuting rather than leisure riding (perhaps that cycling consists only of sports and commuting and that cycle travel is only for commuting )? Or is the dissertation concerned only with commuter travel for some reason?

[NUKe]

Filled out a good well thought out survey Good luck Alex

[gaz]

I can't remember which question but I can cycle various combinations of up to 3 days a week or I can cycle 5 days or more a week. What has the OP got against cycling for 4 days a week ?

All in all one of the better surveys that have appeared on these boards.

[alexalph]

Thanks for the work guys. Constructive criticism very welcome, much more so than rude/macho comments from Road.cc...

As for the the types of rider: I am interested in all peoples comments whether leisure or commuter as I am keen to see how attitudes vary between age groups for example. Coming from a sustainable transport perspective however there will be a large focus on those riding for utility or commuting as these are the journeys which I would hope e-bikes could replace cars for.

[Galloper]

As mentioned in my comments on the survey, I have cycled quite a lot in Germany, where Ebikes are very popular. They were generally used by older people and one interesting thing I noticed was that with a lot of couples, he would be riding a normal bike and she would be riding an Ebike. Which, when you think about it is interesting, giving what one might assume is the weaker cyclist a way to ride comfortably with a stronger cyclist. A quick, ad hoc survey, (sitting in a cafe on the Moselle cycle route) showed about 30% of riders were using Ebikes.

I also noticed that in bike shops, a very high percentage of bikes were Ebikes, in one case, a shop in Schwabish Hall, over 80%.

One point I would like to make is that while the survey and dissertation are about commuting and road use, there is considerable discussion in the MTB world about Ebikes and they are now appearing in UK shops. Well, in my local Cube dealer anyway. I see that as a very interesting development. There are even (Oh the horror!) electric fat bikes

[eileithyia]

Filled survey but it does not really apply to me at present, like Si have no intention of buying an e-bike, currently. That does not mean that at sometime in the future it could be something to consider if I wished to continue my cycling and health was reducing that ability....

[Ambler]

I notice e bikes are becoming popular in the camper van/motor home community.
50 mile range allows you to leave your van on site and explore.
Perhaps ask on those forums?

[Psamathe]

I notice e bikes are becoming popular in the camper van/motor home community.
50 mile range allows you to leave your van on site and explore.
Perhaps ask on those forums?

Thing is, to what extent are the results of the investigation determined by the selection of respondents. So I'm guessing but asking here (and probably on road.cc as well) will give a more negative outlook about eBikes. Ask on a few eBike forums and you might end-up with very different results.

So what steps have been taken to ensure a truly random or representative sample of respondents ? Or is it more a question of getting adequate numbers ?

Ian