Behavioural effects of a health-related cycling campaign in Denmark: Evidence from the national travel survey and an online survey accompanying the campaign

Introduction: With the overall aim to improve people's health through increased physical activity, an extensive cycling campaign was conducted in Denmark from 2015-2017. The campaign included local activities concentrated in four partner municipalities across the country and national campaign activities.

After one year, the "cycling coach", a customised smart phone application to support cyclists in goal setting and goal achievement, was launched and promoted. This paper describes the campaign, how it was evaluated, and which behavioural effects it generated. Methods: We measured the behavioural effects of the campaign based on two datasets: the Danish National Travel survey and a survey that was conducted as part of the project evaluation and monitored the cycling frequency before, during and after the campaign.

Regression analyses modelling the likelihood of cycling based on travel survey data (logistic regression) and cycling frequency based on the project survey (linear regression) were conducted. In the analyses, the accumulated campaign activities in the respondent's municipality at time of measurement was included as the independent variable, while controlling for socio-demographic, spatial and time-related factors.Results: Both regression analyses showed a significant effect of the campaign intensity on cycling.

We assessed that at least 21 million cycling trips were conducted because of campaign activities.Conclusions: Based on the project experience, we discuss ways to improve future cycling campaigns and their evaluation, for example by allocating sufficient resources for establishing a strong partnership among cross-sectional partners and for a more detailed documentation of campaign activities.