Considering route cognition in bicycle traffic assignment with one or more user classes

Existing studies on bicycle route choice analysis tend to focus on observable attributes associated with street segments and intersections. They overlook the less tangible or measurable aspects of cyclist route decision-making, such as cyclists' cognitive understanding of the network. This study explores the applicability of space syntax as a route cognitive attribute in the two-stage bicycle traffic assignment model. Since space syntax is a tool that links urban spatial layout to human movement, the results from a space syntax model can be used as a cognitive attribute for modeling bicycle movements with explicit consideration of the cognitive complexities of navigating through the environment. In developing the bicycle traffic assignment model, we consider relevant attributes such as route cognition, route distance, route safety, and route pollution exposure, and integrate multiple user class analysis. Thus, the two-stage bicycle traffic assignment model developed in this paper not only accounts for one or more user classes, but also for relevant criteria that may affect each user classes' behavior in route choice decisions..