Bicycle Rack Initiative: Discussion

This pilot project aimed to determine if the installation of bicycle racks increased the number of students who rode their bicycles to school and if this impact was observed over time.  The primary finding was that the installation of bicycles racks did not impact cycling to school participation immediately after bicycle rack installation or in the longer term.

This result must be considered in the context of study limitations that may have impacted the outcome. There was a small sample size and as a result there may have been insufficient power to detect significant effects. This pilot study did not investigate the non-independence of the data, an assumption of the statistical tests performed. The clustering of students with similar  characteristics within schools, as well as a before and after repeated measure design, are sources of non-independence that impact the significance of the results.  The risk of clustered data is that results may appear significant when they are not truly significant. In the case of this pilot, significant results were not found.

Furthermore, randomization of schools to control or intervention groups was not possible, and matching them on specific characteristics was difficult because of the number of schools that agreed to receive the intervention and the limited number of schools available to invite as the control schools. Cycling to school promotional activities were held at the intervention schools. The evaluation was not designed to measure the impact of the promotional activities on the outcome measure.

A larger study could be designed to address some of the limitations of this pilot project through increased sample size determined through power calculations, randomization of schools, and an investigation of the non-independence of the data. A similar result would perhaps indicate that the lack of bicycle racks at secondary schools is not a barrier to cycling to school, per se. Panter and colleagues' conceptual framework for the environmental determinants of active travel in children acknowledges four domains of influence: individual factors, physical environment factors, external factors, and modifiers (9). The interaction between these domains and the factors within these domains requires further exploration.

IMPLICATIONS FOR KFL&A PUBLIC HEALTH'S SCHOOL HEALTH TEAM

While the results of the bike evaluation, as designed, did not show an impact on the rates of student cycling to and from school with the provision of bicycle racks, there were a number of positive aspects of the initiative.

1. The bike rack initiative provided an opportunity for KFL&A Public Health to strengthen partnerships with KFL&A school boards and secondary schools.  Through this collaboration, stakeholders fostered a healthy schools community.
2. The welding classes at Napanee District Secondary School learned valuable skills through the management of a project from design through to manufacture and provided a sense of student ownership of the activities.
3. Partnering with Napanee District Secondary School's technical program allowed for the overall costs of the manufacturing of the bicycle racks to remain low. For example, there were no labour costs, materials were purchased locally, and delivery costs were reduced.
4. Three secondary schools in the LDSB received quality made bicycle racks at no charge.

Since the conclusion of the pilot project, Napanee District Secondary School agreed to make eight additional bicycle racks. These bicycle racks were given to two secondary schools that participated as control schools in this evaluation. KFL&A Public Health's School Health team intends to continue the bicycle rack initiative in partnership with Napanee District Secondary School and the Limestone District School Board pending future funding opportunities.