A Matter of Utility? Rationalising Cycling, Cycling Rationalities

This paper discusses how dominant policy paradigms promote a utility' model of transport, prioritising the destruction of distance and the minimisation of time spent travelling. It suggests that within low-cycling countries, this framing has reinforced the policy marginalisation of cycling, which is cast as having problematic associations with leisure and pleasure. Hence, while the multiple benefits of cycling might seem to mandate policy support, these benefits (including health and equity impacts) seem tainted by association with cycling's non-transport connotations. The paper analyses interview data from the ESRC Cycling Cultures project to explore how cyclists and cycling stakeholders negotiate the landscape of utility cycling'. It examines how people appeal to a utility narrative', while often simultaneously appealing to considerations that apparently contradict it. Conclusions for cycling and broader transport policy are drawn.